Thanksgiving Day -1
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:26 pm
Stefan and Lucie family Thanksgiving is in Oregon again this year. Stefan arrives to our “rain forest” after midnight tonight, assuming the 70+mph gusts and heavy rains associated with the big storm hitting the Pacific Northwest don’t affect his connecting flights. Lucie arrived yesterday, though, and to get the Thanksgiving festivities started (slowly), we opened:
1996 Lanessan: Of about 10 bottles of this we’ve opened, I’d say only 2 or 3 have not been at least mildly corked. This bottle was fine, fortunately. When not corked, this wine still has surprisingly upfront tannins that went well with the beef short rib stew Lucie made. There is still enjoyable fruit left in this wine, but it might lose the race with the tannins over time.
2001 Rol Valentin: I’m pretty sure this was a gift from Stefan and Lucie many years ago. I really enjoyed this wine, which had vanilla oak that some might find too forward, stewed red fruit on the nose and tannins that are starting to resolve. Lucie did not like this wine very much and thought it was a bit thin, but she also only drank half a glass as she had come down with some short-lived stomach bug during her travels (which explains our slow start to the festivities…we actually had wine leftover last night…). If I had to rate, I’d probably say 87-88 for the Lanessan and 90-91 for the Rol Valentin.
We have a lot of OR wines on deck for the week: 2010 St Innocent Shea, Justice, Momtazi and Freedom Hill, 2011 Zenith Estate, 2005 St Innocent 7 Springs, 2003 St Innocent Freedom Hill, 1998 Chehalem Rion Reserve, and probably a St Innocent Special Selection to accompany the many wines Stefan will bring later tonight. We’ll also start a new tradition tomorrow night and drink a bunch of 2012 Oregon “fresh hop” craft beers (from Deschutes, Rogue, Bridgeport, Oakshire and a few others) – I’m trying this in order to avoid the Nouvelles Beaujolais Fall tasting that is sometimes popular…
Beautiful sunshine and a rainbow right now outside my window…I’m sure it won’t last.
-StefanJr
1996 Lanessan: Of about 10 bottles of this we’ve opened, I’d say only 2 or 3 have not been at least mildly corked. This bottle was fine, fortunately. When not corked, this wine still has surprisingly upfront tannins that went well with the beef short rib stew Lucie made. There is still enjoyable fruit left in this wine, but it might lose the race with the tannins over time.
2001 Rol Valentin: I’m pretty sure this was a gift from Stefan and Lucie many years ago. I really enjoyed this wine, which had vanilla oak that some might find too forward, stewed red fruit on the nose and tannins that are starting to resolve. Lucie did not like this wine very much and thought it was a bit thin, but she also only drank half a glass as she had come down with some short-lived stomach bug during her travels (which explains our slow start to the festivities…we actually had wine leftover last night…). If I had to rate, I’d probably say 87-88 for the Lanessan and 90-91 for the Rol Valentin.
We have a lot of OR wines on deck for the week: 2010 St Innocent Shea, Justice, Momtazi and Freedom Hill, 2011 Zenith Estate, 2005 St Innocent 7 Springs, 2003 St Innocent Freedom Hill, 1998 Chehalem Rion Reserve, and probably a St Innocent Special Selection to accompany the many wines Stefan will bring later tonight. We’ll also start a new tradition tomorrow night and drink a bunch of 2012 Oregon “fresh hop” craft beers (from Deschutes, Rogue, Bridgeport, Oakshire and a few others) – I’m trying this in order to avoid the Nouvelles Beaujolais Fall tasting that is sometimes popular…
Beautiful sunshine and a rainbow right now outside my window…I’m sure it won’t last.
-StefanJr
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