TNs: A Swing through Puerto Rico

[Michael Malinoski]

A few weeks ago, my family and I joined another family for a quick getaway to Puerto Rico. We brought a bunch of wine along with us and enjoyed most of them over the course of the five evenings we spent together down there. My friend likes to focus on Spanish wines while he’s at the villa there, so we drank a lot of fine Spanish selections, but we augmented here and there, as well. All in all, it was a great trip made all the more special by drinking such fine wines with good friends.

Thursday night: Our friends went down several days before we did, so when we arrived at the villa early Thursday evening, they were already in a relaxed mood and had a bunch of wines to drink with burgers from the grill awaiting us. Soon, we were getting into the island groove ourselves!

2002 Henri Goutorbe Champagne Special Club. This is delicious Champagne that’s really drinking nicely right now. To begin, it shows great depth and density to the lovely and totally inviting aromas of baked apples, white currants, lemon curd, leesy tropical fruits and fine spices. Then, in the mouth, it has a great toothsome quality and an easy sweet undertone to the tropical fruit, lemon, butterscotch and apple flavors that show no sharp edges or astringency whatsoever. It’s irresistible, really. Disgorged May 11, 2010.

2004 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Campo de Borja. This was double-decanted about an hour before dinner. It’s a wine that totally kicks out the jams on the nose, with effusive and full-blown aromas of kirsch, creamed cherries, raspberries, licorice rope and lavish oak lashings. It’s big, sweet and oaky, but it makes no apologies and has a sort of fun edge to it in some ways. In the mouth, it’s much the same--with a solid blast of kirsch, cherry paste, balsa wood and shaved oak flavors that are pure and totally free-flowing across the palate. It’s not goopy, heavy or cloying, just somewhat mono-fruited and direct. There are no hard edges to be found anywhere, and it’s extremely easy to drink. It’s not my preferred style, but I can certainly see and share in the appeal.

2004 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino. This one was decanted about 4 hours in advance, which I definitely recommend at a minimum. It’s giving up a rewarding bouquet right now, redolent of black plums, dark chocolate, burnt wood embers, white pepper, incense and grilled herbs. Aromatically, it’s put together really nicely, though you can still sense the wine’s youthfulness in its tensile mineral underpinnings. In the mouth, it’s impressively concentrated and classically structured, while also being loaded with pasty-textured black cherry fruit and dark chocolate flavors that show great length and persistence. Over the course of several hours, the wine just grows more and more impressive, and I see no reason whatsoever not to grant it another 5 years in the cellar to continue to develop. After that, I’m sure it’s going to impress for many years to come.

Friday night: We went up the road just a bit from the house to a wonderful restaurant called C-Bar on Friday evening, where we had a top-notch meal to go with the bottles of wine we brought along.

1986 Duval-Leroy Champagne Cuvee des Roys Brut Grand Cru. From magnum. This Champagne is showing some very interesting mature notes on the nose, though it’s in no way tired or weak. Indeed, it’s full of dark and toasty aromas of grilled bread, biscuits, ginger, honeycomb, lime, copper, toffee, spice and earthy funk that combine for a unique and enjoyable character. In the mouth, it may be even more individualistic—loaded with nutty flavors of caramel, Cracker Jack peanuts, baked apple, mixed berry fruit and dark minerals that are smooth, grippy, full-flavored and richly-finishing atop a subtle twang of acidity. It’s quite enjoyable and distinctive.

2008 Luis A. Rodriguez Vazquez Ribeiro Blanco Vina de Martin Escolma. This wine offers a fine-knit, restrained and elegant bouquet that’s quite floral in personality—showing off fine and subtle aromas of orange blossom, honeysuckle, grapefruit, green melon, lemon-lime and crushed shells. Somebody mentions “dryer lint” and I can see that, too, believe it or not. In the mouth, it’s piquant and zesty in tone, with lemon-lime, green tropical fruit, seashells and toasted citrus peel flavors combining nicely. It’s not minerally or chiseled, but instead soft, elegant and refined with a little wild edge from time to time from that zesty-tinged acidity. Made in an understated style, this was well-liked all around.

2001 Bodegas Vega Sicilia Ribera del Duero Valbuena 5. This was double-decanted about 3 hours before we left for the restaurant. It features a very serious, old-fashioned, old-world nose that starts to slowly unfold over the course of the meal to reveal youthful but gentlemanly aromas of dark cranberry, black cherry, leather, tobacco, dry dirt, singed iron and brimstone that just get better and better all night long. It’s just entering an early drinking window on the palate, and seemingly has decades of life ahead. It sports impressive density, effortless concentration of savory red-fruited flavor, good acidic lift and plenty of structured definition. The savory bits of dried mushrooms, funky undergrowth, leather and toasted spices nicely offset the fine baked cherry, cranberry and rhubarb pie flavors. There’s still a fair dose of youthful tannin, but the finely-chiseled red fruit flavors and earthy tones carry right through without much interference. It’s a classy and regal wine that can be enjoyed quite a bit right now but will very likely be unreal in say another decade.

2004 Dominio de Atauta Ribera del Duero Llanos del Almendro. This wine is much denser and more robust on the nose, featuring deeply-pitched aromas of black raspberries, black cherries, BBQ sauce, dried chili peppers, raw leather and flinty minerals. It’s again dense and rather concentrated on the palate, with a grippy texture to the big red fruit flavors. It has fantastic staying power, showing some fanned out beauty on the finish despite big but pliant tannins coming on late. It’s loaded with all of that juicy red fruit, but stays poised at the core most of the time, showing some flashes of flamboyance now and again that I like a lot. It’s a big wine with beautiful fruit and controlled power that should have years and years of drinking pleasure ahead of it.

Saturday night: On Saturday night, we took the golf cart down to the marina to dine outdoors at a tapas restaurant. While there were one or two inspired dishes, the food on the whole was up and down, unfortunately. Still, we had a lovely view and it was delightful to be dining outside.

2010 DSG (David Sampedro Gil) Phincas Thousand Mils Rioja Blanco. The nose here takes you in a bunch of different directions over the course of the evening, hitting aromas of kiwi, plantain, blue pixie stick powder, brown spices and leesy yellow fruit along the way. It’s a somewhat unusual wine on the palate, as well, with some pineapple, blue fruit and fine spice flavors providing some tropical sweetness sensations before finishing on the dry side. There’s a lot of promising ideas here, but the wine seems to just pull up short of taking that next step, it seems. It’s interesting and sort of cool to drink, but I think it doesn’t quite yet know what it wants to be when it grows up. I’d give it some time.

1991 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. This wine presents a strong and immediate bouquet of candied ginger, copper kettle, grilled herbs, singed iron, white pepper, lemon peel, crushed shells, rosewater, struck match and browned butter. It’s a real attention-grabber, yet finely-fashioned in a gently oxidative style. In the mouth, it’s just really nice--showing lots of tasty yellow fruit, beer nut, praline, honeycomb and baked apple flavors that have great density and an oily rich texture. It feels perfectly aged yet lively and directed, all wrapping up in a pleasingly waxy finish that beckons you back for more.

1991 R. López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Bosconia. Here one encounters aromas of dried raspberries, red currants, cedar, limestone, baked clay and grilled wood that have nice old world personality to them but aren’t quite as fully-realized as I was hoping for just yet. In the mouth, it is medium-weighted and gently red-fruited in a soft and sweet package accented by a pucker of late acidity. It has a nice subtle tension running through it, and a pleasingly grippy texture supporting the airy red fruit flavors. It gets longer and longer as the night goes on and is particularly tasty at around the 3 hour mark where the smooth, tangy, refreshing character really finds a cohesiveness that’s highly promising for future development. On the whole, though, I suggest waiting a few more years before opening another.

Sunday night: On Sunday, we stayed in and let the kids make us a bunch of homemade pizzas while the adults feasted on some fabulous wines while sitting out on the back patio under the stars overlooking the ocean. Life was definitely good!

2009 Ramey Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard Russian River Valley. With cheeses and such, we opened up a trio of California Chardonnays at the request of the ladies. The first of these opens on the tight side, I’d have to say—leading with lighter-styled aromas of minerals, herbs, lemon tea, vanilla and steel. It does eventually begin to flesh out and open up, bringing out richer hazelnut, tree fruit and oak scents that were hiding underneath. In the mouth, though, this is luscious, rounded and weighty right from the very start—delivering loads of viscous yellow fruit, hazelnut, lemon oil, pear, caramel, brown spice, oak and vanilla bean flavors. This is a full-flavored, deep and layered Chardonnay that’s really kicking it on the palate but could maybe use another year or two to help flesh out the aromatics.

2006 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay Napa Valley. There’s a very sexy bouquet accompanying this wine, showing lots of Brazil nut, vanilla paste, baking spice, pear and leesy yellow tropical fruit aromas combining together in a gorgeous package. In the mouth, it’s round and giving, but not as deeply-pitched or luscious as the Ramey. It features pretty flavors of spiced pear, vanilla, lemon candy, soft oak and creamy fig, but also a somewhat distracting mint leaf/peppermint steak that I definitely did not notice the last time we drank this over the summer. Although there are some twists and turns along the way, this is ultimately fun to sit and drink.

2008 Peter Michael Chardonnay Point Rouge Sonoma County. Oh man, this is a truly tremendous wine all around, starting with the absolutely classy, well-defined, Burgundian nose of wet lumber, vanillin, baked apple and pear, white flowers, toasted bread, clay and lanolin aromas that are buffed, polished and elegant yet vivid and engrossing. It’s perhaps even more beautiful on the palate, with swooningly delicious flavors of lemon cream, star fruit, white peach, baked apple and spiced pear. It’s packed with wonderful flavor and features a lovely texture, but it mostly impresses with its class, elegance and balance—all of which are world-class here.

2004 Clos Erasmus Priorat Laurel. This wine delivers a deeply smoky bouquet of tar, black raspberry, black cherry, leather, cedar and beautiful spice notes that are round, sweet, fun and welcoming. In the mouth, the smooth and giving black raspberry and black fig fruit is beautifully rendered and juicy all the way through. The wine gains in volume and amplitude over the course of the evening, with a really interesting bramble fruit and sassafras personality bubbling up underneath as time goes on. It’s big-boned, delightfully-fruited, fun and tasty, with some sneaky structure to help it keep in the cellar, though I really enjoy drinking it right now.

1998 Alvaro Palacios Priorat Finca Dofí. This is a deep and mysterious wine on the nose, with aromas of dark-toasted bread, cherry, black currant, coffee cake, chocolate, incense and slate. It’s dark and serious in tone on the palate, with rather solid structure and pasty tannins still in place but with bountiful blackberry, currant, cherry paste, clove and incense flavors lingering long onto on the finish. It’s an impressively muscled specimen that’s probably best to wait a few more years on.

1999 Clos Erasmus Priorat. This is beautifully layered on the nose, with fine aromas of red currants, cherries, Christmas spices, mint, cedar, earth and rawhide leather. On the palate, it’s just beautifully polished and smooth as alabaster. It’s luscious, creamy and luxuriant, but also powerful, driven and lifted as it travels across the tongue. Plum, black currant, chocolate and spice flavors show a lot of class and purity, and it all just works in harmony quite beautifully.

2004 Bodegas Vinos Pinol Terra Alta Vi de Licor Wine #28 Mistela Blanca. Long after the exciting Sunday Night Football game ended and everyone else was in bed, my friend and I headed out to the hot tub to smoke some Cuban cigars and enjoy this sweet wine. It features the usual inch-plus of shag carpet orange-brown sediment at the bottom of the bottle and the typical plump aromas of apricot marmalade, nectarines, caramel and orange blossoms. It’s medium-weighted but thick-bellied on the palate, with flavors of apricot, orange jam and caramel that are easy to drink and enjoy.

Monday night: On Monday, we relocated to La Concha Resort in San Juan so we’d have a quick getaway to the airport Tuesday morning. The hotel was fantastic, and we had a delicious meal with top-notch wine service at the La Perla restaurant there. We left the kids with a babysitter and joined another companion for glasses of Billecart-Salmon Champagne before sitting down to dinner for five. We ended the night with cigars and a range of aged Rums from different countries out by the pool, but in between we were treated to some great bottles of SQN we’d brought down with us.

1985 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut Rosé Rare. This is a dark pink color, with a reserved bead to it. It shows nice refinement to the aromas of raspberry, pink citrus, blanched nuts and copper. It’s a bit more outgoing on the palate, with solid push of pinot berry and pink citrus fruit flavors to go with a minerally streak and some background sherried tones. It’s well put together, and although a bit reserved at times, it’s drinking quite nicely.

2007 Sine Qua Non Syrah Labels Central Coast. This is an absolutely impressive and delicious wine in every regard. The nose is sexy and plush, with captivating layers of crushed raspberry, cassis, red licorice, grilled meat and toasted bread aromas that feel holistic and full-realized already. It’s even better in the mouth, where it washes over the palate with languid ease and sweet luscious red fruit flavors. It’s dense and pushy but it never feels ponderous or weighty. It’s a big mouthful of beauty that caresses the mouth and leaves a long, seamless impression. Everyone adored this.

2008 Sine Qua Non Syrah B 20 Central Coast. This is somewhat darker-colored than the Labels bottling. It also smells much darker and more savory, with almost Northern Rhone-like aromas of grilled meats, hung sausage, singed iron, black olive and black pepper to go along with abundant amounts of blackberry and black cherry fruit scents. It’s certainly impressive and expansive, but not as friendly or seductive as the Labels. In the mouth, it’s a real attention-grabber right from the start, with a big, bold, dark and savory personality brimming with black fruit stuffing and a briny underbelly to it. It shows very good balance, impressive concentration, interesting complexity and great length, but I have to say that the tannins here are much more obvious than with the Labels offering, and indeed are not nearly so smoothly-polished I’m used to encountering with SQN. I think this is an instance where it might pay to hold off several more years before trying again.

1992 Havens / Krankl Black & Blue Napa Valley. What a treat it was to have an opportunity to drink one of the five “project wines” made by Manfred Krankl before he formally founded SQN in 1994. This blend of 55% Syrah and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon was made in conjunction with Michael Havens in Napa Valley. And oh boy, did they do a nice job with this! It’s layered and wonderfully complex on the nose, featuring gorgeous bits of saddle leather, sweaty horse, fine tobacco leaf, loamy dirt pile, creamed cherry, cassis and black currant aromas. It’s strong and structured in the mouth, but resolved and fully-mature in its classy and finely-wrought flavors of leather, earth, cassis and blackberry fruit. It’s an effortless beauty, with a whole lot of class. It’s a complete wine, really, and drinking at peak right now I’d venture to say.

2001 Sine Qua Non Chardonnay Mr. K The Noble Man Edna Valley. This wine just leaps out of the glass and grabs you with its completely engulfing aromas of rich apricot paste, orange marmalade, crème brule topping and clover honey. And it’s even more engrossing in the mouth, coating every inch of the mouth with marmalade and apricot flavors accented by lovely botrytis spice notes. It’s gorgeously exotic, and while not piercingly fresh with acidity, still feels lifted and exuberant from start to finish. This is the way to end a world-class meal, no doubt about it.

On Tuesday, we sadly headed home right into the teeth of some freezing cold weather, but it was a very warm, fun and relaxing swing through Puerto Rico!


-Michael

[JCNorthway]

Michael,

Nice notes, as usual. I've had the 2002 Goutorbe bottling, but perhaps an earlier disgorgement date. It was a special Champagne.

[JimHow]

How did you like Puerto Rico?
I've been wanting to go there.

[Michael Malinoski]

Jim, we stayed pretty close to the villa most of the time we were there, with day trips to the beach to go snorkeling, boogie boarding, swimming and such. There's really a lot more to see than we got around to. Next time, I'd like to hike the rainforest, get up to see the radio telescope, visit old San Juan, kayak through the phosphorescent bay and take a boat out to some of the neighboring islands where there's supposed to be great diving. We barely scratched the surface. The kids were perfectly happy to spend all day going down the slide at the beach club pool, so who knows if I'll get a chance! There are a lot of very good dining options, which is a huge plus and the weather is obviously great. Personally, I prefer the quieter, less developed St John in the USVI (which I've been to over 2 dozen times), but there's a lot more to do on PR.

JC, I've had the 2002 Goutorbe Special Club 4 times now, and it never fails to deliver the goods. The very first time I had it, it beat out '96 Krug and Salon in a blind flight that had everyone scrambling to place orders! So, I agree--special Champagne.

-Michael

[Tom In DC]

So let me ask again - does "Special Club" have any real significance in Champagne or is it just another "Special Reserve" kind of designation?

[Michael Malinoski]

Tom, I did some research on this right before the trip. Here is what I dug up:

Champagne’s Special Club is a unique collection of 26 Grower-Producers who all have the common goal of promoting the expression of terroir in the region. The Special Club or Club Trésors de Champagne (Treasures of Champagne) was created in 1971. The rules for membership are simple: one must grow their own grapes, and all members must be legally designated as Récoltant-Manipulants. The wines are all put in the same unique bottle, regardless of producer, but each wine maker gets to put their own label on the bottle.

The Special Club bottling is supposed to represent a grower’s best offering. Each year the members of the club meet and taste each other’s vin claire (still base wine) to see if it is up to quality standards. A member is not required to submit wine ever year, only when they think they’ve made something spectacular; in 2003 no Special Club wines were made. Once the Club has agreed that the base wine is of sufficient quality, the grower is then permitted to put the wine in the Special Club bottle and induce the second fermentation. After a minimum of 3 years of aging, the wine may be disgorged and tasted a second time by the Club. If the Club approves of the finished product, it may be labeled and sold as a Special Club wine.

-Michael

[Tom In DC]

Wow - thanks, MM! Now I know that any SC bottling should indeed be something special.