TNs: Big Bottle Bash

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Michael Malinoski
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TNs: Big Bottle Bash

Post by Michael Malinoski »

A friend of mine recently had reason to celebrate, and he opted to do so with a few friends and a bunch of big bottles (where noted) from his cellar served with various small plates of delicious food throughout the evening. It was a lovely outdoor setting and the wines were in very good form—a good time was had by all.

Champagne:

N.V. Deutz Champagne Brut Classic. From magnum. This is rather pale-colored, presenting a subtle and reserved nose of clean minerality, citrus and tree fruit aromas that are tight but pleasingly refined. It’s more giving on the palate by a good stretch, delivering overt and generous sweet-tangy interchanges of citrus fruit, herbs, chalk and rock that are really creamy and foamed up in the mouth. It’s not super deep or complex, but it certainly makes for a rather nice aperitif-styled Champagne to get us started.

1990 Pommery Champagne Cuvée Louise Brut Rosé. This is a rather pretty pale salmon color, and delivers lovely sappy aromas of dried red berries, nougat and nut underscored by a refined mineral streak. It’s showing some nice aged character, but it’s quite fun and pithy to sniff. In the mouth, it’s rather sappy and winey in character, with lots of deep strawberry, raspberry, nougat and nut flavors in a fetching core, surrounded by interesting mature bits around the edges. The acidity is soft and pliant at this stage of the game, giving it a bit of a plump-bottomed feel at times. It’s not especially fanned-out but it leaves a very lasting impression on the lovely, berry-coated finish.

1995 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année. From jeroboam. There’s very impressive layering and complexity to this wine, with great presence to the deep aromas of baked apple, pear skin, peach pit, bronze and toasted brown spices. It’s giving and rounded on the palate, with full-bodied flavors of dark bruised apple, pear, blue fruits and spices coming across as meaty and firm but perfectly-balanced and lengthy. There’s plenty of time left for this, especially from a big format like this.

White wines:

2007 Sybille Kuntz Riesling Trocken Mosel Saar Ruwer. From magnum. The nose here is open and fruity, yet also oily and minerally—delivering various scents of white peach, table grapes, fig, grapefruit, fresh-cut herbs and light petrol notes. It’s dry in the mouth, but with plenty of tasty fig, prune, kiwi, lime, white peach and fruit cup flavors peeling away in oily layers. It’s fuller-bodied, rich and soft-acided, but with a nice dry character to the finishing kick.

2006 Peter Michael Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille Knights Valley. This outstanding Chardonnay opens up with a refined and classy yet full-blown bouquet of quartz-like minerality, lemon oil, butterscotch, hazelnut, vanilla and mint leaf aromas that make a significant impression right from the first sniff. In the mouth, it’s luxuriant, fanned out, sweet and exotically-spiced—delivering delicious waves of spiced pear, butterscotch, vanilla and mineral flavor throughout the richly-textured and flamboyant mid-palate. It has great staying power and length, and is drinking great right now.

2009 Peter Michael Chardonnay Cuvée Indigene Knights Valley. This is young but already putting forth a bold statement with its sexy mix of ground nutmeg, Christmas ribbon candy, toasted oak, seashell, caramel, hazelnut, vanilla and cold butter aromas rising up and out of the glass with ease. In the mouth, it is super-spiced and decidedly tingly on the tongue—loaded with hazelnut, spiced pear, vanilla, butterscotch and oak flavors showing great push and vibrancy but also definite youthfulness. It’s very tasty today and already fine-knit in texture, but it’s destined to age tremendously well, with my advice being to revisit in about 3 years.

Red wines:

1998 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. From magnum. This wine impresses with its lifted bouquet of hoisin and blue fruit underscored by aromas of rhubarb, crabapple, funky dried sweat and foresty undergrowth. In the mouth, it’s quite healthy and able to deliver full-flavored tastes of wild brambly berries, plum sauce and soft spices supported by cool, earthy bits of smoldering coals. It’s surprisingly dense-textured still, but also sporting a tight vein of acidity. It never quite takes things to the next level, but it gives a lot of pleasure and still has a lot going on. I very much enjoy it.

2002 Sean Thackrey Petite Sirah Sirius Eaglepoint Ranch Mendocino County. From magnum. I’m not usually overly-enthused about Petite Sirah, but this is wonderful stuff from Sean Thackrey. It delivers a super-sexed bouquet of eucalyptus, menthol, blueberry, old leather, clean horsebarn and forest undergrowth aromas that wash over the senses. It’s juicy and loaded with wild blue fruit and zesty spices on the palate, undershot with a subtle streak of funky fur. Everything is in good proportion, and the texture helps it all go down so easily. It’s in a great spot, I’d have to say. I like it better than any of the three vintages of Thackrey’s Orion I’ve had, too, for what it’s worth.

1999 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Washington. From magnum. I thought this was showing a bit tight from the big bottle format, especially on the nose--where it shows cool scents of black cherry, dark earth, limestone and something that makes me think of volcanic rock. It’s sleek, controlled and polished in the mouth, with dark and refined flavors of blackberry, black cherry, charcoal and leafy accents. It’s young but the texture feels perfectly-knit, the balance is impeccable and there’s already fine staying power on the clean, taut finish. There’s a good deal of pleasure to be had here, but I know I preferred this from a 750 ml bottle a few years back.

1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley. From magnum. On the other hand, this wine is absolutely in the zone right now from magnum, putting forth a stunningly beautiful nose of cassis and kirsch, myriad other pure red fruit aromas, mocha paste, cocoa powder and gentle spices. In the mouth, it’s pure and loaded with cassis, raspberry and cherry fruit supported by a fine stony undercurrent that keeps it surprisingly cool and driven for all that pure lush red fruit. It’s drinking absolutely perfect for my taste, and there are excellent structural elements in place for this to age with ease, as well.

2000 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Réserve de la Comtesse Pauillac. From magnum. This is a rather leafy, peppery wine on the nose, showing a lot of tomato plant, green pepper, tobacco leaf, menthol and suede leather aromas. It’s a bit prickly in the mouth, with flavors of both red and black currant and peaty earth atop sharp and somewhat angular acidity. The fruit feels a bit tentative, and some folks said they thought it was too attenuated and past its peak, even in this format. After a night in the fridge, though, it feels better-balanced and less tough-skinned, so perhaps we needed to have given this a bit of a decant to get the best from it.

Sweet wines:

1990 Château de Fargues Sauternes. This is quite simply outstanding all around, beginning with the tremendous bouquet of rich, unctuous and full aromas of honey-drizzled apricot, nectarine, baklava, fig paste, yellow raisins, crushed pistachio nuts and rock sugar. It’s luscious and entirely lovely on the palate, loaded up with honey, orange, crème brulee and rock sugar flavors that are pure, gorgeous and beautifully wrapped inside a cloak of perfect botrytis spices. I can’t say enough about how delicious a wine this is.

1963 Caves Messias Porto Colheita. I’m no expert on this style of port, so it takes a few moments to adjust to what’s in the glass. For me, it’s light and a bit lifted in tone on the nose, with aromas of toasted walnuts, dried twigs and berries, white currants and yellow raisins. In the mouth, it’s on the light and airy side, with a real interesting salty streak to the crisp but driven flavors of chopped walnuts, yellow raisins, dried cherries and spirits. It grows incrementally sip after sip and in the end I came to really enjoy it—putting a nice cap on a wonderful night.


-Michael
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