TNs: All-American wine night

[Michael Malinoski]

Four of us got together at Ed’s house one evening to eat some take-out food and drink some wines from our cellars. The in-going theme was loosely defined as “just bring some American wines” and in the end this brought forth a lot of really interesting and delicious bottles that we tried to organize logically once we saw what folks had brought. It was a long fun night of debauchery as we worked our way through quite a few bottles.

Starter wine:

2006 Roederer Estate L'Ermitage Brut Anderson Valley. Our first wine of the night presents an outgoing and rather toasty bouquet of lemon ball, apple, pencil shavings and grilled bread aromas. It’s expansive in the mouth, with nicely frothed-up flavors of lemon, apple, toast and spice. It finishes perhaps a bit sour-fruited but it’s otherwise super-friendly, easy-sipping, bright and juicy. It’s quite nice but I don’t see it improving any, so I suggest enjoying it now.

Flight one:

1978 Stony Hill Chardonnay Napa Valley. This gold-bronze colored wine is showing beautifully on the nose, with really interesting aromas of butterscotch, hazelnut, lanolin, wool and allspice exhibiting many fascinating facets. In the mouth, it’s still grippy and giving, with a fine spherical smoothness to the full flavors of butterscotch, pie crust, browned apple, graham cracker and allspice riding atop a streak of slate and gun smoke. This slips across the palate beautifully, giving a tremendous showing. What a treat!

1983 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains. Even at 30+ years of age, the nose of this wine just seems to scream Mount Eden Vineyards chardonnay to me—with distinctive aromas of toasted oak, smoke, graphite, spun sugar, lemon ball, hazelnut and butterscotch showing fine lift and rich density. In the mouth, it’s wonderfully spicy and smoky, with tons of candied lemon, butterscotch, caramel, baked apple and pear flavors showing just great. This is another complete winner.

1990 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley. This dark yellow-colored wine is showing off really characterful aromas of crushed stones, chalk, smoke, herbs, buttered popcorn, caramel and cotton candy that combine into a very nice package. It’s bold and overt in the mouth, with fairly rich, oily, full-bodied flavors of vanilla, oak spices, lemon, butterscotch, chalk and clotted cream that come across as complex, layered and delicious. It doesn’t seem at all past peak, though it doesn’t really hold up that well for drinking the next day, so I might suggest drinking up for full enjoyment now.

2008 Peter Michael Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille Knights Valley. This wine delivers a beguiling, sexy, slutty aromatic profile of vanilla perfume, bohemian spices, clove, wet lumber, hazelnut, nectarine, lemon rind, orange blossom, peach pit and crushed stone that is tightly-defined but highly expressive all around. It’s wild and exotic in the mouth, driving out strong flavors of white peach, yellow apple, pineapple, nectarine and spice box with plenty of body but also poised acidity and structure. It’s a fantastic young wine with a long life ahead of it.

Flight two:

1984 Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noir Chalone. This is savory and herbal-tinged on the nose, with dark aromas of black tea, autumn leaves, black cherries, grape stems, sassafras and smoked herbs. In the mouth, it’s totally resolved but still showing a pleasant but fairly narrow beam of black cherry, cranberry, black tea, charred earth and toasted spice flavors. It’s not the most complex or concentrated wine at this stage, and the finish is a bit abrupt, so while it’s safe to say it’s past its peak, it still has some modest pleasure to deliver.

1991 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley. This wine is fantastic across the board, starting with its multi-layered nose of old leather, red licorice rope, smoked cherries, other milky red fruits, funky forest undergrowth, caramel, campfire ember and mushroom aromas that are wonderfully old-fashioned but also beautifully fruited at the same time. It’s totally delicious in the mouth, delivering beautiful flavors of candied cherries, raspberries, leather and musky earth that have nice sweetness to balance out the cool acidity and funk tones. It’s a fabulous pinot and drinking just perfectly right now.

2006 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard Sonoma Coast. This is obviously much younger than its flight-mates, but the nose is already showing wonderfully--lifting up out of the glass with gorgeous aromas of creamed cherries, raspberries, rhubarb, wild berries, bridle leather, horsehair, birch, lilac and soapstone showing tremendous purity, transparency and clarity. In the mouth, it’s loaded with bright raspberry, blueberry, spice and oak flavors that are delicious but still young and vibrant. It has impeccable balance and ought to drink quite well for some time to come.

Flight three:

1980 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection Napa Valley. The nose here features aromas of licorice, prunes, caramel, tar, grilled pepper and roasted bits of brambly berry fruit that smell a bit past peak. That impression is confirmed on the palate, where it comes across as roasted and tough-skinned in its flavors of cooked down cherries, spiced plums and bitter smoke. The finish is a bit weak and tired. It’s interesting to sample, but that’s about it.

1984 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill Napa Valley. This wine shows off a tightly-coiled but very beautiful aromatic profile on the nose, throwing out sultry and mysterious scents of menthol, black lava, black leather, bacon fat, tobacco leaf and toasted spices surrounding a cool, smoldering center of pure black currant and blackberry fruit. It’s just wonderful to sit and sniff. In the mouth, it’s finely layered but also impressively structured—with meaty, almost fudgy flavors of blackberry, black currant, singed iron, charred leather, multivitamin and black tea coming across as cool and reserved one moment and then fun and sexy the next. Over time, the tannins become more pronounced and drying, but this is one impressive and delightful specimen that ought to continue to drink wonderfully for years to come.

Flight four:

1995 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This wine is rather old-styled, with a lot of green tobacco, menthol and green pepper notes to go with plum, black currant, singed iron and rawhide leather aromas. In the mouth, it’s a bit straightforward, with leather, old wood, menthol, earth and rustic green streaks surrounding a center of candied red fruit flavors. It has a pretty easy flow and some interesting facets, but you have to be OK with the green personality to really enjoy it.

1994 Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red Napa Valley. This wine is decidedly saturated purple in color, looking quite youthful in the glass. On the nose, it shows rich and full-blown aromas of cherry paste, cassis, raisin, toasted spice and creosote. In the mouth, it’s rich, sticky, warm and tacky-textured. It’s big and fruity, but also still fairly tannic in nature, with hints of warming alcohol, as well. So, it’s still pretty young and formative in many ways, although there’s no denying the creamy-textured red fruit and intense spice character at the core of the wine. It’s not my favorite Pahlmeyer vintage to be drinking right now, but it will do.

1997 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This is wide open on the fun-filled and highly-inviting nose of spiced plums, blueberries, raisins, vanilla, cedar, incense and nutmeg. It’s sexy as heck and just coats the nostrils. In the mouth, it’s dark and plummy, full of blue fruit and spice rack flavorings that are enlivened by easy acidity. There’s a nice little streak of incense and funk toward the end, and the whole thing is just a fun, wild ride. Don’t think too much about it, just sit back and enjoy it.

Flight five:

2001 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate Napa Valley. This is beautifully sleek and dark-toned on the nose, loaded with concentrated aromas of black currants, dusty dirt road, baked cherries, charred embers, clay and toasted herbs. It’s stacked high and comes across as rather virile still, but it’s also showing some nascent aromatic layering and lovely complexity. In the mouth, the tannins and structure are certainly present, but the wine is deliciously pasty-fruited with all sorts of cassis, red currant, raspberry and cherry paste flavors that are delightful to drink. Nonetheless, it seems pretty obvious that a longer decant or a few more years in the cellar would bring even more out of this impressively-made beauty.

2001 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder Napa Valley. This is the blackest-colored wine of the night. The bouquet is seriously loaded, jumping out of the glass with wave after wave of incredibly concentrated, absolutely intense aromas of pasty-rich blackberry, black currant, fudge, tar and creosote that collectively grab hold of the nose hairs and simply don’t let go. As impressive as it is on the nose, it’s even more so on the palate, relentlessly pumping out slinky, sleek, lithe flavors of blackberry, black currant, blueberry, spices and fudge that are cool and tangy but also deep and dense. It doesn’t seem tannic at all, just draped over a strapping, hard-bodied shell of structure that’s impressive as it gets. It’s a hell of a wine and seems destined to last for decades, but I think another 5 years at least is warranted before approaching again.

Flight six:

1999 Kent Rasmussen Riesling Late Harvest Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County. This is deep gold-orange in color, presenting a rather mysterious and exotically rich bouquet of toasted orange peel, frozen persimmon, apricot, caramel apple, coconut and botrytis funk aromas. It’s dense and almost chewy in texture on the palate, with very sweet but enjoyably musk-tinged flavors of nectarine, tangelo, rock sugar and dried pineapple trail mix fruit. It has solid grip and a nice toothy finishing kick to round out a pleasant drinking experience.

2001 Covey Run Riesling Ice Wine Yakima Valley. Somebody managed to slip in this wine from Washington at the very end to prevent the night from being a 100% California wine-fest. On the nose, it’s unfortunately not really all that much to my liking, showing some iced tea, lacquered dark wood, caramel, burnt nut and mango aromas that do grow on me a bit with time but never really win me over. On the tongue, it is sweet, sweet, sweet. There’s some decent acidic lift to the flavors of sugar, apricot jam, marmalade, baked peach, lime, kiwi and iced tea, but the wine is fairly one-dimensional at this stage of its life. All in all, I’d say it’s ok, but nothing all that dynamic.


-Michael

[Nicklasss]

Very instructive report.

I really liked the peter Michael chardonnay that Harry brought to Bordeaux.

As you seem to Have some experience with the Caymus SS, when fo you think I should open the only vintage I own, the 2008?

I still need to sample some Au Bon Climat pinot.

Nic

[stefan]

The most surprising thing is how well the CA Chardonnays have held up.

[Michael Malinoski]

Thanks, guys.

Nic, glad you enjoy the Peter Michael Chards. I've probably posted about 50 notes on different vintages and bottlings from them here over the past several years--my wife can't get enough of them, so there's always an excuse to open some!

On the Caymus SS, I'm afraid I have no real great advice to offer. The mid-90's ones are drinking great, IMHO, but more recent vintages haven't really been nearly as appealing to me and I don't know if they'll age as well.

The ABC Pinot really blew us all away--that was just a tremendously good bottle and really opened some eyes.

Stefan--we really got lucky with the older Chardonnays. The 1977 Stony Creek from the same cellar opened 5 years ago was totally shot, over the hill. And a 1990 Kistler Kistler Vyd was a bit sloppy that night, too. So, some nights it just all works out. I'm grateful for those occasions!

Michael