TNs: 89 Pavie Decesse, 99 LLC, 12 du Tertre

[Michael Malinoski]

Four of us took the day off to pursue some leisure activity some time back, and to top off the day we had dinner and some nice bottles of wine back at our host’s home. It was a great day matched by some great wines.

2011 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords. This is airy, crunchy, light and lilting on the nose, showing fine scents of lemon, oyster shell, smoke, sea foam, green melon, flint and light herbs. It’s similarly bright and sunny in the mouth, with excellent acidity, balance and cohesion, featuring flavors of juicy grapefruit, minerals, salt, crushed shells and green melon. It’s refreshing and tasty all around.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. The nose here is totally open and outgoing, leading out with big aromas of black cherry, cranberry, shaved nutmeg, toasted stems, sassafras, black tea, stripped pine branch and steeped mushroom. It’s loaded with spice and wood notes but also some fine earth tones to go with bold dark red fruit. On the palate, it’s packed with vanilla, boysenberry, black cherry, allspice and black tea flavors that are smooth and free-flowing, with sweet edgings showing up all the way through to the barrel spice-laden finish. The alcohol seems fairly well-mannered for the volume and profile, and the wine shows good persistence and length.

1989 Château Pavie Decesse St. Émilion. This is quite nice on the nose, with fine layering and complexity beginning to emerge in the aromatic notes of plum, black currant, tomato paste, warm brick, grilled herb, pounded leather, fireplace ash and gentle spice. It’s well-fruited, with nice savory underpinnings. In the mouth, it’s full-bodied, with well-rounded flavors of plums, black currants, spices, smoke and dark earth. It shows quite nicely through the mid-palate, but is still showing hints of stickiness in the mouthfeel and maybe a slight deficiency of acidic lift at the very end. It’s otherwise giving and finely-realized, with great fruit and earth stuffing drinking quite nicely on the whole. For all that, I might prefer to hold it a few more years before pulling another cork.

1999 Château Léoville Las Cases St. Julien. This is utterly classic on the nose, delivering very inviting aromas of tobacco leaf, cedar, menthol, leather, green pepper, mixed red and black currants, plums, smoke and charred herbs presented in a package that really speaks to my tastes. It’s dark-fruited, cool and savory on the palate, with refined but slightly reined-in flavors of black currant, leather, tobacco and earth. It is a bit angular at times, but overall extremely enjoyable. For whatever reason, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it quite as much as I did, but it was nice to be so pleasantly rewarded.

2012 Château du Tertre Margaux. This is obviously young on the nose, but it’s already delivering some easy-to-enjoy aromas of ripe blueberries and plums, vanilla, oak, cedar, limestone and creosote. In the mouth, it’s well-structured but already fairly easy-drinking. It delivers smoothly-textured flavors of red and blue berry fruits, vanilla, oak and barrel spices that are pleasant now and that ought to find greater complexity down the road. The oak does grow a bit more intrusive as the evening goes on, but there’s a lot of engaging elements here to suggest this will perform even better down the road.

2002 Havens Bourriquot Napa Valley. This is delightful on the nose, with outgoing and sexy aromas of incense, black currants, cedar, mace and tar wafting up out of the glass with ease. It exhibits fine glycerin smoothness on the palate, giving up ripe, generous and lifted flavors of cedar-tinged blackberry fruit and exotic spices that are lovely and lush, tasty and outgoing. It has plenty of life and energy, with excellent depth of flavor and a pleasingly cool-tempered fruit expression that I like a lot.

2002 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This is pretty classic Napa Cab on the nose, with fine scents of black currants, black raspberries, dark cherries, tobacco and dry earth combining into a nice package. In the mouth, it has excellent texture and flow, even though it’s still a bit tannic down the middle. There’s very good presence to the core flavors of red and black currants, sweet cherry paste and classy earth. It’s not overly weighty, and overall it seems both approachable now and able to cellar for a while, too.

2005 Lewelling Cabernet Sauvignon Wight Vineyard Napa Valley. This is darkly smoldering on the nose, with rich, sticky black fruit aromas combining with scents of charred oak and barrel spices. In the mouth, it’s pretty big-boned and full-bodied, with sticky flavors of black cherry, black raspberry, charred wood, multi-vitamin and Christmas spices. Lewelling rarely seems to float my boat, but this one’s ok, not too overpowering at this stage of the game.


-Michael

[JimHow]

I think Gerry is holding some 2012 du Tertre for me, I've got get down there for my connection!

When does LLC ever disappoint…..

Thanks for the reports Michael.

[Michael Malinoski]

Jim, this was a bottle from Gerry's stash, so get it before he opens it all!

-Michael

[Nicklasss]

Thanks for that report. I had Pavie Decesse one time, the 2001, and hated it. But maybe it was just needing some more time.

LLC being my favorite wine, I' m happy this 1999 hit over expectation. But sooo pricey in latest vintages.

And count me as a fan of Domaine de la Pépière.

Nic

[Michael Malinoski]

Hi Nic,

Neither the 1999 nor the 2001 Pavie Decesse were among my favorite St Emilions drunk over the past several years, but I didn't find either of them particularly offensive, just big and thick and not particularly nuanced. They had nice fruit and plush texture, and while not really my style I found things to enjoy. This 1989 is a lot more complex, even showing savory elements in amongst the ripe fruit stuffing. I don't know if it is the vintage, a different wine-making team at the time or just some positive effects of added aging. Probably a mix of factors, but try some older ones and see what you think.

-Michael

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

+1 on the Pepiere.

[Gerry M.]

These days we get together are truly a blast and a great way to unwind. The LLC was a pleasant surprise given the vintage and the price I paid at auction. It was only the 2nd time I have had the 2012 du Tertre but came away thinking patience will be rewarded if I can hold off 10 years to really let things come together.

Jim, I made sure to separate your 6 bottles from mine in the cellar just to be safe