Week 3 - Virtual Tasting Series Charity - P and R

Theme: Wines with P and R in the name
Host: Jay Hack
Matching donors: Any takers?
Date: December 5th - December 12th
Format: $5 per Tasting Note

About the Charity: Puerto Rico Relief Fund

For Puerto Rican hurricane relief. Carlos gets to advise exactly who gets the money.

Wines with P and R in the name of the wine, excluding the name of the grape (NO WAIVERS. Just because it’s pinot noir doesn’t mean it counts). $5 for a tasting note, $10 for a tasting note with photo showing you and the bottle with the name displayed. $20 for a bottle of Petrus that you share with me. $5 extra per bottle if we get a political miracle on December 12, the last day of my challenge.

Yes, Raffault Les Picasses!. It has P and R, and is one of Carlos’ personal favorite. I know Jay adores this wine even more than Saxum. I now know what to pop.

I’m in for $100 if someone will match me. Our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters need our help.

And no, Jay, you cannot have the Petrus…

2015 Prager Riesling Smaragd Achleiten - So much promise here. High tension wiring of fruit, acid, stone, citrus peel, and heat (14%!) balanced like Karl Wallenda over Tallulah Gorge. Next show in 2022.

We had our annual white truffle dinner at Blackfish last night - as always, an embarrassment of riches, and I may be missing a bottle or two, but our “qualifiers” for Jay’s charity challenge were:

1990 Parusso Barolo Bussia (in mag)
1997, 1998 & 1999 Mascarello Monprivato

There is something innately deelish about the pairing of Nebbiolo and white truffles

Regarding the flight of Monprivato, all three wines showed well paired with a veal tenderloin - the '97 (a year which I generally hold in low regard due to the “overripeness” of many of the wines) really held it’s own here, and was nicely balanced. I would say that all three bottles are capable of providing current enjoyment, but if you only have 1 or 2, I would probably still recommend holding the '99, which was still fairly primary.

The '90 Parusso also drank well, but it was paired with a '90 Giacosa Falletto which was a little out of it’s league - that said, this is a modernist wine where the barrique has mostly assimilated at this point, and in magnum the wine is probably good for another decade or so.

Unfortunately, I was having too much fun (and alcohol) last night and forgot about taking any pictures

Jay, I’ll match your donation. Thanks for doing this. Will get back to you today with suggestions.

Oh darn! I had some late 90s Monprivato, but it appears to be all gone. I have 2 bottles of the 2003, which was a very hot year and some of the wines are, to be polite, a bit pruny, but some are outstanding. Maybe I will get lucky.

2012 Carlisle Zin Papera.
Thanksgiving wine, so no real notes. A hint of tannins. Some spice. A really nice wine.

2016 Paumanok Chenin Blanc
A starter wine on Thanksgiving. No notes, but previous bottles have been delicious.

Per the FMIII rule, prior drinking does not count, and Paumanok only has a P, no R, so you get double demerits. Must still be the jet lag

2016 Pine Ridge Vineyards Chenin Blanc Viognier - USA, California, Central Valley, Clarksburg (12/6/2017)
Being poured by the glass at a company party, this was refreshing and food friendly. The fruit was a touch tart, with a healthy acid backbone. Pretty nice for free bar pours.

Posted from CellarTracker

’95 Dom Perignon - First wine of the night. Round and creamy as DP with a few years of post-disgorgement age usually shows. Good yellow fruit, hidden acidity with sufficient effervescence for those that don’t prefer “aged” Champagne. Excellent

’96 Dom Perignon - Similar profile to the '95 but it had a some more fruit and hints of smoke. Excellent Plus

’95 Dom Perignon Oenotheque Disgorged in 2006. A little less round than the original disgorgement with more acidity on the finish. I usually prefer well stored original disgorgements over the same vintage of the later disgorged Oeno’s, but this is one vintage that is an outlier for me. My favorite disgorgement of all the '95 DP Oeno’s I’ve consumed. Staggering minus.

’96 Dom Perignon Oenotheque Disgorged in '08. Ok, back to the norm. Solid wine but doesn’t have the character of the original release. On its own, surely a great pleasure. In tonight’s line-up, Excellent minus.

The '95 DP Oeno was only one of the two '95’s I preferred over the same wine from '96 out of the eight 95 vs 96 wines consumed this evening.

’95 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill The last of the “mourning” labels. Also, not a perfect bottle with a bit of funk on the nose that eventually blew off, but the palate was solid from the get go. While the grape composition is the somewhat the same as the DP’s, both Winston Churchills show a bigger pinot profile. Very Good Plus.

’96 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill A wine I haven’t had in several years that I had become to believe wasn’t as good as it market price, but this bottle gave me some second thoughts on that position. Big Pinot, but not heavy with excellent acidity on the finish. Excellent

’95 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne My favorite vintage of CdC between 1976 and 2002 and the jury is still out if it will turn out to be my favorite since '76. Yellow fruit including sweet lemons, laser acidity with great length. Still youthful. Should be a 45+ year Champagne. My other favorite '95 of the eight side my sides. Staggering

’96 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Perfect bottle of this wine but it suffers being served after the '95. A mini '96. A touch less fruit, a touch less focus and a touch less acidity.

We had five other '95 vs '96 matchups but none of those had both a “P” and “R” in them. Excellent plus.

As always, Atera’s food and service were both world class at this relatively under the radar restaurant.

Hard to follow Ray’s post on some serious wines, but here’s mine, offered meekly, in the spirit of helping the people of Puerto Rico.
2008 Betz Family Cabernet Sauvignon Père de Famille - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley (12/6/2017)
Pop and pour and tasted with food and on its own.
Deep purple color. Noses of black cherries and some herbal notes. (I tried this in a burgundy wine glass and a Gabriel Glas universal - the herbal note was more pronounced in the burgundy glass).
Rich dark fruits with a striking note of acidity on the inital approach, smoothing out in the mid-palate and finish. Nice mineral/wet stone element that helps frame the ripe fruit. Tannins are present but not overpowering.
Nice wine. Could use more time in the bottle, however.

This got big scores on release. Nice wine, just a little too sweet and a bit disjointed for my palate. For fun, I tasted this in two glasses - a burgundy style and a Gabriel-Glas (from CF). The Gabriel-Glas was preferred. The burgundy glass emphasized the herbal and mint notes to the wine.

I very rarely post notes these days. Yours is the exact same reason I did.

Let’s make Jay pay!!

Stupid me - drank an Arcadian Purisima Mountain Syrah the other day. Should have waited until now!

you should get a $5 demerit for not inviting me.

FWIW, I just worked with my firm administration to make PR the central focus of our annual Christmas fundraising, which generally raises thousands. We have five employees with large families in Puerto Rico, so will work through them. Thanks, Carlos and Jay, for continuing to raise awareness here. It reminded me that our help is still relevant.

2009 Hospices de Beaune Corton Cuvee Charlotte Dumay - Elevage and bottling by Domaine Dujac. This wine has been drinking well for several years but shows no signs of not continuing down that same road. Barely any signs of age around the rim. Dark fruit and very elegant for a Corton. I typically don’t like to drink red Burgundies at this young age, especially those from Corton, but this is an exception (especially since I have a few bottles). Not profound but a perfect accompaniment to a shiitake mushroom pizza for lunch. Excellent.

Can you say “P.R.U.M.”

Seems a little off to post this after a 13-course sushi lunch with Prum and some other goodies, but at least this nets $110 for the cause.

2015 Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett. So mighty fine in this rich vintage, a ripe array of yellow and white citrus fruits, petrol, minerals and crisp acidity. Was gorgeous with sashimi, Uni, roe, and others. Also had the 2015 Carl Loewen Herrenberg Kabinett, another winner pairing. A much richer style, rounder style of Kabinett. Would have reversed the order had I known. But both excellent Rieslings.

Oops, just noticed that the label is clipped. Just focus on the capsule. Certainly the face alone is worth the coin.

2010 Clos de la Roilette Griffe du Marquis
Darkly tinted transparent ruby, no bricking
Promising strawberry-cherry aromas upon pulling the cork.
Soft, broad palate coverage, very fresh fruit flavors.
Unfortunately the nose and mid palate start to show a slight funky wet cardboard note.
The wine was more expansive on day 2, but still …flawed.

I think these will count…should have taken a dang photo. We din’t, so I will do this post sans photo. My god, I forgot how handsome that Alf Jr. guy is. I need some cold water to my face.

• 2013 Benoit Dehu Champagne Cuvée La Rue des Noyers Extra Brut - France, Champagne (12/6/2017)
  Ah ha, this was good. First of two bottles purchased. D/g April 2016, with a 2013 base wine. 100% Pinot Meunier. Zero dosage, yet it drinks with a terrific balance and fruit presence. Pours with a light peach color. Touch of yeast on the nose, beautiful crisp red fruited flavors. Finishes with a clean taste of lime and mineral. This was an excellent bottle of champagne and if this is how Benoit Dehu is doing his wines now going forward, count me in.
• NV Etienne Calsac Champagne Les Rocheforts Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne (12/6/2017)
  First of two bottles. D/g Feb 2017, with a base wine from 2014. The energy in this is subtle and there is some moderate complexity. The core of this is about green apple, lots of it, joined by some brioche. It also was interesting to me that with the 3 g/l dosage, it comes off richer to me than I expected, more accurately said, it seemed a little sweet. Was fine, not wowed by it.
• 1999 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley (12/5/2017)
  Picked this up on Winebid this past summer, using tonight for a small dinner I am hosting, pouring this blind. Opened about 90 mins ago, wanted to taste it and form an impression before I haul it to dinner later, to be paired as the final flight with a 2005 Pax Castelli-Knight syrah. This was the 3rd vintage for SR Cab, and I’ve not drank the earlier vintages of the CS so this is a cool experience. Labeled at 14.5%, so if true in ABV, it’s running low in terms of the current era ABV approach it seems for the NV cab culture. That said, I don’t sense any heat in the bouquet, which is something I was hoping for b/c I don’t like or care for heat in my wines. As a 1999, this has a beautiful solid core of fruit, with what is a touch of brett or barnyard lurking here. I don’t see a brett reference in the recent TNs below, and it’s worth saying that no one has posted anything on this wine since 2014–wow. I love the purity here, the palate shows a nice mix of sweet tobacco, cherry and what I want to say is a creamy-tinged red fruit finish. For sure, there is no black fruits here, no over-ripe or big signature. Fruit yes, but pure and lovely toned for my more fragile palate. Four hours later, we finished this over dinner where it continued to display the same youthful tone, with just some beginning notes of spice box/tobacco in the aromatic that reflects some of the early stages of age. I do not see this wine fading and with the balance of all the parts here still present, my bet is that it ages well.
• 2005 Pax Syrah Castelli-Knight Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (12/5/2017)
  Been a long time favorite of mine, maybe my all-time for Pax before the divorce occurred. I sourced this wine from Winebid over this past summer, to in part relive the memories of the wine from hiow I enjoyed it from its earlier days. It’s been open about 90 mins, slow ox’ing in the bottle. The cork was pain to remove as it came apart. Some heat on this bottle comes through the aromatic, mixing with a bloody note (which I hope will overtake the heat piece and really come forward later). The palate on this still continues to drink fresh and youthful. Like the aromatic, it’s showing the same bloody note, mixing with the darker cherry and tarry fruit. Even a bit of stem inflection is still in the palate, as I know Pax hit this with some whole cluster, and some of that still lives here, as an accent. As we worked through the bottle 4 hours later at dinner, it did expand and show a bigger frame, yet it maintains the bloody note, and also picks up some cooked meat in the aromatic. I do think the wine has finally reached maturity and with the one bottle I have remaining, I will enjoy it in 2018.

Posted from CellarTracker

2012 Fratelli Perata Tre Sorelle Paso Robles - Given to me by a friend, this is a Bordeaux blend. Not decanted or given any air, it showed lots of fruit with good balance and was quite enjoyable. Over the course of two nights the tannins grew stronger and eventually dominated the fruit. I visited Fratelli Perata in the 90’s and associated the winery with Zinfandel. I haven’t had any of their wines in years, but this is a nice effort.