For the second year, COVID killed the International Pinot Noir Celebration (it will be back next year). In lieu of the traditional Saturday evening Salmon Bake, we staged our own. Fourteen of us, including a number of Berserkers, gathered in our back yard to celebrate. Ken Pahlow and Erica Landon did an excellent job of queueing up the wines and extracting corks (not a small feat with some of these older wines!). Erica, Melissa Mills, and the Passos contributed dishes to the feast to fill in around what we had prepared. All in all, it was a great evening!
We started with some champagne,
1996 Salon Blanc de Blanc - I found this a little closed, though others who tried it later said that it opened up and was terrific.
1996 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne - I loved this. Mature in a very good way, with bready, yeasty notes in great structure.
1996 Krug - This got squirreled away and I didnât get a chance to try it. Perhaps someone else can fill inâŚ
We then moved on to Chardonnay,
1994 Thomas Chardonnay - This is the third time Iâve had this wine, and I thought this was the best bottle of the three. John thought so little of this wine that he took a chainsaw to the vines. Whatever was wrong with the wine then isnât evident now. Good concentration, and still has a good acid base.
2003 Brick House Cascadia Chardonnay - Still alive and very good, but I think its best days were behind it.
2010 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet âClavoillonâ - Similar to the Brick House.
2012 Eyrie Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay - For me, one of the stars of the whites. Sappy, concentrated, a complete wine.
2014 Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet - Very good. Definitely had the Ramonet mint thing going on.
2016 Roulot Meursault âClos de Haut Tessonâ - This was my other star of the whites. Excellent concentration, great length.
2016 Walter Scott X-Novo Chardonnay - I didnât get a chance to try this. I think it ended getting drained at the other end of the tableâŚ
2019 Goodfellow Temperance Hill Chardonnay - Marcus brought what was left over from an earlier tasting. Young but very tasty.
We got to the Pinot Noir with dinner,
1993 Bethel Heights Southeast Block Reserve - Excellent. Still showing lots of fruit, with a number of tertiary notes as well. Well balanced. Probably could go another 10 years, but why wait?
1993 Beaux Freres - If I tried this, it didnât stand out. I think I was still drinking the Roulet when this came byâŚ
2001 Hamacher - Very good.
2002 Eyrie Reserve - This started out a little off, but eventually opened up and was quite good.
2006 Barthod Chambolle-Musigny âLes Crasâ - This was the star of the reds for me. The aroma from this wine just jumped out of the glass. Excellent wine with great concentration and a long life ahead.
2007 Cameron Abbey Ridge - A good wine, but lacked the concentration of the other bottles on the table. The difficulties of the 2007 vintage were evident in this company.
2016 DâAngerville Volnay âChampansâ - Tight and not showing much. In Kramerâs Burgundy book he mentions a vaguely âiron-likeâ quality to this wine, and it was evident to me in this bottle.