The ‘83 Clos Du Val was seriously OTH, the nose smelled cooked and I dumped the glass. I have never had a wine that smelled like that which had any redeeming value on the palate.
The ‘88 Ravenswood Sonoma County Zin is holding on. Tertiary nose but still some red and dark cherry fruit with totally resolved tannins.
The ‘92 Girard Napa Valley was just too,old. Everything dropped out and it was just kinda there with very faint flavors. Nothing off-putting but nothing of note either;
The ‘02 d’Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz still pours very dark with a black licorice and black olive nose. Black cherry and plum on a fairly soft palate turning red and chalky on the finish. Considering it fell off the table, dumped on Sheryl’s leg and fell to the cellar floor there was still over 1/2 a bottle remaining. All the alcohol must have created some buoyancy keeping it from breaking on impact.
The ‘02 Pax Pangea pours the color of old automatic transmission fluid but has a purple tinge to the edges. It’s the most youthful wine of the bunch with a fairly expressive palate of blueberry and black raspberry. Full bodied with a very chewy finish, this is just an adolescent with lots of growth ahead.
Another large format, this ’05 Pax Alder Springs Syrah is even more youthful than the Pangea with the signature black and white pepper on the nose along with some black olive tapenade. Viscous palate sporting ripe blackberry and white pepper. Big and tooth staining with a very chewy finish. No rush at all.
‘11 EMH Black Cat - Ruby red color, started out very earthy but a couple days later that resolved and now sports a nose of red currant, star anise and nutmeg. Tart red currant on a fairly lean palate with a hint of raspberry hard candy and peppery spice. Good balance, medium- bodied with a clipped finish. Tannins are very tame and the fruit falls off pretty quickly. Real nice right up to the finish.
‘18 Chiron Grenache “Berserker Day Monopole Crü Exclusive” - Pours very dark crimson for a Grenache, spicy, earthy nose which rolls right over to the palate. CdPish profile, on the young side obviously. I’m going to revisit this jn. Couple days.
‘18 Chiron Petite Sirah “Berserker Day Monopole Crü Exclusive” - Ok, this one is big, black as night, wound up tight, just a monster of a wine. Mouthful of blackberry, coffee and cocoa, thick and tooth staining with a huge tannic grip. This wine could go decades and not relent. If you bought one of these I suggest you hide it.
2011 Bedrock North Coast Syrah - This one spent the first three years of its’ life under the stairs in the downstairs bedroom closet before I had enough active cooling. I think it lead to some premature aging based on the fading color and bricking edges. Nose of menthol, garrigue and bramble. Peppery dark cherry, crushed stone and chalk. Chewy and tart on the finish. Solid showing considering it was abused as a child.
’15 Chateau de Saint Cosme “Hominis Fides” Gigondas
This wine was off, heavy raisin notes on the nose and palate. Couldn’t drink it.
’13 Ladd Pinot Noir Moore Ranch
A dark brick red color with woodsy tertiary notes on the nose but also strawberry and sandlewood. Strawberry compote up front with some tangy acid turns to a creamy strawberry cherry palate with a nice dose of chewy tannins. Very nice.
‘18 Boheme Pinot Noir English Hill Vyd Sonoma Coast
Young and sassy. Fresh juicy strawberry and cherry nose, crunchy strawberry rhubarb and red cherry palate bursting with lively acidity. This wine screams drink me. Reminds me a lot of Kutch McDougall, a real tasty Sonoma Coast Pinot here.
Glad you liked the '05 Pax Syrah. I drank a bit that night, and it was really young and tight, but enjoyable and better with swirling.
I really enjoy Gigondas, probably more than CdP, but I’ve been disappointed by every St. Cosme wine I have ever tasted, so I avoided that one. Glad I did.
The Chiron PS did not seem that tough to me, was pretty drinkable young. I suspect Bobby might take exception because he claimed it was the most approachable young PS I would taste.
I spent a lot of time with Eric Ladd at the party, talking about his chard, mostly. Missed that PN. Sounds delicious, as did the Boheme.
I tasted the Chiron Petite Sirah with Bobby in March. At the time, no words; it was that good. Now: Rich, thick, big–yet graceful–with a wonderful, hard to describe texture. Amazing wine, I am jealous of anyone who has some.
It’s been crazy around here with trying to offload Jimmy and all.
Mike Bruce came over today and we had some more of the Chiron Petite Sirah, yeah that one, after two weeks open. Still drinking young, pours dark as molasses, good balance of big fruit, big tannin, big color extraction and big acidity out of a big 1.5L bottle. Also popped a Mo YEAH! and an ‘18 Kutch Sonoma Coast Pinot. Both drinking subperbly.
That Chiron is immortal:really impressed. The Mo yeah! has interesting aromatics at low abv. Kutch SC was better than I remembered with many years ahead of it. Fun wines.
Ok, here’s a good one for you. Today is September 9th the mag of 2018 Chiron Berserker Day Monopole Crü Petite Sirah has been sitting on my countertop under cork for 8 weeks now. It’s been through a 115° heat wave and 6 straight days of 100°+ weather after having sat 7 weeks after being opened. I went to pour it out tonight and said WTF, pour a splash.
The nose has Sherried a bit and there is a hint of Sherry on the palate, but otherwise this is still a big bruising Petite Sirah with glass staining color, teeth staining extraction, gobs of fruit, chalky tannin and a long finish framed by tangy acidity. Which goes to prove that Petite Sirah is nearly indestructible and drinking windows on it are endless.
Boheme is a very under rated producer of excellent pinot. Their tasting room is in Occidental. They use very high quality juice from the Sonoma Coast, such as Taylor Ridge, Stuller, and English Hill. The winemaker really knows what he is doing. Small production, and fairly hard to find. Nearly as good is Paul Matthews, nearby in Graton. Their TNT and Ruxton pinots are gorgeous.
