Okay, here are my tasting notes. Hopefully @brigcampbell will add his since he’s much better at TNs than I am.
2022 Rosé of Grenache, Bates Ranch Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. Lean, barely-ripe strawberry, orange peel, melon, light spice. Drinks better as it warms.
2018 Chardonnay, Bruzzone Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. My favorite of the five chardonnays that night. I think the age for this bottling was a big plus, as it’s a big blast of lemony fruit on the nose and palate, white flowers, white pepper, long finish. Good medium density to the wine yet with a very clean, lifting finish.
2019 Chardonnay, Bald Mountain, Santa Cruz Mountains. Good heft to the midpalate, long lemony finish. Very successful use of just enough new light-toast high quality oak, to add some body without really adding oak type flavors. This will probably continue to improve.
2020 Chardonnay, Bruzzone Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. Fun to taste this bottling from different vintages. This shows a lot of potential but is less evolved, fairly packed still. Tart pineapple, light toast, tart pear, great acids. I think this will shine in a few years.
2021 Chardonnay, La Boeuf Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. The lightest bodied of the five chardonnays, more Chablis in style. Pineapple, honeysuckle, salted butter, lime. Drinking really well at this age. It was interesting to see which guests preferred this one over the others – there’s no right answer, of course, but sort of a Chablis v Cote de Beaune type preferential difference.
2021 Chardonnay, Mountain Winery Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. This was a fuller bodied, riper (relatively only) chardonnay from the estate vineyard where Mount Eden makes its chardonnay. Rob said he kind of went more towards the style that Mt. Eden makes, and he considers it sort of his gateway chardonnay for customers who start out with more mainstream expectations. But this is far from being supermarket styled chardonnay, of course (neither Mt. Eden nor S&H are in that style). You do notice a bit more oak and ripeness here, some nice spice dimensions, but really lovely.
2021 Pinot Noir, Deerheart Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. As the pourer and note-taker, I did get to sample this before it disappeared. Really impressive. Great tart dark cherry, light baking spices, sage, cool stony mineral. Has a transparent style to it, you really feel like you’re getting to experience wine from great grapes not covered up with any makeup.
2021 Pinot Noir, Mindego Ridge Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. Another gem. Similar to the Deerheart, maybe a bit redder/lighter in the fruit style. Tart red cherry, fresh strawberry, pine forest, cold mountain stream. These pinots remind me of some of the best of the new wave of young Burgundy producers making great pinots from some of the satellite regions.
2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, Bates Ranch Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. Poured into a decanter three hours the night before, then returned to the bottle to serve the next evening. Deep crunchy red fruit which tastes freshly picked at the first of its ripeness. Ripe green herbs, firm mountain tannins. Everything gives a sense of the cool, high altitude, pine forest vineyards. This drank well with the long decant, but should really improve over years and decades if you can sock some away.
At dinner, a few quick impressions:
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Mount Eden Pinot Noir Estate 2003 was going strong, lots of spice to match the elegant fruit.
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Big Basin Cabernet 2011 was right in its prime, good cool climate style cab, darker/blacker style fruit than the Sandar & Hem.
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2002 Pol Roger Winston Churchill was awesome, of course. Very big, rich, decadent style (Winston wouldn’t have it any other way), exudes its class and breeding in every way.
Anyone else have notes?