Pour Boys Pre-OTBN Wine Dinner
Fellow 'Pour Boy' Bill came back to town to attend our annual OTBN Wine Dinner tomorrow night to be hosted this year by Dr Dan, who joined us for a pre-OTBN wine dinner.
Linda served barbecue ribs and salmon with baked potatoes, baked beans and salad. Before dinner we had a selection of artisan cheeses, fresh salsa and fruits.
Our wine flight included:
As noted above, we opened this vintage first and was more complex, integrated, balanced and harmonious, overshadowing the lesser '06 that followed. In retrospect it would've been better had we done them in reverse order. Normally, we open older vintages first but we couldn't have imagines the degree of difference in just two years.
This got the same 91 point rating by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate as the '06 but it showed much more elegantly.
Deep garnet purple color, medium-full bodied, dense, complex, elegant, nicely balanced and integrated black berry and black currant fruits highlighted by dark mocha, floral, anise and hints of cedar and oak on a polished lingering finish.
RM 92 points.
This was a Bordeaux blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1069536
Fellow 'Pour Boy' Bill came back to town to attend our annual OTBN Wine Dinner tomorrow night to be hosted this year by Dr Dan, who joined us for a pre-OTBN wine dinner.
Linda served barbecue ribs and salmon with baked potatoes, baked beans and salad. Before dinner we had a selection of artisan cheeses, fresh salsa and fruits.
Our wine flight included:
Del Dotto Cinghale Vineyard Sonoma Chardonnay 2017
Rubissow Napa Valley Mt Veeder Syrah 2013
Elderton 'Command' Barossa Single Vineyard Shiraz 2002
Marquis Philips '9' McLaren Vale Shiraz 2002
Cliff Lede Napa Valley Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Cliff Lede Napa Valley Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Del Dotto Cinghale Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma Chardonnay 2015
Dan brought this from his cellar. This was a fitting selection since we were all together when we tasted and he acquired this label during our Del Dotto Cave Tour and Barrel Tasting at the Rutherford Estate during our Napa Sonoma Wine Experience 2017.
Rubissow Napa Valley Mt Veeder Syrah 2013
Bill chose this from our cellar. He wanted to try this as he recently acquired some Mt Veeder Syrah from Lagier Meredith whom we visited together during our Napa Valley Mt Veeder Wine Experience 2011. We discovered and tasted this wine when we visited the Rubissow estate high atop Mt Veeder during that trip.
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| With George Rubissow at the Rubissow vineyards and estate atop Mt Veeder |
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2586621
https://www.rubissowwines.com/
Elderton 'Command' Barossa Single Vineyard Shiraz 2002
We acquired several bottles of this label more than a decade ago shortly after release and realize like many wines, we consumed them too soon or too early in their drinking window. In several of those tasting experiences, this wine was tight and closed.
Tonight, this was much more vibrant and expressive, exotic but perhaps past its prime as it was taking on the raisin prune notes taking the place of the fruit.
My tasting and associated note in 2015 perhaps captured this wine at the apex of its tasting window when I wrote, "My last tasting of this was back in 2006 when I wrote "this wine was
more approachable than the first time we tried it - but it still needs
some time to meld and reveal its complex fruit". Well nine years later,
it is smoother and more polished and is certainly approachable with its
delicious melange of black and blue fruits.'
"Reiterating my initial tasting note when I wrote this was "huge, powerful, dense, richly complex, dark", tonight it was big, dense, rich and complex, but now is smooth and approachable with full forward fruits of ripe plum, candied cherry, black raspberry, and blueberry fruits with tones of black pepper, hints of anise and dark chocolate punched by firm intense tannins on a smooth and long finish."
"Reiterating my initial tasting note when I wrote this was "huge, powerful, dense, richly complex, dark", tonight it was big, dense, rich and complex, but now is smooth and approachable with full forward fruits of ripe plum, candied cherry, black raspberry, and blueberry fruits with tones of black pepper, hints of anise and dark chocolate punched by firm intense tannins on a smooth and long finish."
RM 90 points.
Marquis Philips '9' McLaren Vale Shiraz 2002
To compare with the Elderton Command above, we pulled another 2002 South Central Australian Shiraz for a mini horizontal comparison tasting of the vintage.
We hold nearly a decade of this label dating back to its earliest days. This vintage is the oldest and this is the last of our holdings of this release.
This release got 96 points from Robert Parker and 91 from Wine Spectator.
Dark inky purple color, full bodied, big nose of dark fruits with a layer of iodine accented by anise, notes of expresso on the long finish.
RM 92 points.
Cliff Lede Napa Valley Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Bill brought the 2008 vintage release of this label which was spectacular. For a 'mini-vertical' comparison I pulled from the cellar this 2006. We consumed the 2008 first which overshadowed this '06. Had we opened and consumed this first, it would've shown better and been more enjoyable.
This release was awarded 92 points
by Wine Spectator and 91 points
by
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.
Garnet colored, medium bodied, bright vibrant ripe red and black currant fruits with hints of dark mocha and expresso.
RM 90 points.
Cliff Lede Napa Valley Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
As noted above, we opened this vintage first and was more complex, integrated, balanced and harmonious, overshadowing the lesser '06 that followed. In retrospect it would've been better had we done them in reverse order. Normally, we open older vintages first but we couldn't have imagines the degree of difference in just two years.
This got the same 91 point rating by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate as the '06 but it showed much more elegantly.
Deep garnet purple color, medium-full bodied, dense, complex, elegant, nicely balanced and integrated black berry and black currant fruits highlighted by dark mocha, floral, anise and hints of cedar and oak on a polished lingering finish.
RM 92 points.
This was a Bordeaux blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1069536
