Showing posts with label Fritz Winery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fritz Winery. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Big Cab Napa/Sonoma Trio Key Surf & Turf Dinner

Big Cab Napa/Sonoma Trio Key Surf & Turf Dinner

For an end of week Friday night surf & turf dinner, Linda prepared Sockeye Salmon and NY Strip steaks accented by rice pilaf, bacon wrapped green beans and baked potatoes and Beth brought a dinner salad. I pulled two 1995 Napa Valley Cabernets and Bill brought a Sonoma Reserve Cab to round out the big red flight.

The mini horizontal tasting staged Snowden and Pride Mountain Napa Valley Cabernets alongside a Chateau St Jean Reserve Sonoma Cabernet from Bill's cellar. We have visited each of these producer's over the years during our Napa/Sonoma Wine Experiences.

We were joined by son Ryan who snuck out of the to come over for an impromptu tasting.

We met with Scott Snowden as a featured producer at a dinner we hosted at Brix in St Helena back shortly after they were 'outed' by Wine Spectator Magazine in their feature 'An Undiscovered Dozen' about several emerging hot producers of Napa Cabs. Over the ensuing years, we met with and acquired each of the twelve labels of which we still hold many yet today. We hold a half dozen vintages of each of these labels opened tonight. They seem to be aging the same following the same aging profile.

After dinner fresh baked dark chocolate brownies with fresh berries and Beth's chocolate and crunchy butter toffee highlighted the red wines as much as the beef and pre-dinner artisan cheeses.

With the Salmon course we tasted:

Fritz Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2008.

Butter colored, medium bodied, slightly tart on opening with layer of acidity, tone of green apple, tropical fruits, hints of lemon and nutty almond.

We tasted this a month ago when the tartness and acidity conflicted with lobster tail and lemon, but tonight it complimented the sockeye salmon nicely.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=772492



Snowden Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1995

We still hold more than a half dozen vintages of this label from their early days through their first decade, and including some recent releases as well. 

Surprisingly, this was the most expressive of the three wines tasted tonight. There seemed to be a role reversal between the Snowden and the Pride from what I would have expected. Our tasting experience of the Snowden this night was consistent with my tasting notes of the previous tastings back in 2005 and 2007. 

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, aromatic black berry and black cherry fruits accented by tones of earthy leather, graphite, tea and herbs turning to anise on the lingering tannin laced finish.

Tonight, the Snowden had the same profile as before except that after a couple hours it opened to reveal a sweet Bing Cherry tone that lingered through the evening. The next day, this returned to black fruits with smokey black tea and anise the following day, with a slight mustiness set in, and it seemed to lose its balance and come across a bit flabby while maintaining its firm backbone .

RM 91 points. WS gave it 93 back on release.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=322981


Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 


We visited the winery high up at the top of Spring Mountain and acquired this wine back during our Napa Wine Experience 1999 and again in 2003. We also most recently featured this wine at our 95 Horizontal Cab tasting two years ago. Tonight's tasting experience of the Pride fit my tasting notes of the previous tasting back in 2013.

While my inventory says this is my last bottle, I found a mixed case with four more up on the top rack of the cellar. Nice discovery since this is aging well and promises to hold on for a few more years. 

Dark, full bodied, firm, initially closed and tight - decanted and set aside, after an hour and half it started to open up to reveal full complex dark blackberry and black currant fruits accented by anise, with hints of spice, dusty cedar, and a subtle dark mocha on the full firm lingering tannin finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=6236


Chateau St Jean Sonoma County Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

We visited the elegant Chateau and Estate in Sonoma Valley with Bill and Beth during our Napa Sonoma Wine Experience back in 2009 when we tasted and Bill acquired this label. Chateau St Jean is one of the classiest producers and wineries in Sonoma Valley with its expansive grounds of stylish gardens and old world style Chateau and accompanying buildings - one of the most picturesque and authentic old world style sites in the region. Its one of our favorite producers in Sonoma that we've visited on numerous occasions including that visit.

This was dark garnet colored with medium body. It was the most polished and smoothest of the three wines, partly due to the Sonoma Cabernets being a bit softer and perhaps also because this is a Reserve blend rather than a firmer narrower Napa Cab, and as such had less backbone and structure than the other two wines but was more complex. Dark berry fruits and predominated with tones of black berry, black raspberry and touch of black cherry turning to tones of subtle mocha, hints of leather and cedar, and smooth soft tannins on the moderate finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=659625


Good Grief.

Linda noted this the next morning as she unloaded the dish washer. Even for a seemingly simple tasting, five of us and four wines tasted .... we still managed to use a large selection of wine glasses, and this doesn't count or show the water glasses!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Pichon Baron and Viader 'V' 1999 Flight

Château Pichon-Longueville Baron and Viader 'V' Highlight Birthday Surf-n-Turf Dinner

For a family gathering for a gala birthday dinner, L prepared the ultimate feast, lobster tails and filets of beef. To pair with the entree's we served Fritz Sonoma County Chardonnay and Pichon Baron Pauillac, one of my favorite reds. Following the Pichon we pulled from the cellar Viader 'V' Proprietary Red Blend from the same vintage for a mini horizontal comparison. Son Ryan brought from his cellar a Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf-du-Pape. To complete the dinner we had baked potatoes and sweet potatoes and haricut verts. We were joined by Ryan, Michelle, Erin, Johnnie and Marleigh, Lucy and Richie.

After dinner we had celebratory chocolate cake with ice cream. 

Bill and Beth joined later for the second round wines which also included a Groom Shiraz 2004 for the ladies while the men focused on the Bordeaux Blends.

Fritz Winery Sonoma County Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2008

Butter colored, medium bodied, slightly tart on opening with layer of acidity, tone of green apple, tropical fruits, hints of lemon and hints nutty almond. Tartness and acidity conflicted with lobster tail and lemon.

RM 86 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=772492






Château Pichon-Longueville Baron Pauillac Bordeaux 1999

Following the last couple UGC Bordeaux tastings where this wine was one of the standouts, I selected this from the cellar to showcase my birthday dinner. This is classic Bordeaux at its best. Even though we PNP - pop and poured this without decanting, it immediately resonated from the glass with classic Bordeaux bouquet and flavors of dark berry fruits, graphite, violets and hints of smoky tar, tobacco and cassis. Dark ruby  colored, medium bodied, polished and nicely balanced, soft and almost delicate for a Pauillac, the tongue coating fine tannins are silky smooth on the lingering finish. At sixteen, this is likely at its prime drinking now.


RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2339





Viader 'V' Proprietary Red Blend 1999


We acquired a couple vintages of this limited release flagship Bordeaux Blend at the winery during our 2008 Napa Valley Howell Mountain Wine Experience, and then several more vintages at auctions. We met winemaker and principle Delia Viader at the Viader tasting at the Chicago Lakeview  Binny's.

I recall from the tasting at the winery that this blend features a higher percentage of Petit Verdot accented by Cabernet Franc, to compliment the Cabernet Sauvignon, which manifests itself as more firm, greater backbone and more predominant lead pencil graphite tones propping up the black fruits.

Dark blackish garnet colored, medium bodied, this opened with an obtuse acidic edge of black cherry that took a half hour to shed. Over the course of the hour it gained complexity and depth with concentrated black fruits punctuated by pencil lead, creosote and tobacco leaf. The longer it was opened the more it took on a layer of sweetness with tones of dark chocolate/mocha and sweet oak with gripping tannins on the moderate finish. This too is likely at its apex now at fifteen years.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=25929

Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 2003

Son Ryan brought this from his cellar for our celebration dinner.

This was tight and a bit closed with the fruits subdued and overtaken by a layer of black tea, tobacco leaf, with hints of creosote over the black berry fruits. This needs bold zesty bar-be-que to offset the tight firm black fruits and non-fruit layer.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=19857










Groom Barossa Valley Shiraz 2004

Fruit for this wine comes from vineyards directly adjacent to the renowned Penfolds Kalimna vineyard - source for their legendary Grange Shiraz, the Groom Kalimna Bush Block was planted with Shiraz in 1997 and produced its first crop in the 1999 vintage, and from another reputable quality Barossa vineyard, the Fechner Vineyard, which is home to 50 year-old vines.

This was fuller and richer than I remember from other vintages, dark garnet colored, full bodied with concentrated blackberry and black raspberry fruits accented by ripe plum, turning to a layer of caramel/mocha, vanilla and spice with hints of tar and leather on a chewy gritty tannin lingering finish. 

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=113265

http://www.groomwines.com/