Showing posts with label Lake Erie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Erie. Show all posts

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Aged Napa Cabs - Mondavi Reserve - Rubissow-Sargent

Aged Napa Valley Cabernets - Robert Mondavi Reserve 1992 - 1993 and Rubissow-Sargent Mt Veeder 1996

For a grilled sirloin steak dinner Bill & Beth showed up with a Robert Mondavi Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1993, so we trolled the cellar and pulled out a 1992 for a mini-vertical tasting. We'd already set aside a Rubissow-Sargent Mt Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 1996 which provided a good comparison tasting to the similarly aged Napa Cabs.

For an starter course Linda prepared grilled lobster tail medallions which we served with Penn Shore Lake Erie Diamond - a semi sweet varietal wine from the southeastern shore of Lake Erie at the New York Pennsylvania border appellation. This was a perfect complement pairing to the hearty lobster - standing up to the full bodied, chewy unctuous tangy Diamond with its essence and layers of peach, clove, vanilla, hints of honey, cinnamon and tangy citrus.  

We discovered and purchased this wine at the winery during our recent tour of the Lake Erie Appellation and featured the Penn Shore Diamond in a recent wine tasting.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1441210

We had already pulled and decanted the Rubissow-Sargent to commemorate our discovery with Bill and Beth, Eric & Cathy, and Jan & Bill during our winery visit on Mt Veeder during our Napa Valley Wine Experience last year.

To finish we open a  Herbert Triebaumer Ruster Ausbruch, Rust, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland,  Austria 1996/87. "Ruster" is the town where the grapes are grown in the appellation of Rust, while “Ausbruch” describes the method of selecting and picking the most perfectly shriveled & botrytized grapes. While at one time this was probably butter colored, this exhibited a bright reddish rust weak tea color with a medium body.  Gone are the layers of peach and apricot that have given way to smoke, quince, honey and tangy lemons with aromas of vanilla. 

RM 85 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1455246

Rubissow Sargent Napa Valley Mt Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 1996

This wine pays homage to the early years of Tony Sargent and George Rubissow producing hand crafted Bordeaux varietal wines from their mountaintop vineyard at the south end of Napa Mt Veeder. At sixteen years of age, this shows the aging potential of these early releases as this wine is still holding up albeit approaching the end of its prime drinking window.

Dark garnet and purple color, this was medium bodied with pleasant black cherry and black berry fruit aromas, and flavors with a layer of kirsch, anise, tobacco, leather and hint of cedar on a moderate tannin finish.

RM 86 points.

http://www.rubissowwines.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=5125


Robert Mondavi Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 and 1993

Bills note from Cellartracker - "Medium garnet color, very restrained nose. Took about two hours for this to open up. Upon popping the cork, this showed signs of being well past prime. Seemed carmelized and thin although the color showed no bricking. Between 90 and 120 minutes, this opened to reveal anise, mocha and graphite and some remaining tannins. Nicely complemented by grilled marinated sirloin with peas and mushrooms and herbed rice with Rick and Linda. Rick provided a 1992 Mondavi Reserve, creating a mini vertical tasting opportunity. Fascinating experience.

The '92 was the better wine, opening earlier with more depth and complexity than the '93 and a deep indigo color. Still not much on the nose. However, as the two opened over a 2 hour period, it was very interesting to see the wines come together in similarity and style. The common heritage became quite evident."


My notes - These two aged vintage cabs both are starting to show their age almost begrudgingly revealing the subdued fruits of modest vintages. They both were a bit closed and tight tasting more like aged left bank Bordeaux than vibrant Napa cabs. Aromas and flavors of black cherry, slightly astringent cherry fruit give way to weak tea, tobacco, leather and graphite. Both were decanted and aerated on opening. The '92 was more full and expressive early on opening, with brighter fruit, albeit subdued, while the '93 was a bit thinner, taking over an hour to reveal its fruit at which time it also showed a layer of anise with hints of mocha and a soft floral essence on the finish.

92 - RM 86 points. 93 - RM 85 points.   


93 - https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=97829

93 - https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=8821 

My earlier notes on the 1992 reveal a rather short drinking window, from 3/28/2010 - rated 89 points at that time: Wow, I probably drank most of this case of this Reserve too young!, like I did too many of my 80's decade Bordeaux'. For a long time, this was rather closed and tight, only to now open up to truly reveal its complex, full bodied dark cherry, black berry fruits and long nicely integrated tannin finish. Slightly astringent on opening but softened over time. Needs decanting for aeration and to collect the sediment

This was the second to last bottle of a case purchased upon release. It'll be drinkable for another year or so but will be nearing the end of its drinking window by then.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Alec's Blend, Robert Craig Affinity, Penn Shore Diamond

Celebration Family Dinner - Alec's Blend, Robert Craig Affinity, Penn Shore Diamond

For son Alec's last night home before setting off for the east coast embarking on his professional career, we gathered for a gala family farewell dinner. Linda served up tenderloin beef skewers, twice baked potatoes, green beans almondine, grilled lobster tails, and for desert her decadent flowerless chocolate cake with fresh berries and whipped cream. For the special occasion and gathering, to complement the tenderloin beef skewers of the surf and turf. we naturally served up some of our favorite wines - Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend, 2005, and perennial favorite Robert Craig Affinity Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 1997. To accompany the lobster tails we served a recent discovery, Penn Shore Winery and Vineyards, Lake Erie Diamond. We tasted and picked up this wine at the winery during our recent trip to the East Coast and the Lake Erie, Niagara and Finger Lakes wine regions.

Watch for more reports from our trip, wine discoveries and tastings.


Lewis Cellars Napa Valley Alec's Blend 2005

The 2005 Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend Napa Valley Red Wine Blend is a blend of 70% Syrah and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is dark inky purple color, full bodied, rich, opulent, forward fruit of black berry and black raspberry with a layer of blueberry, cherry cola and vanilla, smooth sweet oak and a hint of chocolate truffle flavors with highlighting silky chewy tannins on a long lingering finish. This is delicious - the most tasteful, fully flavored, smoothest and most polished Alec's Blend of all the vintages we have tasted.

RM 93 points. 

http://www.lewiscellars.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=393500  




Robert Craig Affinity Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1997


My Winesite features six tasting notes of previous bottles of this wine from the case we bought at the winery in Napa Valley a dozen years ago. This bottle was the most expressive of any in my recollection over the last ten years. It was rich, medium full bodied, dark garnet colored - fruit filled with black currant, black berry, raspberry, cassis and earthy leather reminiscent of a left bank Bordeaux with silky tannins on the finish. (82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc).

This wine is now more expressive than the earlier tasting notes, finally fully revealing itself and its full potential with lingering fruit and staying power. The 1997 vintage was praised at the time yet the panned follow on 1998 vintage has been more enjoyable over the last several years. Finally the '97 is awakening and revealing itself, when we're down to the last five of our twelve bottles. It will be fun to see how this continues to evolve, and how long it lasts in its glory.

This is Robert Craig's Cabernet Blend from his three mountains (Mt Veeder, Howell Mountain and Spring Mountain) and a (Napa) Valley collection. Known for its good value and early drinking ability, this fifteen year old is holding up well. We have these wines dating back to the inaugural 1993 vintage in our cellar.
RM 92 points.


https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=29715

From our Robert Craig vertical collection that is highlighted regularly in this blog. Click on the Robert Craig link for more features.

Penn Shore Winery Lake Erie Diamond

This month we traveled east and stopped enroute to visit the Lake Erie wine district which spans the south eastern shore straddling both sides of the New York and Pennsylvania state line. The area developed around the turn of the last century growing fruit for Welch's Grapejuice. Today, they take in 80000 tons of grapes per year. The Lake Erie Appellation evolved and grew to over 150 producers who produces a range of wines from Riesling and Ice Wine to Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc and even Pinot Noir.

We visited Penn Shore Winery and Vineyards, one of the first one encounters when heading east from Erie, Pennsylvania towards New York, on picturesque Route 5, the Lake Erie Wine Trail. It sits on the outskirts of the quaint town of North East. There we tasted a flight of wines including Noiret, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Vidal Blanc and Diamond - the highlight of the lot and the only NV (non-vintage designation). Diamond is actually the name of the grape varietal. It is grown locally but is not popular anywhere else.

The Penn Shore Lake Erie Diamond is honey colored, full bodied, rich, almost thick and syrupy. They say on the label it is semi-sweet with fruit character and this sums it up well. It has aromas of sweet petunias, vanilla and clove with flavors of vanilla, clove and a hint of honey turning to pink grapefruit on the finish. Its more suited to sipping unless consumed with dry aged cheese, or in our case, it was a great compliment to the grilled lobster tails of our surf and turf dinner. Its a great QPR (quality to price ratio)at under $10.

RM 88 points.

http://www.pennshore.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1441210

More to come.