Showing posts with label Pahlmeyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pahlmeyer. Show all posts

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Wedding Wines - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues

Wines for a Wedding Celebration - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues with Quivira Cabernet Cuvee' Imperial, Pahlmayer and Pieper Heidseick Magnums - and Top Rated Birthyear Vintage Wines

The family gathered in Conneticut for son Alec and Vivianna's gala wedding weekend; we started off the festivities with a dinner with the wedding party, generously hosted by the B's, our new in-laws. 

The Big Green Truck with its on-board Pizza oven was on-site and prepared a broad selection of custom hand-made pizzas made with the finest ingredients and toppings. 

It was a perfect food-wine pairing with the California Cabernet Cuvee' Bordeaux Blend from Alec’s birthyear vintage, served from a 6 liter large format Imperial bottle I brought from our cellar collection for the occasion, as well as several other wines served.

As I presented the big bottle, I discussed the irony of it being one of our 'V' wines, this one also featuring a boat on the gold painted bottle, in light of the fact that I acquired this bottle decades ago in anticipation of this event. 

Frank B, father of the bride is an avid boater and the wedding party men spent the afternoon on his boat cruising the Westport and Southport Conneticut coast of Long Island Sound (below).

The special limited release commemorative bottle was signed by Quivira Vineyards and Winery founders and then owners, Henry and Holly Wendt. It came packaged in its own OWC, Original Wood Case
 
Quivira Vineyards has a long history of significance in the evolution of grape growing and winemaking in Dry Creek Valley
 
Founders Henry and Holly Wendt sold the property in 2006 to current owners Pete and Terri Knight. They were struck by Henry’s vision for better wine through innovative vineyard management using biodynamic and organic farming techniques. 
 
Since purchasing the winery and vineyards in the summer of 2006, Pete and Terri rallied the Quivira team around a strong sense of purpose and focus on a ‘sustainable, holistic approach’ to growing grapes in the quest of producing distinctive wines. 
 
Today, Quivira’s philosophy is driven by the mission and vision of quality shared between winemaker Hugh Chappelle and owners, Pete and Terri Knight. Together, they have invested in the vineyards and winery with the intent of growing wines based upon the ‘thoughtful commitment to sustainable and organic farming’. 
 
Quivira Vineyards, today, is a leading producer of terroir driven Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rhone varietals.

Quivira Dry Creek Cabernet Cuvee' 1990

This 1990 Cabernet Cuvee' was sourced from select grapes from the Quivira estate vineyards in Dry Creek Valley at the confluence of Wine Creek and Dry Creek in Healdsburg, Sonoma County. It is a blend of Bordeaux varietals, 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc and 21% Merlot. Cellartracker records show this label was produced in the years 1987 through 1992.  
 
I've written in these pages about the impact a large format bottle has on the aging of wine, extending the life and drinking window of a wine due to the larger vessel and its reduced air to wine surface area and greater volume for increased stability for more graceful and consistent aging. 
 
This wine exceeded my expectations with its drinkability, still showing vibrant fruits and showing little sign of diminution from aging. This is most certainly attributable to the large bottle and to the quality of the 1990 vintage harvest. 
 
Sons Alec and Ryan, the groom and co-best man, carefully removed the wax capsule seal and extracted the cork, in near perfect condition, using a Ahso, two pronged cork puller. Shown below with our host, father of the bride, Frank B, and the boys, the 6 liter Quivira.

Thus was dark inky purple garnet colored, medium-full bodied with vibrant black berry fruits accented by notes of mushroom, smoke, oak and hints of black tea and cassis with a nice smooth integrated tannin laced finish. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=606516

https://quivirawine.com/

https://twitter.com/QuiviraVineyard

The wines continued the following evening for the wedding banquet served in a magnificent setting on the lawn under the tent in the yard overlooking the Sound. 
 
Following the Quivira, we opened another large format bottle, a magnum of Pahlmeyer Napa Valley Caldwell Vineyard Red Blend, also from the same birthyear vintage year 1990.  
Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red is a classic Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, all sourced from the Estate Caldwell Vineyard. 
 
I wrote about this wine when I served a companion magnum of this bottle and label during a family gathering earlier this summer, the week of the original planned wedding event before being postponed due to the Covid Pandemic. 

To round out the flight of wines for the evening, Alec served his namesake signature wine, Alec’s Blend Napa Valley Red Wine from Lewis Cellars. This is another family favorite label from a favorite producer, featured often in these pages.

Son/brother Ryan gifted six bottles of recent releases of this label to Alec, and I swapped them with a vertical tasting flight from our cellar from the ‘99, ‘01, ‘03, ‘05, ‘07 and 2009 vintages. These were served alongside the current 2017 release. 
 

Following the wedding weekend, the bride and groom headed off to Napa to pay homage to the vines and visit several family favorite producers including Lewis, Del Dotto and several others, firestorm permitting. Alec and Vivianna have a planned visit to the Lewis Cellars Winery in Napa on their re-planned Honeymoon to Napa Valley.  

 
We also served for the weekend another bold vibrant proprietary red blend from Venge Cellars. Venge Scout’s Honor features a prominent ‘V’ on the label, a fun whimsical play on the initials for the bride Vivianna and a testament to the vineyard dog Scout of the Venge family, and a tribute to Alec and Vivianna’s new dog, Camella. 
  
Venge is another popular label and a family favorite. We have known and collected wines crafted by Nils Venge, the first California producer to craft a 100 point wine from the pundits, since his early days as a producer, and when he was consulting winemaker to several popular labels including Plumpjack, Del Dotto, Fantesca and others. 

Following the wedding ceremony, Frank and Mary-lisa, Vivianna's parents, hosted a magnificent gala celebration dinner in a tent on the lawn at their home overlooking Sherwood Island and Cob Cove on the Long Island Sound. 
 
The spectacular dinner featured prime filets of beefsteak and salmon entrees. This was a much abbreviated scaled down celebration from the originally intended and planned banquet at their club, which will now be rescheduled for another time. 
 
To contribute and join in the celebration dinner, I brought from our cellar a flight of very special wines I have collected over the decades and held for this occasion, from the birthyear vintages of the bride and the groom.
 
Three of the wines were each awarded #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator Magazine as part of their annual Top 100 Wines of the Year, all from the 1990 vintage. A testament to the global success of the vintage, one was from California, one from Bordeaux and one from South Australia, a further testament to the amazing spectacular 1990 vintage
 
All these wines were acquired upon their release back in the early nineties, in some cases, even before being so recognized and heralded. 
 
Three #1 Wine Spectator Top
100 Wines from 1990 vintage

I blogged about these wines and big bottles in a preview to this weekend's gala festivities. 

Chateau Grand Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux 1990 

This 1990 vintage release was the Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1993 and was awarded a perfect 100 points. We also served this wine from a six liter Imperial from daughter Erin's 1981 birthyear vintage, at her and son-in-law Johnny's wedding celebration.

Erin, Johnny and Fort family
at Sean & Michelle's wedding

Penfold’s Grange (Hermitage) McLaren Vale Shiraz 1990

This 1990 vintage release of this label was the Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1995. This was the concensus WOTN - Wine of the Night by many in the group, especially the younger generation. I acquired an OWC - Original Wood Case of his wine back on release. I remember obtaining it at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London and hand carrying back on the flight, back in the days when such activity was allowed. 
 
 
My notes from that previous tasting earlier: Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, flawless, elegant, polished, harmonious, perfectly balanced, silky smooth flavors of concentrated black berry and black raspberry fruits with notes of vanilla, licorice, spice, black truffles and oak with hints of spice and cedar turning to fine grained tongue puckering tannins on the long lingering finish.

RM 96 points.

Caymus Special Select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 and 1991

This 1990 vintage release was Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1994. The 1990 vintage was so successful that nine of the Top Ten Wines of the Year in 1994 were from the 1990 vintage.  

To further celebrate the nuptials, I also brought several wines that we happen to hold in our cellar from the birthyear vintage of the bride including the Caymus Special Select 1991, in addition to the heralded #1 1990 vintage. Testament to this producer and their run of great releases, the 1991 was awarded the #2 wine of the Top 100 Wine Spectator Wines of the Year 1995. So, this mini-vertical duo of back to back vintages were #1 and #2 respectively in the Top 100, likely the first and only time that I can find that this has happened. 
  
 
I also brought back-to-back '90 and '91 vintages of Silver Oak Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. Had the Coronavirus pandemic not derailed the couple’s original wedding plans, I was prepared to serve Silver Oak Bonny’s Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 from six liter bottles, (serial numbers 41 and 44). They remain stored in our cellar in their OWC - Original Wood Cases (shown below). We will hold these for (a) future celebration occasion (s). 
 
We served the 1982 vintage of Bonny's Vineyard from son Ryan's birthyear vintage at his and daughter-in-law Michelle's (below) wedding celebration, along with a horizontal collection of other birthyear vintage wines, several from large format bottles. 
 


 
We also served 1990 and '91 vintage Flora Springs Trilogy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
 
We also brought along and were prepared to open but didn't get to them, bottles of Dunn Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 1990 and 1991. 
 
In all of these comparison tastings, the 1990 vintage showed significantly better than its 1991 counterpart, evidence that vintages matter. I've written in these pages that often, off-year vintages can out-perform, and, that in top exceptional years, all boats rise with the tide, and second and lesser labels can also be exceptional, often providing great QPR (quality price ratio) values. Tonight, though, we were fortunate enough to serve and partake of the best of the best - best wines of the best vintages!
 
We are still holding and looking forward to opening from our cellar collection birthyear vintage bottles of our kids and our anniversary years from our horizontal and vertical collections of several favorite Bordeaux producers including Chateaux Leoville Las Cases, Ducru Beaucaillou, Palmer, Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Gruaud Larose, Chateau d'Yquem and a few others. We're still holding many of these as they appear to have longer drinking windows and hence can be held a bit longer. We visited several of these Chateaux during our Bordeaux region trip last year. We'll look forward to featuring them in future family celebration tastings.  
 
Author, Rick & Linda,
groom's parents
After dinner, with the wedding cake, we served from our cellar Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguay and Chateau Suideraut Grand Cru 1990. We're fortunate to hold some Chateau d'Yquem 1990 as well, but will hold this for appropriate celebrations in the future due to its extraordinary long aging and drinking window. We were also prepared to open and will also hold for future events a Warre's and a Dow’s Quinta de Cavadhina Ports from 1990.
 
 
Prior to dinner, and throughout the evening, we served large format magnum bottles of Pieper Heidseick Special Edition Champagne (above). 

Lastly and notably, this follows by just three weeks the wedding celebration and serving of other large format and birthyear wines at son Sean's and daughter-in-law Michelle's wedding earlier this month

Michelle and Sean, newlyweds of
three weeks at A-V's wedding

 

Friday, September 11, 2020

Jayson (Pahlmeyer) Proprietary Red 2016

Jayson (Pahlmeyer) Napa Valley Proprietary Red 2016
 
Visiting dear friends Bob and Gloria in So-FLA to console them in a tragic loss, we took this bottle in a respectful tribute to their departed son Jason. We've long collected this wine in commemoration of Jason, but expected it would be for some appropriate joyous celebration occasion. Regretably, we consumed this under very different circumstances, but want to share it with dear friends and gathered family. 

We last tasted this wine with Bob and Gloria during our visit back in March, our last getaway or outing prior to the Coronavirus shut-in. We took a 2004 vintage release of this label from our cellar for that visit.

This is Bordeaux blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot, sourced from Napa Valley estate and contract grower sources. It was aged in 22% for fifteen months in New French Oak barrels, then bottled with minimal fining and filtration.
 
The flagship Pahlmeyer Napa Valley Cabernet for this vintage was highly rated receiving 97 points from Vinous, 96 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, James Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck, and 94 points from Wine Spectator. The Jayson blend shares some of the same cabernet fruit ias the flagship, albeit the most select lots are used in the premium label.

Jayson (
Pahlmeyer) Napa Valley Proprietary Red 2016
 
This was spectacular, bright garnet colored, medium full bodied, thick concentrated but nicely balanced and integrated black berry and black raspberry fruits with notes of bittersweet chocolate, spicy oak, hints of cedar and subtle licorice with full but smooth tannins on a long finish. 
 
RM 93 points.  

https://www.pahlmeyer.com/wines/jayson/jayson-red/2016/

 https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2016/11/pahlmeyer-jason-napa-valley-red-wine.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=296642

https://www.pahlmeyer.com/

https://twitter.com/Pahlmeyer 

 


Sunday, June 21, 2020

Pahlmeyer Caldwell Vineyard Napa Valley Red Blend 1990

Pahlmeyer Caldwell Vineyard Napa Valley Proprietary Red 1990

For Fathers Day, after a golf outing with my three sons, we had a gala family dinner. Daughter Erin and her family were in Florida. With son Alec in from NYC we pulled from the cellar a birth-year vintage magnum of Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red for the occasion.

In a non-Covid world, we would've been drinking this bottle this week in celebration of Alec and Vivianna's wedding, but that event has been pushed back due to the travel and gathering restrictions in the NYC Tri-state area.

Linda prepared grilled striped sea bass, sea scallops, barbecue ribs with sweet corn, potato salad and wedge salad.

Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red is a classic Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, all sourced from the Estate Caldwell Vineyard.

Produced in limited quantities, each variety in the blend is harvested and held separately throughout fermentation and barrel aging. The lots are aged an average of 18 months in French oak Bordeaux barrels.

A successful trial attorney, Jayson partnered with John Caldwell, owner of a 55-acre site in south-east Napa Valley. Together, they began planting French clones of red Bordeaux varieties.

“All I wanted to do was to create my own ‘California Mouton’ – a rich, powerful Napa Valley Bordeaux blend, a wine that would drop wine lovers to their knees,” says Jayson Pahlmeyer.

After years of seeking assistance from viticultural professors at the University of Bordeaux who analyzed the soil samples, exposure, rainfall and temperature data, Jayson and his partner were able to acquire Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec vines and managed to smuggle their “suitcase clones” to the U.S. through Canada.

Planted in 1981, the French cuttings slowly adjusted. In 1986, with the help of Randy Dunn, one of California’s foremost winemakers, the Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red was made and launched.

Helen Turley took over winemaking in 1993 and further improved the quality and consistency of Pahlmeyer wines. Jayson’s daughter Cleo joined the team in 2008.

Today, the winemaker is Bibiana Gonzalez Rave. She received her oenology degree from the University of Bordeaux and has worked at estates in Bordeaux, the Rhone Valley, Santa Barbara County, Sonoma Valley and other locations in addition to Napa Valley. She was named Winemaker of the Year for 2015 by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pahlmeyer Caldwell Vineyard Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend 1990
From magnum, the cork and fill level were perfect after thirty years of age, another indicator of the conditions in our cellar for proper aging.

Deep ruby/purple color, medium-full bodied, moderately complex, well-balanced ripe currant and black cherry fruits, aromas of smoke, cassis, tobacco and spicy oak, followed by full tannins and acidity on a lingering finish. At thirty years, I sense the fruits were starting to fall off a slight bit to give way to non-fruit acidic notes of tobacco and smoke.

Repeating notes of a fellow Cellertracker, JIMN, "Probably time to drink up in the normal format, but the Mags should hold well for another few years."

Like Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, I give this 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=332

https://www.pahlmeyer.com/

Monday, August 28, 2017

Jayson Neiman Mini-Horizontal Tasting Flight

Jayson Neiman Mini-Horizontal Comparison Tasting Flight

Dear friends, 'brother' Bob and Gloria visiting from South Florida, Linda prepared grilled tenderloin steaks and roasted potatoes and asparagus spears. I pulled from the cellar two special wines, Pahlmeyer Jayson Napa Valley 2004 and an accompanying horizontal Neiman Cellars Napa Valley Red Blend.

We often serve Jayson label wine with Bob and Gloria in tribute to their oldest namesake son. This afforded the opportunity for a mini-horizontal comparison tasting of two similar wines, each with distinctive terroir and styles. Indeed, the last time we served this wine was with Bob and Gloria during our 'last supper' together on the eve of them moving to Florida last winter.

This was an interesting comparison of two wines where the Pahlmeyer overshadowed the Neiman by a fairly wide margin. I am not sure the disparity would have been as apparent if they weren't tasted side by side. Too bad for the Neiman, which against the Jayson, didn't live up to my recollections or expectations.

Pahlmayer Jayson Red Wine 2004

The Cellartracker tasting window lists the wine tasting window for this wine through 2013. While we often tend to hold and drink our wines long into or even past their tasting window, in this case, this wine seemed still be at its apex, while not likely to improve further with more age. I updated Cellartracker to 2018.

Like the previous tasting, "Upon opening, sweet floral and berry aromas burst forth and filled the room. Dark garnet purple colored, medium full bodied, bright vibrant full forward flavors of black raspberry with tones of blueberry, sweet currants, tangy spice and hints of sweet caramel and whisper of tobacco leaf with nicely integrated sweet tangy oak on the lingering finish."

RM 93 points.

This is Pahlmeyer's Right Bank Bordeaux style Blend (meaning predominantly Merlot over Cabernet Sauvignon) -  60% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Perhaps the predominant Merlot in the mix attributed to the softer more approachable style.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2016/11/pahlmeyer-jason-napa-valley-red-wine.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=296642

Neiman Cellars Red Wine 2004

Similar to my earlier tasting notes, this tasted more like a Bordeaux than a Napa Red Blend, with slightly more subdued fruit with more non-fruit accents such as leather, cedar and tobacco. As written earlier, "This tasted like a vibrant expressive Bordeaux, full forward complex berry fruits accented by floral, leather, tobacco leaf, some slightly earthy tones and long lingering notes of cedar with a smooth polished tannin finish that resonates with silky floral cedar mouthfeel long after tasting."

Tonight I gave this 91 points, one less than the previous 'stand-alone' tasting, perhaps due to the positioning vis a vis the bigger,brighter, more robust and sweeter Jayson. Notably, this wine is 1/3 less expensive than the Pahlmeyer, thereby perhaps delivering equivalent QPR (quality price ratio).

RM 91 points.

According to the rear label, only 230 cases were produced of this release.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=914199

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/05/eyrie-robert-morris-special-dinner-and.html

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Pahlmeyer Jason Napa Valley Red Wine 2004

Pahlmeyer Jason Napa Valley Red Wine 2004

Dear friends Bob and Gloria are moving to Florida so we took them to dinner at Angeli's Italian, our favorite neighborhood trattoria. To commemorate the occasion I took a bottle I have been holding for a special dinner with them, Pahlmayer Jason, a namesake bottle of their eldest son. We have several bottles of this vintage label in our cellar that we have been holding and it appears we have been rewarded for being patient as this is drinking splendidly at a dozen years of age. Reading comments on Cellartracker that this needed more time when tasted young, this could be at the apex of its drinking window now, not likely to improve further, but really nice right now.

Upon opening, sweet floral and berry aromas burst forth and filled the room. Dark garnet purple colored, medium full bodied, bright vibrant full forward flavors of black raspberry with tones of blueberry, sweet currants, tangy spice and hints of sweet caramel and whisper of tobacco leaf with nicely integrated sweet tangy oak on the lingering finish.

RM 93 points.

This is Pahlmeyer's Bordeaux Blend -  60% Merlot, 
38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc, 
1% Petit Verdot.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=296642

https://www.pahlmeyer.com/wines/jayson/jayson-red/2004/

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Black Stallion Napa Cabernet - Pahlmeyer Jayson

I met up with dear friend Colonel Don Z for dinner at the Fat Canary Restaurant in the heart of historic Williamsburg, VA with colleague Danny A. When the ships sailed from the Old World to the New, they stopped in the Canary Islands for supplies. One of the important provisions brought aboard was wine, referred to as “Canary.” This fine dining restaurant is named after a reference in the Colonial Era playwright John Lyly's poem, "Oh for a Fat Canary - rich Palermo sherry ....".  A pleasant setting with great selection of starters, salads, supple soup, seafood and meat entrees with a carefully selected wine list of favorites and tempting offerings.

I saw Don's fast pace gait as he approach and soon learned he was excited and eager to meet and to share this wine discovery that he brought for our dinner - Black Stallion Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. He had this recently up in Oregon and promptly ordered some to be shipped in for our dinner. It was a worthwhile effort as this wine was indeed a great discovery and highlight for a wonderful dinner. I ordered a bottle of a favorite - Pahlmeyer Jayson Red Wine to compare and complement the dinner tasting. These were great accompaniment and perfect pairing with the Foie Gras, Braised Ribs and Oyster starters, and then the Grilled Beef Tenderloin entrees. Don also brought along a Cakebread Napa Valley Chardonnay 2010 for the soup salad course and his entree.    

Black Stallion Winery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

The Black Stallion continued our week long series of tastings of Cabernet Sauvignons from the Oak Knoll District, the wine grape growing Appellation in the southern end of the Napa Valley, following the Blackbird Vineyards Proprietary Red and then the Trefethen Cabernet from earlier in the week. Along with the Pahlmeyer Jayson, this continued in the style of Bordeaux style Cabernet and Merlot based blends. 
Founded in 2007 and located on the Silverdao Trail along the eastern Napa Valley floor on the grounds of a historic equestrian center, the suitably named Black Stallion Winery is another recent addition to the collection of wineries in the Oak Knoll District down at the bottom of Napa Valley. The old equestrian center's indoor track now houses the winemaking production facilities with remnants of the original 36 horse stalls still visible today.

The winery was purchased in May 2010 by the Indelicato Family, well known family-owned wine producers spanning three generations and more than 85 years of grape growing and wine making in the region. The family is now involved in all aspects of Black Stallion and their participation is evident both in the wines and the “family feel” of the winery.

Each of the varietals produced is handcrafted and blended from small vineyard lots. Each lot is fermented and aged separately until just prior to bottling when the lots are blended together to achieve wines of balance but layers of complex flavors. Black Stallion Winery strives for high quality wines that are elegant and distinctive yet approachable. This is a big league Napa Cab at an affordable price rendering a great QPR (quality price ratio).

The 2010 release is dark purple colored, full bodied with full forward aromas and flavors of  predominate cherry and black cherry fruits turning to blackberry and black raspberry with hints of cassis, mocha and spice followed by a mouth feel of fine grain tannins.
 The blend is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 5% Petite Sirah, and 2% Cabernet Franc.
Alcohol by volume: 14.5%
RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1475557

http://blackstallionwinery.ewinerysolutions.com/

Pahlmeyer Jayson Red Wine 2009

This is one of my perennial favorites offering a consistently great value from top drawer Napa Valley producer Jayson Pahlmeyer's rendition of a Bordeaux blend offering.

Dark purple and garnet colored - full bodied - smooth and polished but dense tongue coating silky texture with full forward black currant and black berry fruit flavors highlighted by cassis and spicy oak with hints of cedar, tobacco, tea and leather turning to a long lingering silky smooth well integrated tannins.

Blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Malbec.

RM 91 points.


https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1346970

https://www.pahlmeyer.com/

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Pahlmeyer Jayson Red Wine Blend Napa Valley 2008

Pahlmeyer “Jayson”, Red Wine Blend, Napa Valley 2008

Great accompaniment when tasted with steak dinners at Ruths Chris in New Orleans with Danny A and Chris K.
 
Dark inky purple, full bodied; ripe black berry fruits predominate with a bramble taste almost zinfandel like yet a Bordeaux blend - layers of spice, anise, cigar box with hints of dark chocolate and black olive with a long lingering moderate tannin fruit filled finish. Complex but slightly disheveled lacking polish or refined integration.

RM and Wine Spectator 89 Points

Blend: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec

www.pahlmeyer.com

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1079523