Father Son Boy's Night Wine Steak Dinner
A wine
adventure, we held a 'boy's night' Father-son (s) wine dinner. What a
treat and joy to do so with all three sons in attendance. With son Sean
just home from the hospital after some major stuff, now on the mend,
sibling Alec came in from New York, and brother/son Ryan came over for
the gathering. It was Ryan's birthday last week so we ventured down to
the cellar to pull a '
birth-year' wine from the few remaining in the collection for his vintage.
We discussed the possibility of doing a '
vertical'
tasting, a wine from the same label from each of their birth years. It
would be possible from our cellar collection but only in larger format
Magnums, obviously too much for as intimate small group tasting as it
was. Notably, at some point we could, and need to do a tasting of all
the kids birthyears as we have in our collection one from each, magnums
of Silver Oak, Chateau Palmer and Gruaud Larose.
For the 1982 vintage we found a time-to-drink
Chateau Gloria St Julien. For a near '85 we pulled a 1986
Chateau Clerc Milon Pauillac.
We should've pulled a '90 vintage for son Alec's birthyear but opted to
stick to just the two bottles. Notably, too, remarkably, or perhaps
shamefully, our cellar records show we hold more than 180 bottles in no
less than 65 different labels from that vintage! Need a party or special
occasion! (I am certain this number is exaggerated and doesn't reflect
earlier consumption and numerous bottles 'thinned' and liquidated from
the cellar at auctions when their market price points peaked during the
last decade.)
Eventually in a quest for something 'younger', we pulled a
Paradigm Napa Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1994 vintage.
Later
after I (Dad) went to bed, the boys pulled and tasted one of our
favorite Syrah's,
Kilikanoon Oracle Shiraz 2005. Half of that bottle
remains that we'll enjoy with tonight's dinner.
Chateau Gloria St Julian Bordeaux 1982
The
cork on this bottle was a challenge as it was saturated and soft but
initially intact. ryan used an Ahso (two pronged puller) to extract it
and the bottom tip of the extended extra long cork eventually separated
and remained deep in the neck. I was able to extract it using a
traditional corkscrew, inserting it into the edge between the bottle and
the cork and gently wedging it out.
We decanted and
aerated the bottle. It was initially closed but opened after about
ninety minutes. Initial indications suggested the bottle might be
tainted or over the hill, somewhat murky with a brownish rust colored
tinge on the dark garnet color. While it never cleared, the cherry and
currant fruits revealed themselves and by the time the grilled strip
steaks were ready, this was consumable, albeit past its drinking window
and just hanging on for remaining drinking life. The fruits had given
way to leather, black olive and earth tones. It was a worthwhile and
acceptable complement to the steak, baked potato grilled asperagus.
For some reason, this was offensive and repulsive, conflicting with the chocolate silk pie. So be it.
While
it was never an expensive or long lived collectable bottle, the fact we
found one lurking in the cellar was fun and it contributed to the wine
dinner experience. For what its worth, we didn't even have this bottle
in our cellar records. We found it searching for another bottle.
RM 85 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=22703
Chateau Clerc Milon Pauillac 1986
At
32 years this is outside its prescribed drinking window, past its prime
but still approachable, remarkably holding its own, but time to drink
up. Back in 2002 Parker wrote that "while this wine should age
well for another two decades, it has matured faster than many of the
1986 Pauillacs".
The
cork started to collapse as soon as I pressed on it but I was able to
work it out, slowly rocking the 'Ahso' (two prong cork puller) between
opposite sides to extract it fully. It was soft and saturated but
intact.
Note the original price still affixed to the
bottle, $32.99 on release back in 1989, on sale for $29.99. The pricetag
tells me I obtained this at the old legendary Sam's in Chicago.
Decanted
and aerated but needed a couple hours to open up, dark garnet colored,
medium bodied, plum and cherry fruits initially subdued and overshadowed
by leather and black olive, eventually popping with some bright
vibrancy with tones of cedar and spicy clove with hints of bacon fat,
pepper and anise, turning to some modest tannins on the short finish.
This is a
blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.
On release this got
97 points
from Wine Spectator in 1989 and was Ranked #2 on the Top 100 Wines of 1989. Robert Parker gave it 90 points and
Jancis Robinson gave it 17.5/20 points. I gave it 88 which is remarkable at this late stage of life.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=16448
Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 1994
We tasted and acquired this wine during our visit to the winery during our
Napa Wine Experience 1999.
This was the or close to the inaugural vintage of this wine and is the
last of the bottles we hold in our cellar of this vintage label.
This is showing remarkably well at 24 years of age showing no signs of
diminution. This may be at its apex of drinkability and will no doubt
not improve with further aging. But there should be no rush to consume
these either. We acquired a case of this wine upon release and the
remaining bottles are in perfect condition with corks and fill levels
still being optimal.
Tonight was consistent with my last tasting of
this vintage label date back to 8/30/2009 when I posted this. "Dark inky
color. forward fruit flavors of black cherry, with a bit with earth and
leather emerging over the subtle currant, ripe plum, cedar and a hint
of anise on a moderate finish."
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/03/paradigm-napa-valley-cabernet-1994.html
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=5051
Kilikanoon Oracle Claire Valley Shiraz 2005
The boys opened this after I went to bed but left me some which we enjoyed the next evening. I am finding these aged Aussie Shiraz's hold up for several days and may be better the day after or the day after that!
This is one of our favorite Shiraz's in our cellar collection. Shiraz is the second highest volume varietal in number of bottles in our collection after Bordeaux varietals (which includes Cabernets (Sauvignon and Franc), Merlot, and the 'lesser' varietals Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.
Our collection of Syrahs aka Shiraz', represent Australia, Washington State, California and the French Rhone River Valley, upper and lower.
This producer, Kilikanoon was awarded
Australian Wine Producer of the Year by the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) for the fifth time in eight years that Kilikanoon was
internationally recognised as Australian Winery of the Year, (previously
by James Halliday in 2013 and Germany’s Mundus Vini in 2010, 2017 and
2018).
This Kilikanoon Oracle Shiraz 2005 was awarded best Shiraz in the World at the International Wine Challenge, one of three times to be so recognized, in 2001 and the
2014 Oracle Shiraz was awarded the Shiraz Trophy for best Shiraz in the world.
Oracle is composed from select old vine fruit grown
along the estate-owned Golden Hillside Vineyard in Leasingham in the Clare Valley in South Central Australia. Oracle was the first Shiraz released by Kilikanoon’s Founder and Chief Winemaker Kevin Mitchell in the inaugural 1997 vintage and has been released each year except 2011.
This 2005 was consistent with earlier tasting notes back in May and previous last entry back in 2009 when this wine
was only five years old. Now three times that age, it still presents the
massive blackberry liqueur accented by full bodied blueberry, notes of
kirsch, expresso and hints of cinnamon and clove spices.
Dark blackish
garnet colored with full body and fine grained approachable well
integrated tannins on the long lingering finish. Over the years since
the earlier tasting, the berry fruits are starting to give way to a
notes of raisin and hints of leather.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=396281
