Birthyear vintage magnum Cos d'Estournel

Family Reunion Dinner features birthyear vintage magnum Cos d'Estournel and protege wine

Sis Jan and Bill visiting from Socal and niece Jenna in from SFO, we gathered for a mini family birth year vintage 1981 Cos d' Estournel magnum as the wine highlight.
reunion with Great Grandparents and kids and grandkids - Ryan and Michelle, Erin & Johnnie and the g-kids. For the occasion, we pulled this Ladera Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 

During our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2008 visit to Ladera winery up on Howell Mountain where we tasted and acquired this wine, (right) we learned from the owners that their favorite wine and inspiration was Cos. Hence we also pulled a Ladera Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for the occasion, which was fitting since Jan and Bill were with us during that visit.

Prior to dinner, Ryan brought and opened a Veuve Cliquot Champagne. There's always room for bubbly, especially in the summertime.

For dinner, Linda prepared a surf and turf dinner with grilled steak and Copper River Sockeye Salmon. With the grilled Salmon we paired with a unique white which provided a mystery blind tasting. I served a Sunset Lake Vineyard dry white Seyval that I discovered and picked up at the winery during my recent visit there just last week.

Sunset Lake Vineyards and Winery "Golden Days" Sunset Lake Vineyard Illinois Seyval Blanc NV 

This is estate bottled from grapes grown about ten miles northwest of Bloomington, IL. I served this with the salad course and the Salmon and it was a stunner, but a very pleasant summer sipper and accompaniment.

Straw colored and light medium bodied, this showed balance and crisp acidity. Winemaker Mary Hoffman said that this wine typically shows bright green apple fruit flavors but this year this was overtaken by a am amazing brilliant forward peach flavor with tones of mineral and hints of citrus and apricot with very modest acidity and a slightly muddled but pleasant lingering finish.

Ryan likened this to an Italian Proseco which isn't far off the mark.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2732542




Château Cos d'Estournel St Estephe Bordeaux 1981 Magnum

I should have read my own tasting notes on this vintage selection that there was life left in this and I need not be in a hurry to drink. In any event, son Ryan chose this from the cellar to enjoy at our family reunion dinner and I was happy to oblige

From my most recent tasting notes for this label from Nov, 2015: "Medium bodied, bright ruby colored, earthy leathery dark cherry and firm blackberry with hints of creosote on the tannic berry finish. Amazing life yet in this cellar selection. Recent tastings showing lot's of life left in the remaining 81's, were from large format."

RM 89 points. 

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/10/hemingways-bistro-wine-dinner.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=20282

 Ladera Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

 As stated above, I pulled this from the cellar since the producer fashions their wine after the Cos above, and we visited the winery with Jan & Bill.

This exceeded my expectations with it bright forward bold fruits, although comparing it next to the thirty-five year old vintage Cos certainly accentuated its firm structure and the big concentrated bright forward fruits.

Dark blackish purple colored, full bodied, rich concentrated chewy forward black berry and black currant fruits with a firm backbone structure accented by notes of cedar and hints of graphite and subtle oak with a tangy nicely balanced lingering finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=451794

https://www.laderavineyards.com/ 

Sunset Lake Vineyards and Winery

Sunset Lake Vineyards and Winery

After several false start attempts to stop in this north-central Illinois winery vineyard site, I finally got away early enough to stop in on my return trip to Chicago from downstate Illinois. A slight fifteen minute diversion from the junction of Interstate 74 and 55 is the winery tasting room of Rudi and Mary Hofmann and their Sunset Lake Vineyards and Winery (formerly White Oak Vineyards). Rudi tends to the viticulture while Mary serves as winemaker and cellar steward.

They planted their first three acres of wines in 2003, adding new plantings in following years to the point where they now have twelve acres under vine planted with Seyval Blanc, Frontenac, Foch, Traminette, Cayuga White, Steuben, Chardonel, St. Croix, Marquette, Kay Gray and Johannisberg Riesling grapes.

In 2010, they purchased the neighboring property which included a log home that has been remodeled into the winery and tasting room overlooking a lower vineyard and a pond they created in 2011 (below).

 In 2013 their Bernese Red won a Silver Medal at the Illinois State Fair Wine Competition.

Today, they market a dozen different labels of estate bottled wines, and a couple composed of grapes brought in from Michigan.

Besides the Bernese Red, their signature red may be the Maximillian label named after Rudi's 'Opa', or their Illinois Norton grape Landhaus red, or Abendrot (translated as 'evening red' or 'Evening Sunset', a blend of Foch and DeChaunac grapes.

Maximillian is a blend of red St Croix, Marquette and Frontenac grape varietals, was blackish ruby colored, medium full bodied, complex black fruits with notes of leather, tobacco leaf, black tea, smoke and hint of black pepper.

The Abendrot had similar characteristics, similiar color and body as the Maximillian, similar but more focused black berry fruits, with narrower accents of cedar and notes of alcohol on the finish.

The offer a broad selection of whites from a dry Riesling to a couple of off-dry whites to a semi sweet and a sweet offering. They also produce a couple of Sangria's, a red and a white, and a Rose'.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth of quality wines they produced, generally flavorful and enjoyable wines across the spectrum. They offer good values at a pricepoint of about $18 each.

After tasting several wines, Mary went into the cellar and returned to offer me a taste of her special project back in the winery, a fortified red blend that she hopes to bottle this fall and hold for bottle aging for some time before release. It showed promise and should be a delectable offering on release.

For my tasting, I focused solely on their Estate bottled wines, (meaning they grew all the grapes there on the property). My white wine tasting flight started with 'Feierabend' which Rudi translates to 'end of the day' referring the red evening pre-dusk skies. This was a dry Traminette varietal, straw colored, medium - light bodied with complex notes of tropical fruit and kiwi.

I then tasted and ended up purchasing their off-dry Seyval Blanc varietal based wine, Golden Days. This was light butter honey colored with medium body that showed an amazing predominant peach nectar flavor accented by notes of flint and mineral on the finish. Mary said in most years, this came across with a green apple tone but this year gave way to the layer of peach.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2732542

Stop in and enjoy the wines and hospitality of Rudi and Mary at Sunset Lake Vineyards and Winery. Take a drive down historic Route 66 along Interstate 55, cut west at Lexington through Hudson and take the backways over to their site in Carlock, IL.

http://www.sunsetlakevineyards.com/