St Emilion duo for Tomahawk beefsteak dinner

St Emilion duo for Tomahawk beefsteak dinner 

Dr Dan and Linda joined us for Saturday night dinner - (my) Linda prepared grilled Tomahawk ribeye steaks with mashed potatoes and haricut verts. Dan brought from his cellar a 1er Grand Cru Classe Chateau Canon St. Emilion so I pulled another St Emilion Grand Cru Classe' for a comparison tasting. 

Prior to dinner we had a special select Domaine Carneros sparkling wine brought by Dan that we tasted with a broad selection of artisan cheeses.

We finished the evening with a duo of chocolates, Linda's homemade chocolate brownies alongside a chocolate cake brought by Dan and Linda. With the chocolate flight we sipped a Warre's Vintage Port.

 
Taittinger Domane Carneros Le Rêve Sparkling Wine 2011

This is from the famous French Champagne house Taittinger, whose US presence dates back to when Claude Taittinger of the noble family began searching for a worthy U.S. counterpart in the late 1970s. In 1987 he selected a 138-acre parcel in the heart of Carneros, down at the bottom of Napa Valley near where the Napa and Sonoma valleys intersect. There he established the California sparkling wine house, Domaine Carneros, capable of producing a luxury blanc de blancs in the style of Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne in France. He hired Eileen Crane as founding CEO and winemaker to oversee the development of the winery and vineyards and to produce a quintessential California expression of the Taittinger style in Carneros. Of course, authentic Champagne is only produced in the Champagne region in northern France, all others are simply 'sparkling wines', even those produced in the méthode traditionnelle champagne method and style.

Their first California cuvée, appropriately named Le Rêve (the dream), was this blanc de blancs, crafted of 100 percent estate-grown Chardonnay. 

The Domaine Carneros château is a California wine country landmark along the Sonoma highway connecting Napa and Sonoma valley, completed in 1989. It's architecture was inspired by the classic 18th century Château de la Marquetterie in Champagne, France - home of Champagne Taittinger.

In 2020, after a successful career spanning 42 years, Crane passed the torch to a new CEO, Remi Cohen, who now carries on the Taittinger tradition of visionary female leadership. Ushering in a new era of Domaine Carneros, Cohen brings two decades of experience in all facets of the wine industry to the château. Crane also passed the torch as head sparkling winemaker to new sparkling winemaker, Zak Miller, who worked for over a decade with Eileen as a member of the winemaking team.

The heart of Domaine Carneros has always been around sparkling wines, with distinctive styles ranging from the classic vintage-specific-dated Brut cuvée, to the luxury Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs. Domaine Carneros farms 6 vineyards in the Carneros AVA, four of them within 4 miles of the Chateau. The Estate Vineyards now total 400 acres, 225+acres devoted to Pinot noir and 125+ acres planted with Chardonnay.

Le Rêve is the ultra-premium flagship label, a highly respected tête de cuvée - Domaine Carneros' finest sparkling wine that has frequently been named America’s Best Sparkling. French for “the dream,” Le Rêve is crafted from 100% estate-grown Chardonnay, crafted from five organically grown estate clones of Chardonnay, produced using the traditional method of Champagne, and aged in the bottle for a remarkable, unheard of five to six years sur lie before release.

From the Winery: The 2011 growing season experienced frost in the vineyard and ended the season with a very cool summer, resulting in a reduced crop size resulting in rich concentrated fruit.

Golden colored, medium bodied, intensely flavorful with notes of lemon citrus, apple and pear with hints of lime, wet stone and spice and what Wine Spectator refers to a fresh ginger on a tangy lingering acidic finish. 

RM 91 points. This release was awarded 95 Points by Wine Enthusiast,  94 by Insider, and 93 Points by Wine Spectator.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2546107

https://www.domainecarneros.com/

https://twitter.com/domainecarneros

Château Canon 1er Grand Cru Classe' St-Emilion 2011

We tasted this label during the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) 2011 Vintage Release Tour Tasting in Chicago, back in 2014. This is one of our absolute favorites from the Bordeaux Right Bank appellation St Emilion. We've enjoyed this label dating back to the memorable 1983 vintage. The Chateau Canon property is owned by the proprietors of the haute couture house of Chanel.

 

This is a blend of 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, with 13.55% alcohol, aged in 70% new oak.  

 

This release was rated 93-95 points by Wine Enthusiast. 93 points by James Suckling, 90-92 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, and  91 points by Wine Spectator.

 

Tonight's tasting was consistent with my tasting notes from that tasting back in 2014, but actually improved from a decade of aging. Wine Spectator cited for this label, best drinking through 2022. 

Château Canon - Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, floral aromas with firm, concentrated sweet red and black raspberry fruits accented with tones of kirsch and tobacco leaf with firm but silky soft tannins on the long smooth lingering finish.  

Tonight, RM 92Points, improved from 91 points for the release tasting. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1366531

Château Vignot St. Émilion Grand Cru Classe' 2007

To pair and compare with the Château Canon, I pulled from the cellar this St. Émilion from a near mid-term vintage. I thought and hoped I had a bottle of the Château Canon but I was mistaken.

This Grand Cru is a class lower than the 1er Grand Cru of the Canon and the rankings accurately fit their tasting profiles with it being less complex, less polished and smaller in its presence. It did improve further after being open for 60-90 minutes to more closely resemble the bigger rival, but it never reached its more lofty standing.

Dark garnet colored, medium bodied, slightly 'flat' or flabby in comparison to the Canon, notes of dusty floral, dark berry, notes of tobacco, leather, spice and subtle oak with moderate tannins on the lingering finish. 

RM 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=528220

With the chocolate course we opened this twenty-five year old vintage port which was probably at the apex of its drinking window and profile. We hold this label going back to the kids' birthyear vintages in 1982, 1985 and 1990, so watch for further tastings of this label in future family dinners and celebrations.

Warre's Porto Vintage Quinta da Cavadinha 1995

We featured this wine during a tasting back in 2017. Consistent with that earlier tasting notes. 

Dark blackish garnet coffee colored - full bodied, a bit of an edge of sweet black fruits, layer of smokey creosote with hint of expresso, cedar and cassis and dark black cherry on the finish. 

RM 89 points.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/02/after-dinner-trio-el-nido-jumilla-clio.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3721

https://www.warre.com/home.php

Papillon and Legende at Indigo Springfield

Papillon and Legende at Indigo Springfield

Visiting valued client in Springfield (IL), the account team dined at Indigo Restaurant. Following our tasting of Clio last month, I took another big bold expressive wine, BYOB, Orin Swift Papillon Bordeaux Blend which we matched up against Barons de Rothschild Légende from the wine list to accompany our beef steak dinners.

Indigo with their whimsical fun Blue Dog gallery offers a nice atmosphere for a business dinner, a special occasion or intimate dinner date. As always, the Indigo staff were professional, proficient, accommodating and attentive. The steaks were done to perfection and this evening they served an imaginative gorgonzola laced roasted potatoes accompaniment. The sushi entree left something to be desired and should be avoided in favor of their traditional midwestern faire.

Papillion is a Bordeaux Proprietary Blend from Dave Phinney, of Orin Swift Cellars, producer of a range of imaginative and bold wines that showcase the range and diversity of the best of Napa Valley wines.  Orin Swift perhaps is best known for The Prisoner series of wines which he sold a few years ago. He now focuses on and produces his higher end selections including this bold but polished red blend. 

David Swift Phinney began his wine journey back in 1995 when he traveled to Florence, Italy and discovered and got hooked on wine. After university graduation in 1997 he worked as as temporary harvest worker at Robert Mondavi Winery.  Setting out on his own, in 1998 he founded Orin Swift Cellars named for his father’s middle name Orin and his mother’s maiden name Swift. He spent his early years making wines for others and developing a line of Zinfandel based wines under his own label from fruit sourced from others. 

I've written about how Phinny is one of the more fascinating studies in wine branding. In his Orin Swift line, he shows why he is known for and recognized by his imaginative, creative, if not mysterious, even weird branding with his artistic naming and labeling of his wines. His line-up reads more like a series of mystery novels than a flight of fine wines - Abstract, China Doll, Mannequin, Machete, Mercury Head, Mute, Palermo, Papillon, Slander, Trigger Finger, and Veladora.

Mercury Head is his premium label Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and simply features a US mint original Mercury Head dime affixed to the bottle in place of a label. I've written in these pages about Machete with its series of labels with a dozen different photos of a mysterious woman brandishing a machete in various poses, many featuring a vintage Cadillac Eldorado.

Papillon features on the label (pictured) an image of third generation grape grower Vince Tofanelli's hands taken by the producer's friend and world famous photographer Greg Gorman. 

Papillon is a classic Bordeaux blend, Papillon features all the Bordeaux varietals - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc, the heavy weight weighs in at 15.1% alcohol. The grapes are sourced from Napa Valleys sub-appellations Oakville, Rutherford, and Howell Mountain, from top vineyards such as Stagecoach and Morisoli.

Robert Parker gave the 2013 release 95 points and this 2014 wine 94 points and noted "forest floor, graphite, blackcurrant, blackberry fruit and spring flowers with a full-bodied, unctuously textured, deep, rich pure wine".

This was dark garnet colored, full bodied, complex, bold, powerful, concentrated, almost jammy with rich black fruits tones - blackberry, black raspberry, hint of black cherry, with a layer of anise, dusty cedar, hints of graphite, mocha and loamy earth with firm textured tannins on a long lingering finish. This probably needs a couple years to settle and will be interesting to watch it age over the next decade.

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2292084

http://www.orinswift.com/Papillon


Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) St. Émilion Légende 2013

Légende is a second label from the legendary Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) producer. Of course they're best known for their classic 'first growth' Chateau Lafite Rothschild. But they also produce a wide range of more than a dozen labels for the wider general marketplace consumer - most from across the Bordeaux region.

The Legende family of wines includes more everyday selections from Bordeaux, one blend from the Bordeaux region, two from the left bank Medoc and Pauillac appellations, and this right bank offering from the St. Émilion appellation.

This 2013 may not be a fair representation of the label since it was one of the most difficult weather condition vintages in three decades. A wet spring, two hail storms in July and August that damaged the grape vines, followed by intermittent rains leading up to the harvest made the weather condition among the worst since the frost of 1991.

The challenging conditions of the 2013 season required meticulous work in the vineyards and very strict selection in the winery to produce this release which they considered an over-achievement under the circumstances rendering what they referred to as supple, with a gentle, crisp structure.

This was dark ruby colored, light-medium bodied, somewhat austere with delicate subdued black currant and raspberry fruits with a layer of pain grillé (toast), with hints of floral, tangy spice, smoke, tobacco leaf and leather.  In the style of the 'right bank', this is a blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc.

RM 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2613407

http://www.lafite.com/en/the-collection/legende/the-wines/legende-saint-emilion/

 http://www.indigocuisine.com/

Château Corbin St. Émilion Grand Cru 2006

Château Corbin St. Émilion Grand Cru 2006

Home alone for the evening, as it protocol, I opened this 375ml half bottle to taste with dinner. Even then, I had one glass, half the half the first evening, and the remainder the following evening. This was a nice complement to some hearty cheeses and French bread.

I wrote about the allure of half bottles a couple times in recent weeks in these pages. 

Château Corbin is one of the oldest estates in Saint-Emilion, dating back to the 15th century.

Built in the middle of the 19th century, Corbin was purchased in 1924 by the great-grandparents of the current owners. Since 1999, the estate has been managed by Anabelle Cruse-Bardinet, a Bordeaux University oenology graduate, who represents the 4th generation of the family. Jean-Philippe Fort, one of Michel Rolland's team of œnologists, has been Corbin’s wine-making consultant since 2006.

The Corbin vineyards cover 13 contiguous hectares (32 acres) in the commune of Saint-Emilion, adjacent to the Pomerol appellation. The grape varieties planted in the tradition of the 'Right Bank', 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, with the average age of the vines being about 30 years. The finest grapes from the best plots and the oldest vines are used for making Château Corbin while grapes from younger vines go into a second label wine (XX de Corbin and DIVIN de Corbin).

I wrote recently about the Right Bank of Bordeaux and the grape varieties and style of wines produced there. 

The producer's website lists sites where the wine can be obtained in the US, a small number of wine shops, including Bassin's MacArthur Wines in WDC, where I recall obtaining this bottle.

This was dark garnet colored, medium bodied, was a bit tight and closed the first evening, being more open and approachable the second day when the smoke, creosote, black olive and herb layer gave way to the dark berry and tangy black cherry fruits, with notes of cedar, black tea and clove spice turning to fine tannins on the crisp clean moderate finish.

RM 87 points, same as WS.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=360786

http://www.chateau-corbin.com/uk/home.php

Château de Ferrand St. Émilion Grand Cru 2010

Château de Ferrand St. Émilion Grand Cru 2010 in 375 Half Bottle Format

Traveling on business, I picked up a 375ml half bottle of this Château de Ferrand, St. Émilion Grand Cru at Total Wine to taste with carry-out dinner back at the hotel. 

I've written often about half bottles in these pages; ... as late as last week. Here's another scenario where a small format bottle is in order. For the money spent, while I got half as much wine, I got a much better wine. Since I was dining alone and wouldn't consume a whole bottle anyway, and can't take the remainder on the airplane home (in carry-on luggage), I consider this a useful option, when opting for a higher quality wine. 

The challenge of course is the options are very limited in seeking small format labels. Smaller merchants likely won't offer any, while a beverage super store such as Binny's in Chicagoland, and in this case, Total Wine, will offer a selection of wines in small format. Binny's has close to a hundred labels on offer (their Oak Brook store aisle is shown above) while Total Wine had perhaps a score. 

Note, that a half bottle will cost sightly more than half the price of a standard 750ml format, so there is a bit of an uplift in price for the lower volume unique offering. In the case, a standard bottle cost $39.99, the half bottle was $23.

At six years of age, this was perfect for current drinking now, probably at the apex of its drinking window, not likely to improve with further aging. It was very pleasant with smoked cheese and a hearty salad.

Immediately upon opening, bright berry fruit and floral aromas erupted from the bottle. Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied with nicely balanced, bright, forward black berry and black raspberry fruits with tones of anise and hints of dark mocha and subtle spicy oak on a lingering polished tannin finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1732472