Birthyear vintage labels and large format bottles

Gala wedding celebrations to feature special birthyear vintage labels and large format bottles and more ...

For son Alec and Vivianna's wedding celebrations, I assembled from our cellar a collection of birthyear vintage wines including several in large format bottles. I've written often in these pages about our collection of birthyear vintage wines for our kids, and our collection of large format bottles of special labels for special occasions. This, our final child's wedding is our last perfect storm to showcase and enjoy our wine cellar selections, one we've been preparing for for literally three decades. Indeed, our collection of 1990 vintage bottles of wine spans no less than 195 bottles from 65 different labels. 

A complication or added dimension to this whole concept and philosophy is that the bride is from a different vintage/birthyear. Hence, if we add the 1991 vintage to the inventory search of our cellar collection, we add another 42 bottles from 16 different labels. Of course, we did not anticipate and plan for this in our collecting over the decades, it just happens that we have these in our collection. 

So, for the festivities, there are numerous story lines, themes and approaches to how we will serve these wines. Non super wine geeks may tune out at this point and move on to the next blogpost. 

Birthyear / vintage highlights: I've written in these pages about the vintages of the birthyears of our kids, and how the 1990 vintage, birthyear of son Alec was extraordinary, one of the best of the century and perhaps in history. Not only were there three Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 wines from this vintage, three years in a row, but they hailed from three different disparate regions of the Old and New world, France, US Napa Valley, and Australia. All three were spectacular wines from ultra-premium absolute premier legendary labels:

Chateau Grand Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux 1990 - Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1993

Moreover, for this vintage, nine of the Top Ten Wines of the year were from the 1990 vintage. 

Caymus Special Select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvigon 1990 - Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1994

Penfold's Grange (Hermitage) Shiraz 1990 - Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1995

So, if you had a child born in 1990 and wanted to collect special birth year wines to enjoy sometime in the future, it was easy to do, or hard to go wrong.  We got lucky and were blessed in so many respects, this being but another one. We'll have the luxury of tasting each of these wines this weekend. Watch for our tasting experiences.

The second dimension, the bride/groom's birthyear. In our case, our son's fiance, Vivianna was born a year later, in the following year, the next vintage, so to speak. Here I got lucky, I already had picked up the Caymus Special Select 1990 and 1991. The #2 wine in 1995 was, alas, Caymus Special Select 1991. That turns out to be the premier finest label selection from the vintage, during this era. Bingo! The other 1991 vintage labels from this period in the top tens were FLORA SPRINGS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1991 and CROFT Vintage Port 1991. I happened to have also picked up the Flora Springs Napa Cab 1990 and 1991 over the years, so we have another perfect pairing for the betrothed couple. And we'll serve vintage ports collected from the vintage as well.  

Watch this space as we open and enjoy these vintage select special bottles as part of our celebrations. 

The next dimension of our celebrations is large format bottles. We have a collection of large format bottles from the vintage that we'll serve this weekend, and on special occasions in the future. This includes four six liter Imperials, and numerous Magnums of select wines. Watch for these as they are presented and served as part of our family and friends celebrations.  

Lastly, as you have seen in these pages, we have fun with various labels and producers based on numerous criteria. One example is namesake labels, wines sharing names of our family or friends. One of our favorite such producers and labels is Alec's Blend by Napa Valley Lewis Cellars. This is one of our namesake labels for the groom, Alec. Watch as we serve a decade vertical of vintages of Alec's Blend Napa Valley Red Wine this weekend.  

Lastly, we also have find with labels in other ways. Watch for how "V" (for Vivianna) becomes centerpiece of some of our wine selections this weekend as well! 

 

 

One other factor in a horizontal collection (a collection of multiple wines from the same vintage) of a particular vintage, is the intersection with a vertical collection, where we hold a series of vintages of the same label. In this case, there are a number of labels where we have collected a series of vintages including each of the birthyears of our four kids, and in many cases, now, also the birthyear vintages of our grandkids. This allows for comparison tastings of a particular label from different vintages seeing how the wine ages over time and how it compares in different vintage harvests. A top vertical collection will invariably also include top rated years as well, as standard bearers and benchmarks for comparison. There are a dozen or more labels where we hold such vertical collections that include key vintages including, of course, birthyears and anniversaries. Many of these are the basis for our studies into the producers' and their histories, estate vineyards and their terroir, and contributing producers' winemakers and consultants. 

 

These pages are filled with references and features of our visits to producer estate wineries and vineyards where we hold deep vertical collections of such wines. Our visit to Bordeaux last year featured tours of estates of which we hold extensive collections spanning several decades - Château Ducru Beaucaillou, Léoville Las Cases, Château Gruaud-Larose and Pichon Lalande, for example. 

 

Lastly, a wine flight over the course of a dinner can include champagne, white wine, multiple red wines matched to food pairings, a dessert wine and an after dinner port or aperitif.  Watch how many different wines or wine types we can present from multiple (large) formats or vintage year releases over the course of a dinner or multiple events.

The 1994 Top 10
Rank	Wine	Score	Price
#1	CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1990	98	$75
#2	E. GUIGAL Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 1990	98	$135
#3	FLORA SPRINGS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1991	97	$33
#4	LEONETTI Merlot Washington 1992	96	$25
#5	FERRARI-CARANO Chardonnay Alexander Valley 1992	93	$20
#6	DOMAINE ZIND-HUMBRECHT Gewürztraminer Alsace Grand Cru Goldert Vendange Tardive 1990	96	$45
#7	LUCIANO SANDRONE Barolo Cannubi Boschis 1990	96	$46
#8	JEAN-LOUIS CHAVE Hermitage 1990	96	$63
#9	CROFT Vintage Port 1991	94	$32
#10	RIDGE Zinfandel Sonoma Valley Pagani Ranch Late Picked 1992	93	$16

 

#1

CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1990

98

$75

The 1994 Top 10
Rank	Wine	Score
#1	CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1990	98
#2	E. GUIGAL Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 1990	98
#3	FLORA SPRINGS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1991	97

The Top 10 Wines of 1993

Wine	Score	Price*
1. CHÂTEAU LATOUR Pauillac 1990	100	$80
2. GAJA Barolo Sperss 1989	96	$60
3. SILVERADO VINEYARDS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Limited Reserve 1990	97	$40
4. CHÂTEAU LA LOUVIÈRE Pessac-Léognan 1990	94	$22
5. LOUIS LATOUR Corton-Charlemagne 1990	95	$83
6. CHÂTEAU PICHON-LONGUEVILLE-LALANDE Pauillac 1990	97	$40
7. MOUNT VEEDER Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1990	94	$15
8. TENUTA DELL'ORNELLAIA Ornellaia 1990	96	$42
9. CHÂTEAU LAGRANGE St.-Julien 1990	95	$26
10. CHÂTEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD Pauillac 1990

 The 1995 Top 10

Rank	Wine	Score	Price
#1	PENFOLDS Shiraz South Australia Grange 1990	97	$100
#2	CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1991	99	$100
#3	THE HESS COLLECTION Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1992	94	$18
#4	FONSECA Vintage Port 1992	96	$45
#5	COMTE GEORGES DE VOGÜÉ Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 1993	96	$140
#6	ZACA MESA Syrah Santa Barbara County Zaca Vineyards 1993	94	$13
#7	CAMPOGIOVANNI Brunello di Montalcino 1990	95	$43
#8	KISTLER Chardonnay Sonoma Valley Kistler Vineyard 1992	94	$40
#9	BERINGER Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Private Reserve 1992	95	$45
#10	TRIMBACH Riesling Alsace Cuvée Frédéric Emile 1990	96	$27

Parents-Son Dinner features Birth Year Wine of the Year

Parents-Son Dinner features Birth Year Wine of the Year

Visiting son Alec and his fiance' Vivianna in New York City for the weekend, we took a couple of very special wines from Alec's birth year. We drank the first bottle, Château Calon-Ségur that we took BYOB to Bobo French Wine Dine Experience on Friday night.

Tonight, Alec and Viv were preparing dinner and to celebrate their engagement and the occasion, we took from our home cellar a very special bottle that I acquired upon release for his birth year. The 1990 vintage was a very unique year in the release of vintage wines in that three times, the Wine Spectator Wine of the Year was from that vintage year.

In 1993, the WS Wine of the Year was Caymus Special Select, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 1990. In 1994, the WS Wine of the Year was Chateau Gran Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux, from the 1990 vintage. In 1995, the ‘Red Wine of the Year’ by Wine Spectator magazine was Penfold's Grange, 1990. 

This is testimony to the fact that 1990 was a blockbuster vintage in all three hemispheres' top wine regions - US Napa Valley, France Bordeaux and Australia. Someone want to collect a birthyear vintage wine for a given year has several options from which to select. For this year, any one of these three regions offered top rated wines!

Tonight's bottle was part of an OWC - Original Wood Case of the 1990 Penfold's Grange that I picked up on release back in 1993. I actually purchased it a Berry Brothers & Ruud in London during one of my very frequent monthly trips there. In those days, they had a wine shop in Terminal Three at London Heathrow Airport. I purchased and hand carried the case of wine on the plane enroute home, and have stored it in our home cellar ever since.

For dinner, Alec and Viv prepared ribeye steak with wine reduction mushroom sauce, grilled diver sea scallops, asparagus and pomme frites.

For the starter wine, they opened a Orin Swift Abstract California Red Wine 2016

Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1990

For the main beef entree course, I served the Penfolds Grange. Readers of this blog know we drink a lot of Australian Shiraz' and that we like them big and bold. This Aussie Shiraz was a totally different profile than the usual shiraz we encounter. Naturally, this is an extraordinary wine that is in a totally different class, with a totally different profile than the once a week, once-a-month, or even the once-a-year wines that we drink. This is one of those very special occasion, or even once in a lifetime wines. Of course, this wine sells for more than $500, a price-point higher than we normally spend on once a year, once a month or other wines.

Grange is arguably the most prestigious and most historic, famous wine from Australia, first released back with the experimental vintage release in 1951. For its first four decades, the label was called Penfold's Hermitage Grange. With this 1990 release, the Hermitage moniker was removed and thereafter it is simply known as Grange.

The fruit for Grange is sourced from south central Australia Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Coonawarra. The 1990 is one of the top Granges ever produced. The vintage year was an ideal completely trouble-free growing season that enabled the grapes to ripen perfectly and to be harvested at the perfect time under ideal conditions. The producer says the 1990 Penfolds Grange is one of the best ever, with the potential to eventually rival the classic vintages of 1955, 1962 and 1971. It should be aged carefully for a minimum of ten years and preferably for 25 to thirty years.

The blend of the 1990 vintage is 95% Shiraz and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged 18 months in new American oak hogsheads.

The fill level was proper and appropriate for its age, the cork was perfect, and of course the foil and label were perfect as it was still packaged in the original tissue and OWC - original wood case. 

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 95 points.

Wine Spectator gave this 98 points, James Halliday 97 points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 95 points, and Jancis Robinson gave it 18 out of her twenty point scale. 

James Halliday said it was 'destined to be one of the greatest Granges'. Wine Spectator called it  'magnificent, exotic, a veritable cascade of opulent flavors'. The Rewards of Patience - Fifth Edition (2004) called it Outstanding and projected its Drinking Window from now to 2040. Southcorp Wines said, 'The 1990 vintage was the kind that winemakers only expect to see once or twice in an entire career'.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=6295

https://www.penfolds.com/

https://twitter.com/penfolds

@penfolds


La Fine du Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf du Pape 1988

After dinner, Alec opened this special extremely limited release Chateau La Nerthe La Fine 1988.

We discovered, tasted, and Alec acquired this wine during our visit to the Château La Nerthe estate this summer.

La Fine de Château La Nerthe comes exclusively from the distillation of white wine in bottles of the Château. White wine is aged in bottles in the cellars before being tasted and distilled.

Château La Nerthe perform a triple distillation to obtain the finest and delicate aromas possible. They seek the spirit of their old white wines that make the reputation of Château La Nerthe. By its origin, its extraction, its requirement and its refinement of 10 years minimum in oak casks, the Fine of the Castle La Nerthe is the expression of the exceptional finest spirit of their wines.


Château La Nerthe have been producing these fine wines in the true tradition of fine wine distillation in Châteauneuf du Pape since this, their first vintage, 1988.

Tea honey colored, full bodied, delicious, smooth, harmonious, nicely balanced.

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3330760

http://www.chateaulanerthe.fr/

Birthyear Silver Oak and Freemark Abbey Bosche'

Birthyear Silver Oak and Freemark Abbey Bosche' wines to honor Alec and Viv's engagement

Son Alec and fiance Vivianna are engaged to be married in June of 2020. We traveled to Conneticut to visit our future in-laws, and the wedding venues. To celebrate the occasion, I took two birthyear wines from our cellar to commemorate the kids and their engagement.

We've collected numerous birthyear wines for son Alec. We also have a deep enough cellar so as to hold some wines from the birthyear of fiance and future daughter-in-law, Viviana. This was an occasion to do a combination tasting of wine from each vintage.

Silver Oak and Freemark Abbey are two of our favorite producers, from whom we hold several vintages and labels, however we don't necessarily hold labels of the same vintage from each. This provided an evening of celebration, and a comparison tasting or two Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon vintage wines of almost equal age, from two sequential vintages.

Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990

We have some special large format (six liter Imperials) birthyear bottles of Silver Oak (Bonny's Vineyard) for the gala event next year, so this is a warm up for the occasion with the Estate bottled label from the greater region, albeit not the extraordinary rare single vineyard designated label. We also served Silver Oak Bonny's Vineyard from the 1982 vintage at our eldest son Ryan's wedding, as well as several other birthyear special wines.

Our twenty nine year old bottle was well preserved with a perfect label and foil with a fill level half way in the neck, reduced less about 3/8 inches from being perfect fill. The cork was almost perfect although it did break in half on opening being slightly dry, but I used a conventional corkscrew. Were I at home, I most certainly would've used my customary two pronged cork puller, which I am confident would have extracted both corks in whole.

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, this had bright ruby garnet color, very slight bricking at the rim, with the black cherry and black berry fruits having given way to the predominant signature nose and flavor of infused sweet oak layer for which the brand is known and famous.

The black cherry and black berry fruit was subdued, somewhat Bordeaux like with accent by notes of spice, black tea and tobacco leaf with tangy acidity and soft moderate tannins on the lingering tangy finish.

While past its prime, apex of its drinking window, this will not improve any further with aging, but is holding its own and will likely remain at this level of its drinking window for a couple more years. I didn't decant this but served it straight from the bottle. I might do the same again the next time.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=20741

https://www.silveroak.com/

Freemark Abbey Bosche' Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1991

This is one of our favorite labels of which we hold numerous vintages dating back several decades. We acquired a case of this single vineyard designated label back around this period from the producer and picked up select bottles from nearby vintages to fill out our horizontal collection.

We picked up some of these bottles during our visit to the Estate over the years including select bottles from their library collection for special occasions.  We're longtime fans of Freemark Abbey, witness by the fact we hold bottles going back to the early eighties. Our Freemark Abbey experience highlights include our visit to the winery during our Napa Wine Experience 2009, when wine buddy and fellow 'Pour Boy' Bill and I had a fun time touring their library cellar with Cellar Manager Barry Dodd (Bill and Barry, right).

That day, we purchased two aged vintage selections - 1974 and 1978 commemorating our anniversary years, which we tasted that evening across the road at Graystoke Manor at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in St Helena.

Another notable point about this vintage is the poignant reflection on the rear label. It states' "this vintage is made in tribute to the life of John Bosche' (1909-1991). With dedication and drive he contributed to the Napa Valley wine growing industry for over thirty-five years.

Today, the Bosche' family continues his tradition of grape growing at the meticulously cared for vineyard near the town of Rutherford. Freemark Abbey has proudly produced outstanding Cabernet Bosche' wines since 1970." Signed Ted Edwards, Partner and Winemaker.

 Tonight, this wine showed more fruit and was aging more gracefully than the similarly aged, one year older Silver Oak. It showed better than recollections recorded at earlier tastings.

Like the Silver Oak, our twenty eight year old bottle was well preserved with a perfect label and foil with a fill level half way in the neck, reduced less about 3/8 inches from being perfect fill only a mm lower than the Silver Oak. Like the Silver Oak, the cork was almost perfect although it did break in half on opening being slightly dry, but I used a conventional corkscrew. Were I at home, I most certainly would've used my customary two pronged cork puller, which I am confident would have extracted both corks in whole.

Tasted at Freemark Abbey vertical tasting - http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2012/12/freemark-abbey-cab-vintage-horizontal.html.

In 2012 I wrote, "This bottle was suprisingly lean and austere, not what I recall from this Napa vintage generally, but revealed such against the '92 which showed markedly differently. Garnet colored with a brickish rim, this was light bodied with properly balanced but slightly tart black cherry and black berry fruits accented by tobacco, tea, cigar box and leather on a short modest short finish." Perhaps bottle variation relative to tonight's tasting?

Tonight this showed best of the tasting: Bright garnet colored, medium full bodied, full forward vibrant red berry and cherry fruits accented by tangy spice, tea, hints of cedar and notes of cigar box with moderate tannins on a long lingering finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=249611

https://www.freemarkabbey.com/

Thanksgiving Feast Features Rhone Wine Flight

Thanksgiving Feast Features Rhone Varietal Blend Wine Flight

Twenty members of immediate family and dear friends gathered for our Thanksgiving feast. . For the occasion we selected a flight of Rhone varietal wines from our cellar and from son Ryan's.

We started with a aged vintage birth year selection celebrating son Alec and partner Viv joining us from NYC, a classic Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Following the protocol of wine tasting, we moved from lighter wines to larger more complex wines. We progressed to more recent vintage Rhone Blend selections from our recent trip to Washington State Walla Walla and Red Mountain AVA, and then moved to a Rhone varietal Blend from Paso Robles.


Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard 1990

We discovered and acquired this label during our trip to Châteauneuf-du-Pape back in 1998.

Nearing thirty years of age, this is nearing the end of its drinking window but still suitable for such an occasion. This is beginning to lose clarity and taking on an slight opaque tone and the garnet color taking on a sight brownish hue. We still hold three bottles from this case acquired decades ago representing son Alec's birth year, holding them for family occasions.

Consistent with earlier tasting notes, this was medium to full bodied with slight earthiness and leather fronting layers of herbs, black and green pepper that accompany the slightly subdued black cherry and black berry fruits with a hint of spice, moderate lingering tannins.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=30341


https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/12/chateau-boisrenard-and-bbq-beef-brisket.html

Progressing in weight and complexity, this GSM Blend (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre) in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape style is from Washington State Red Mountain AVA. We visited the producer Force Majeure during our recent Walla Walla Wine Experience 2018.

Force Majeure Collaboration Series VI Ciel du Cheval Vineyard 2011

We acquired a collection of Force Majeure wines including this vintage after meeting and hosting Force Majeure winemaker Todd Alexander and marketing, distribution and branding exec Carrie Alexander during their Chicago visit last year.  


Bright vibrant, garnet/purple in color full bodied, concentrated complex Blackberry fruits predominate with tangy red berries, tones of pepper and tar, earth and meat, hints of expresso, anise and smoke accented by nicely integrated smooth lingering dusty tannins. Another CT'er rightly noted this 'benefitted with time and warmer than cellar temps'.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=1788937

The Collaboration Series has ended as Todd has taken over general management and winemaking duties and his handiwork is now coming on line; this historic label was made by James Mantone of Syncline Winery. This is a blend 47% Mourvedre, 42% Syrah and 11% Grenache.

We just received our current release of Force Majeure 'GSM' blend, Parata, that we tasted and acquired during our recent Force Majeure Vineyards and new winery facility site visit and tasting, and were eager to open it and compare but didn't get that far in our consumption. We will look forward to a comparison tasting in the future as we hold several bottles of each.

https://forcemajeurevineyards.com/

We continued in our flight to a bigger, heavier, more concentrated Rhone varietal blend from Paso Robles L'Aventura that Ryan brought from his cellar.

L'Aventure Côte-à-Côte Estate Paso Robles 2011

Ryan brought this Rhone Red bruiser vintage 2011 providing a mini-horizontal tasting aside the Force Majeure.

Another GSM blend, very similar in style and taste but bigger and more concentrated with a whopping 15.8% alcohol content. Amazingly approachable considering the high alcohol content.

This is the handiwork of legendary winemaker Stephan Asseo who has been making wine since 1982. After graduating from L'Ecole Oenologique de Macon, in Burgundy, France, he started his wine career when he established Domaine de Courteillac in Bordeaux, then later purchased Chateau Fleur Cardinal and Chateau Robin in the Cotes de Castillion, Bordeaux. Over the next 15 years he honed his winemaking skills there.

In 1996 he embarked on a year long global search of the world's great wine regions for a great terroir when he "fell in love" with the unique terroir of Paso Robles in Central California in the rolling hills  of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range. There, Stephan began his adventure, "L'Aventure".
 
Bright garnet colored, full bodied, rich, concentrated, firmly structured, complex but nicely balanced and integrated forward fruits of ripe blackberry and red berry fruits accented by menthol, bacon fat, tones of black olive, anise and herbs with firm but well behaved silky tannins on the long finish.

RM 93 points.

This is a blend of 40% Syrah, 38% Mourvedre and 22% Grenache, similar to above but more Syrah and less Grenache.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1578540

http://www.aventurewine.com/

Later after dinner, watching a movie, we opened this big Syrah Blend from Washington State that we discovered and acquired during our Seattle Culinary and Woodinville (Washington) Wine Tour 2018. 

Long Shadows Wineries Sequel Syrah 2015

As chronicled in my recent blogpost on the Long Shadows Vintner's Collection, this is part of the portfolio of premium wines produced by legendary winemakers from around the world who are masters for their artwork with specific varietal wines.  

This Sequel Syrah is crafted by legendary Syrah winemaker John Duval, known for the leading Syrah label from Australia, Penfold's Grange. We hold a OWC (original wood case) of the 1990 Penfold's Grange, commemorating Alec's birth year. That label was Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year for the year 1993. 

Dark inky purple colored, rich, thick concentrated ripe black berry and black raspberry fruits, black pepper, smoked meat, notes of vanilla and caramel. 

RM 93 points.  

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2777751

https://www.longshadows.com/

This could likely improve with some further aging as it could benefit from some time to settle and should improve with a couple more years to achieve more balance and harmony as it reaches the apex of its drinking window, which clearly will be another decade or more. With our deep cellar, we'd normally hold a bottle like this for a while before consuming but we tried it now since it is available still at Binny's, our local wine super store so we can go get some more to replace this bottle and stock up some more, (even though we're in the highest level of the Long Shadows wine club and will be receiving some in our shipment allocation; but that will be the next 2016 vintage and we'll want to hold the '15, as it is birthyear of two grandkids, Reid and Jessie.). 

Finally, late in the evening we opened this TBA dessert wine. Viv just returned from an extended trip across Europe that include visits to Budapest and Prague in the Danube River Valley. There they visited several wineries. So, I pulled this Kracher dessert wine from the Burgenland wine region in Eastern Austria which I visited back in the early 2000's.

Alois Kracher Chardonnay TrockenBeeren Auslese (TBA) #7 Nouvelle Vague 2001



We hold more than a dozen labels of Kracher wines from this era. Its fun to watch quality dessert wines mature and change color over time, from straw color, to butter, then weak tea, and progressing darker and darker over time. Note this color of tea at seventeen years of age.

At their most desirable (to my taste preference) these wines are rich, thick, unctuous, and voluptuous with apricot marmalade, mango, toffee/brown sugar, and caramel notes. This may have been there at some point and perhaps passed that stage of its aging profile. If so, then it is time to drink although it will no doubt continue to age gracefully for several more years. But the rich, sweet apricot fruits nectar was gone and has turned more to a smokey charcoal layer over the fruits which were more subdued. Delightful never-the-less.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=19086

Domaine de Boisrenard and BBQ Beef Brisket

Christmas holiday bbq beef brisket dinner w/ Special Birthyear Vintage CDP

For dinner following Christmas holiday church service we carried out BBQ beef brisket and I pulled a Boisrenard CDP from the cellar for a red wine accompaniment. I first discovered Domaine  Boisrenard while touring Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Southern Rhone Valley wine region back in 1999. With son Alec home from NYC for the holiday, I pulled a from our cellar collection a special vintage bottle from his birth year for the occasion.

Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard 1990 

Showing remarkable longevity, this shows no signs of diminution from aging at 27 years, this was consistent with last tasting five years earlier.

Medium to full bodied, slight earthiness and leather accompany layers of black and green pepper that accompany the slightly subdued black cherry and black berry fruits with a hint of spice, moderate lingering tannins.

RM 89 points. 


https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=30341

Zinfandel Flight Anchors Family Dinner

Ridge Vertical and 1990 Vintage Horizontal Zinfandels Anchor Family Dinner

With son Alec visiting laying over on a cross country trip, the family gathered for a gala dinner to celebrate his return and his birthday. Son Ryan brought a highly rated Ridge Zinfandel, so I pulled from the cellar two vintage Zins from Alec's birthyear - two Howell Mountain labels from Ridge and Lamborn. This provided a vertical tasting of two Ridge vintages, and a horizontal tasting of two 1990 vintage labels.

Linda prepared her delectable beef tenderloin (shown right) with fried onions, twice baked potatoes, broccoli, and mac-n-cheese for the kids (and some adults (me)). Ryan brought a dinner salad and Erin brought a fruit plate. Before dinner included shrimp cocktail and afterwards we had a chocolate birthday cake and cupcakes.

We visited Lamborn Vineyards high atop Howell Mountain during our Napa Howell Mountain Wine Experience  back in 2008. I am not sure where Ridge sourced their Howell Mountain fruit for this label and find it conceivable that both these bottles were from the same source. Even at 27 years of age, they were very similar, almost identical, in condition and profile.

Ironically, the last time I tasted either of these wines, I drank them both together at the same time back in November, 2009.

Tonight, both the 1990 Ridge and Lamborn were garnet colored with a brownish rust hue and a bit of murkiness setting in - the predominant sign of diminution from aging. Both were clearly nearing the end of their drinking window, but were still holding their fruit. There were accents of leather and tobacco leaf but no funkiness that one might expect from wines this age. Setting the clarity and color aside, one might not know how old they were.

Both wines warranted a rating of 86 points. 

Lamborn Family Vineyards Napa Valley Howell Mountain Zinfandel 1990 

My last review of this Lamborn label was back in 2009 when I wrote, "Dark inky color with a tinge of separation on the rim... predominantly earthy, leathery, black bramble fruit accented with black pepper and an edge of creosote."


https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=573684

Ridge California Howell Mountain Zinfandel 1990 

My last review of this wine was also back in 2009 when I wrote "Dark inly color - earthy leathery, black cherry and black berry fruits accented with black pepper and hint of black olive."

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=69252

Ridge Vineyards "Lytton Springs" Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2013

This recent release got rave reviews with a 95 and 92 point rating from Vinous and Robert Parker. Compared to the subdued aged fruit of the vintage Zins, this was over the top and almost overbearing, more suited to tangy bbq or rich foods than the beef tenderloin. This needs several years to settle and come together.

Bright garnet colored, medium-full bodied, complex, rich concentrated forward black raspberry and blue bramble fruits accented by clove spice, Kirsch, floral, anise and hints of tangy oak (aged fourteen months in American Oak). There is 16% Petite Sirah in the blend and it is apparent in adding breadth and depth complexity and a backbone of a firm but not overbearing tannin finish.

This is a blend of 74% Zinfandel, 16% Petite Sirah, 8% Carignan and 2% Mataro (Mourvèdre).

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1904753

This received 95 points from Vinous and 92 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.
RM 92 points.

Twice baked potatoes, mac-n-cheese, broccoli.