Hahn Meritage Central Coast Red Table Wine 2006

Hahn Meritage Central Coast Red Table Wine 2006

We bought a lot of this 2006 vintage Central Coast Red Table Wine label back upon release and enjoyed it as our every day drinking red wine and recommended it to others. I wrote back in 2014 that this was the last remaining bottle from that era and as such it was time to drink, showing its age and clearly being at the mature end of its drinking window. Still it was good that night with pizza. In that wineblog post, I chronicled the terminology and licensing and branding details of the phenomenon of the 'Meritage' term.

Well it wasn't our last bottle as I found two more languishing down in the cellar so I pulled one to sip with cheese, chocolates and Italian beef sandwiches this weekend. It was still holding its own after eleven years, although past its prime drinking window. The fruit is still bold and vibrant, taking on a bit of a raisin notes showing its age. 

My earlier review, "This is a high QPR - quality price ratio red wine blend of Bordeaux varietal grapes. Showing its age, the dark berry fruit is showing at over ripe with taste of raisins with hints of tobacco and leather as the fruit starts to subside. Still dark blackish purple, medium to full bodied with hints of oak, its time to drink up".

My rating at this stage of its life - RM 85 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=462555


http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2014/11/hahn-central-coast-meritage-2006.html

Chateau St Jean Robert Young Chardonnay

Chateau St Jean Robert Young Vineyard Alexander Valley Chardonnay 2012

With Will and Sarah visiting from LA, Linda prepared shrimp scampi with garlic, lemon butter and breadcrumbs, so I pulled from the cellar this Sonoma Alexander Valley Chardonnay. There is good QPR - quality price ratio in this single vineyard designated label that can be found discounted in stores, perhaps due to availability from large production, and perhaps also because of its simpler lighter profile and character.

Our visits to Chateau St Jean have been highlights of several of our trips to Sonoma Valley wine country such as the feature of our 2009 visit on or winesite. It is the most authentic wine Chateau setting and experience in Sonoma. We know Chateau St Jean for their Chardonnays, dessert wines, and their well known flagship Cinq Cepage, 'five flavors' bordeaux varietal cabernet sauvignon blend, and their premium reserve label wines. This is one of a series of several labels of single vineyard designated Chardonnays from this producer.

Chateau St Jean Sonoma County Alexander Valley Robert Young Vineyard Chardonnay 2012

Pale yellow colored, light bodied, lemon citrus and stone fruit tones give way to notes of pear and peach with nice balanced acidity on a tangy lemon laced smooth finish.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1568206

https://www.chateaustjean.com/

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.

Hazyblur Baroota Shiraz 2002

Hazyblur South Australia Baroota Shiraz 2002

Sunday afternoon in front of March Madness basketball, Linda prepared a hearty pizza and I pulled from the cellar a big bruising 'pizza wine', hazyblur South Australia Baroota Shiraz from 2002.

Last time we tasted this, two years ago, I wrote "its time to drink as this vintage release has entered the last phase of its drinking window, with the fruit taking on a more ripe raisiny character and the berry and plum flavors starting to give way to non fruit tones of leather, wood and smoke or tar."

Fortunately, this is drinking very nicely, still, and is showing some very nice floral aromatics to compliment the remaining fruits.

Taking into account the slight diminution of the fruits as described above, tonight this showed consistency with our last tasting which was in 2009.

Dark garnet colored, full bodied, concentrated, nicely integrated ripe plum, blackberry and black currant fruits with tones of cedar, hints of leather, licorice and dark mocha with a slight bit of heat on the full firm lingering finish.

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=25284

Rivea Restaurant Best Award Wine Cellar Tour

Rivea Restaurant Best Award Wine Cellar Tour

For our annual bootcamp and academy, to be followed by our international conference hosting over 20000 guests in Las Vegas, we held a gala reception at the Skyline Lounge and Rivea Restaurant atop the Delano Hotel / Mandalay Bay.

I took the opportunity to tour the magnificent Rivea wine cellar. There are so many extraordinary highly rated wine cellars in Las Vegas that each is overshadowed by the next. No less than 77 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence awarded winelist restaurants are in metro Las Vegas with 46 holding the prestigious Best of Award of Excellence. This ranks with the 78 in Los Angeles, 79 in San Francisco and 83 in Chicago.

An Award winning designation is a mark of distinction and such a wine cellar is one of the crown jewels of awarded restaurants. Of course, I'm a wine geek oenophile and I start with the wine list awards as a requisite criteria when I'm searching for a restaurant for a fine dining outing.

Rivea is the highly acclaimed Las Vegas restaurant, of international super-star chef Alain Ducasse, following his legendary venues in Saint-Tropez and London, with French and Italian influenced cuisine.

Rivea and the Skyline lounge sport direct express access via private elevator, a vibrant elegant, chic but laid back atmosphere, and arguably the best views of the Las Vegas skyline from high atop the Delano Hotel, hence the namesake Skyline Lounge.

The atmosphere controlled working showcase wine cellar adorns the interior wall of the main dining room. Its divided into three separate sections with appropriate temperature controls for whites, reds and special collectable selections. The wine collection and winelist features 8500 bottles of 1700 different label selections.

The high end prestigious labels is predominant with the best First Growth Bordeaux, Burgundy and premium and super premium California wines, as well as mid-tier labels and a selection of carefully chosen more modest entree level labels for those not wanting to part with a car or house payment for a bottle of wine.

The high end First Growth Bordeaux selections included the most expensive bottle on the list I found, Chateau Lafite Rothschild for $17000, several Chateau Mouton Rothschilds dating back to 1982, and an extensive selection of Chateau d'YQuem vintages (shown left).

Some of the other highlights include some of my favorite super second Bordeaux including a double magnum of Chateau Leoville Las Cases 1989 and several vintages of numerous other Bordeaux such as Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.

From California, they hold several of my favorite wines which I hold in my cellar including Clark Claudon and Dunn Vineyards from Howell Mountain and Napa Valley.

They also hold some imaginative selections such as the large format five liter Imperial of Washington State Columbia Valley La Sorella 1999 (shown right), and rare Sadie Family Columella Castro Bonae Spei Syrah from South Africa.

I was graciously hosted by Sommelier Matthew George, pictured, who works under the leadership of Wine Director Harley Carbery, who is also assisted by Sommeliers Coltin Short and Norman Acosta.

George, a Las Vegas native, has been working on his wine tradecraft for close to a dozen years. He's in pursuit of his Advanced Sommelier certification having passed parts of the certification exams in each of the last two years.

We enjoyed sharing numerous vintage reviews and tasting encounters, restaurant and cellar reviews, as well as wine stories such as our mutual acquaintance encounters with SOMM sommelier DLynn Proctor, global ambassador for Penfold's legendary Grange.

Watch for our wine dinner reviews of Rivea and plan an evening there for a notable wine dining experience. Tell them you read about them here!

https://www.delanolasvegas.com/en/restaurants/rivea.html

Delano Hotel Las Vegas Skyline Lounge
and Rivea Restaurant

One of three cellar compartments

Chateau Leoville Las Cases
Double Magnum

Baus Family Vineyards Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Baus Family Vineyards Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 2014

Seconded to Las Vegas for a week of bootcamp, I picked up this Sonoma County California Cabernet to take back to the hotel for dinner with carry out bbq ribs. This was a pleasant surprise exceeding my expectations for a every day 'pizza wine' picked up at an off-strip liquor store. It actually was a good value QPR at under $20 and was ideal for the occasion.

Baus Family Vineyards must be an independent grower who sells bulk grapes to producers. According to the rear label, this is vinted and bottled by Great Domains and Estates in Hopland, CA. Hopland is a small rural town further north in Mendocino County on the Russian River, southeast of Ukiah.

This was dark ruby colored, medium-full bodied, nicely balanced, moderately firm structure, aromatic rich blackberry and black cherry fruits accented by spicy clove and hints of oak with moderate tannins on a smooth long finish.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2462044

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2267570

Edna Valley Vineyards Central Coast Chardonnay 2014

Edna Valley Vineyards Central Coast Chardonnay 2014

For a casual team dinner outing at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, Las Vegas, we ordered this pleasant easy drinking Chardonnay that complemented our seafood plates and salad entrees.

Edna Valley sits five miles inland from the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

This entry level label is a blend of fruit from vineyards in Monterey County in the North and from the Edna Valley estate vineyards near San Luis Obispo in the South Central Coast regions, (shown on the rear label above).

The diversity of fruit results in a moderately complex full flavored Chardonnay with a range of flavors that come together in a nicely integrated and balanced blend.

Good value, high QPR in this pleasant easy drinking sipper that is complex enough to accompany a light dinner.

Bright yellow-golden colored, light-medium bodied with full mouthfeel, rich tangy acidity from lemon citrus tones accented by tropical fruits, notes of pear and white peach with hints of green apple, pineapple and brown spices.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2304244