Clos du Val is a classic. A good place to start.

fully agreed, one could do much much worse

Hoosier, since you're liking the clos du val be sure to check out bugess as its in the same price range.

If you want to kick it up a notch, look for Lewelling(the regular bottling is just as good as the wight IMO and 20-30 less), Chappellet Signature, and Mt Eden. All three are really good cabs that are very expressive and do a really good job showing off what I love about california cabernet, which is expressive fruit with good balance and no over oaking

KDawg,

Please write more. Thanks.

I would also like to throw out as one step up from Clos du Val: Robert Craig's Affinity. It's year in and year out simply outstanding and, IMO, the best value in Napa at $30ish online.

I've been on a Portuguese tear lately:

Right now:

Quinta dos Roques Encruzado - A white of the verital, Encruzado. Easily the best white I've tasted out of Portugal. Very Burgundian in style. Spent some time on French Oak.. which is nicely integrated and not overpowering. Great acidity pushes through with a medium to full body of Lemon meringue and butterscotch.

Really, really impressive. Has anybody else had this? Jancis Robinson has said that Encruzado's are very long lived, especially those from this specific producer so I'm thinking of putting a case into the cellar.

had a great night last saturday. Got to do a vertical of all the major vintages of Chateau Beaucastel(and then a few others) from 81-01:

BEAUCASTEL VERTICAL 81-01 - Gurnee IL, Jordan's house (3/21/2009)

this had been in the works for months. Stops and starts and trying to have it work for as many people possible prevented it from happening until now. While we wanted some Hommages, this was a great representation of beaucastel over a 20 period of many of the major vintages. It also provided a great way to get to know Beaucastel. Apart from the Beaucastel, there was also a whole lot of Flannery Beef for us to chow down on
kick off burg

• 1996 Dominique Laurent Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
  nose: beautiful and aromatic spiced based nose filled with brown and asian spices, black cherries, bits of truffles, red cherries and slight hints of earth. Well rounded nose that is wide open right now and very gevrey in character
  
  taste: lovely feel with the 96 acidity rearing its head as it is a bit much. Well balanced tones of brown and asian spices, black cherries, hints of earth and some bits of truffles
  
  overall: needs a bit more time to let the acidity calm down. The aromatics were great though as there was all sorts of classic gevrey tones that were well balanced and alluring (93 pts.)

The vertical

• 1981 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: very animale and sauvage nose with some animal hides, leather, tobacco, a lot of bleu cheese, herbs, spices, black cherries and bits of peppercorns. With more air, char broiled meaty tones emerge and the wine becomes very expressive with excellent layering
  
  taste: very deep and well layered tones of leather, dark herbs, tobacco, pepper, and black cherry tones with some animal undertones. Great medium feel that is mostly resolved, but there is still some tannins to keep it going
  
  overall: a really interesting wine. Very different from all the other beaucastels that were drank as it had a real sauvage streak. This presented some real different facets over the evening drinking it as it kept the animalistic core, but presented a bunch of different tones to go with it (94 pts.)
• 1983 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: very perfumed and lovely nose of red fruits, spices, bits of game, barnyard, red licorice, garrigue and hints of white pepper. Even slight hints of hi-toned florals. A lovely nose that is very captivating and a bit different then what one would expect from a CdP as there is a burgundian sense to it
  
  taste: the elegance follows through on teh palate with a lovely medium feel and some nice tannins are still present. Beautifully balanced tones of red fruits, spices, red licorice, and some gamey tones lurk underneath with a touch of white pepper
  
  overall: a lovely wine. Smooth and sleek with a very sauve character to it that makes it very alluring. Drinking great, and one would be very hard pressed to guess that this was a wine this old as the color was great and one could see through the wine, but there was no real browning at the rim (92 pts.)
• 1985 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: very tight off the bat and took a bit to get going with tones of black and red licorice, herbs, dark red fruits, red cherries, some liqueur tones and some good tones of leather balance it all out with really good depth and class on the nose
  
  taste: good tannins and acidity still make their presence felt with good tones of red and black licorice, dark red fruits, leather, and liqueur tones. lovely medium feel that has a bit more weight then the 83 that was right next to it
  
  overall: This took a bit to open up. Initially very tight, it had a very youthful feel to it that belied its age. Was hoping for more though as it seemed stuck in 3rd gear and didn't start to really take it to a higher level that I was hoping for (92 pts.)
• 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: a bit of a wild nose with a very rich notes of red and black fruits, loads of roasted herbs, wild animal hides, rawhide leather, and black pepper. Good balance, and rich, but lacking a bit of depth to go with the wild streak
  
  taste: excellent and polished feel as it comes across well resolved with tones of red and black fruits, roasted herbs, rawhide leather, black pepper, dark cherries, and some rich liqueur tones. Very plump and the wild streak that was on the nose was tamed a bit, which is a slight dissapointment
  
  overall: while really good, this bottle didn't bring the depth that would've really taken it to another level. Really good richness on the nose and palate with an excellent medium feel, but the wild streak being tamed on the palate took a bit away as it would've continued the adventure that was the nose a bit (93 pts.)
• 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  this was a second bottle that was brought out to see the bottle variation from the vintage
  
  nose: ridiculously deep nose of red currants, red cherries, spice tones, leather and a whole lot of liqueur tones. Very expressive and very pungent that really draws you in. More pure then the other bottle of the 89 and didn't have the wild streak, but had a whole lot more depth and this was a real class nose
  
  taste: very lush and elegant feel that is really resolved. Wonderful rich tones of red currants, red cherries, red fruits, spice tones, leather, bits of bakers chocolate, and some hints of barnyard tones work their way out. Wonderful feel with good depth, but doesn't captivate like the nose does
  
  overall: the two bottles were very different from each other. Two different wines, and both enjoyable, but this bottle took it to another level. The nose was near magical and had so much depth that it was very heady. There was a refinement to the wine and both bottles were really good, this one was better (95 pts.)
• 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: rich, sleek, elegant and very deep with wonderful layered tones of red fruits, red cherries, loads of herbs, spice tones, rawhide leather, and garrigue with a touch of funk. An intoxicating nose that beguiles the senses and is just so beautiful
  
  taste: extremely layered and pure with rich tones of red fruits, red cherries, spice tones, garrigue and a bit of barnyard funk. Beautiful feel that seems to go on forever on the palate and really brings on the class
  
  overall: a beautiful beaucastel. One of the classiest beaus that I've had and it just really turns it on. A hair better then bottle no2 of the 89 as this just has that extra edge of class that does it for me and makes me ponder (95 pts.)
• 1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: very elegant nose filled with white pepper, red fruits, leather and red currants. Not too much funk, but a real lovely nose that has a hollywood blonde type edge to it that really makes me want to smell more of it
  
  taste: drinking wonderfully with mature tones of mushrooms, white pepper, red cherries, red currants and bits of leather. Good medium feel that glides across the palate
  
  overall: a really elegant bottle of beaucastel. This one showed that there is definitely some variation on this vintage from bottles as all three have been a bit different, but this was really good and very enjoyable (91 pts.)
• 1995 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: really good and tart nose of red cherries, red currants, red fruits, raspberry compote, with a touch of licorice tones and some black fruits. Really good depth and there is more of a cleanliness to this that the previous beaucastels didn't have
  
  taste: good tannins with a nice medium feel of red and dark cherries, bits of leather, spice tones and a good helping of garrigue and licorice. A nice richness to it with tart tones that work very well together
  
  overall: great balance and feel, this is starting to enter a really good place. In a somewhat in between stage it'll be interesting to follow this as it gets older to see if it becomes a bit more "dirty" as it has a good purity and clean feel to it right now (92 pts.)
• 1996 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: good nose of leather, black pepper, garrigue, black and sour cherries with a bit of meaty tones. Nice nose, but in a lower level then all of the other beaucastels that were opened as it lacked some of the extra complexity or layering and depth that had set the other beacastels apart
  
  taste: good medium feel with tones of leather, garrigue, black and sour cherries and slight hints of meat. Well resolved and feels that this is as good as its going to get. Lacking depth, but is very nice
  
  overall: a really good and solid beaucastel. Just has a bit lacking that was present in other beaus. Good tones and flavors, there just isn't the depth that was present in the other vintages of beaucastel (88 pts.)
• 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: great depth with beautiful flavors of spices, herbs, liqueur, leather, dark red cherries, currants and rich red fruits. Very pungent, but seems to be holding back a bit and isn't as expressive as the other big vintages of beaucastel that were there
  
  taste: fuller bodied then the other beaucastels with very good tannins. Rich, but holding back a bit with well balanced tones of raspberries, leather, spices, dark red cherries, currants, and liqueur tones with some red fruits
  
  overall: this bottle didn't seem ready for primetime. There was a tightness to it even though it had been decanted for 3 hours and had a lot of bottle air before fully getting to it. Rich and deep, this should turn into a real beauty but will need another 5 years to really start to getting where it should end up at (93 pts.)
• 1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: good dark nose of black fruits, black cherries, garrigue, spices and bits of leather with a hint of game. Excellent balance and shows some good character with the dark and somewhat mysterious profile that other beaus haven't had
  
  taste: really good texture with a nice medium feel of black fruits, leather, black spices and black cherries. Good tannins, but more resolved then the 98
  
  overall: a much earlier drinking beaucastel then the 98 and even the 95. Good dark profile that is a bit of a departure from the other beaucastels provides some intrigue for the wine and has nice tannins right now (91 pts.)
• 2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: as dark as the profile was on the 99, this is much more dark. Very expressive with black fruits, black cherries, black currants, leather and black spices. Very alluring and classy with a good amount of depth
  
  taste: excellent balance with good tannins and a tasty medium feel. Rich tones of black currants, black fruits, dark red fruits, black cherries, black currants and leather tones
  
  overall: in a really good and interesting place that is starting to drink. This should be on an interesting evolutionary track for a while and at this time seems more evolved then the 98. A fun one to drink as the dark profile is very intriguing and much different then the other beaucastels(other then the 99) (93 pts.)
• 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: this nose is screaming right off the bat with all sorts of black fruits, red fruits, bright red cherries, raspberries, kirsch liqueur, raspberries and hints of pepper. Almost new worldish as there is definitely a brighter tones to the fruit on the nose
  
  taste: lovely feel with good tannins. Very rich tones of sweet perfumes, kirsch liqueur, raspberries, red cherries, red fruits, and some hints of pepper. Great depth on the palate with wonderful length
  
  overall: this will need more time. Very youthful, but a tremendous wine already that can get better. Needs to evolve a bit more and let some of the tannins subside a slight bit, but those that have this in their cellars should be very happy (94 pts.)
• 1997 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: rich and honeyed nose with all sorts of nutty tones, honeysuckle, sour lemons, star fruits, all sorts of various oils and citrus hints. Very deep and intriguing nose that is fully mature
  
  taste: great feel with smokey tones, roasted nuts, drops of honey, citrus tones, various oils, and sour lemons
  
  overall: the color was very rich and golden which caused some worry when popped. Upon first smell it wasn't a problem at all. As it opened up and warmed up a bit the mid palate formed a lot more and became more rich. Can definitely last longer, but there's little reason to not to drink it now (92 pts.)

Night cappers

• 1983 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  nose: this is a holy **** type nose. Insanely deep with all sorts of garrigue, black fruits, earthen tones, spices, black cherries and just jam packed with tellicherry peppercorns. This is the kind of nose that makes your eyes roll into the back of your head and the layering is just off the charts
  
  taste: this is pure sex in the mouth. wow, just wow ridiculously layered feel with all sorts of black cherries, dark red fruits, loads of peppercorns and herbs with a touch of roasted beef tones that form the base
  
  overall: mind blowing. The layering on the wine is off the charts and this is a Telegraphe that takes you to a completely different level. This nearly left me speechless and I just sat there with the glass for a while to soak in the moment (96 pts.)
• 1976 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Côte-Rôtie Les Jumelles - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
  nose: this was pure sex on the nose. Violets, smoke, black cherries, tobacco, bacon fat and a bit of leather all just work together in pure harmony in a large scale balancing act that takes you to a completely different level that so few wines are capable of
  
  taste: silky smooth medium/full feel that completely beguiles and is so beautiful. Melded tones of smoke, black cherries, tobacco, bacon fat and some bits of florals just glide across the palate like satin
  
  overall: this wine does it again. Pure delight that is very pleasing to the senses. Harmoniously balanced that is just everything you want from a cote rotie and barely shows off its age. A masterpiece in winemaking (95 pts.)
• 1993 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
  nose: great classic cab nose filled with cedar, red currants, dark red cherries, bits of walnuts, cassis and tart cranberry notes. Very rich, but balanced nose that is in a perfect place at this time
  
  taste: wonderful rich and full bodied feel with tannins that are still kicking. Great tones of cedar, dark red cherries, cranberries, and cassis work well with each other
  
  overall: this was at the end of a long and great night, so my notes aren't completely all there. That said, this was a great showing of an aged anderson conn before it started getting the points and accolades (92 pts.)

A great and long night. With people dropping like flies at the end, there was a whole lot of wine for just seven people. The wines showed fairly well, but the beef took center stage and this was my first experience with flannery, and it was a great experience. It fully lived up to expectations and with the wines it was tremendous
Posted from CellarTracker

Sounds like an awesome night Kdawg.

Beaucastel is an amazing producer. I just got two bottles of the '79 for super cheap. I think they're going to be a little past their prime, but will be opening soon.

how was the provenance of the 79s that you got? Looking on CT it may be really good. Granted there's only 3 notes, but Eric didn't want to part with one of his(well, for a big price) when we asked after getting the 83 from him, so that's pretty telling

Provenance is good. Bought upon release, hasn't moved much since. We will see soon. I haven't tasted much older CDP, so I won't have much to compare it to.

Exciting though.

before saturday, I hadn't tasted any CdP older then 98 that wasn't beaucastel. The 83 Telegraphe was great and it does make it interesting to see Grenache be able to go that long

When I was in Europe last week we went to a wine cellar outside of Brno, Czech Republic and got to a tasting of 7 wines they make there.

It was my first experience with anything like this and really good/a lot of fun.

I ended up picking up what the sommelier called a Cabernet Moravia (they are very proud of their region and will change wine names to fit that) and a Tramín (known elsewhere as Gewürztraminer).

I probably won't open them very soon, but when I do I'll let you know what I think.

I do know that whatever Hungarian variety of white wine they were making was unbelievable.

KD, I would like to hear about your opinion on Argentinian and South American wines, specifically Malbecs. Great reads.

Tokaji?

I think that there's a lot of great wine comig out of argentina, to say otherwise is very short sighted. I just wish more stuff in the 25-50 range was imported as I've been told by distributors that there is a sea of great malbec in that price range. I've generally found when one is willing to spend between 18-25, they can find a lot of really good malbec. The stuff under 15 is forgetable alot IMO and I'd rather spend on southern italian wines, some spanish, southwest france, and Cotes Du RHones as one gets more value for the $$$

I don't believe so, but one of the girls there was Hungarian so I'll email her and see if she remembers.

tone, was it a sweet desert wine? if it was it was probably tokaji, if it was a dry white wine, then it may have been a furmint, which are also very good.

What little hungarian wine I've had has generally been really damn good, just wish more of it would make it to the states

I agree. Most of the Eastern European wines I've tasted, especially the whites, have been good. Croatia, Hungry, Greek, Swiss, etc. Good stuff.

I did a real fun tasting on saturday where we did a KO bracket of wines while watching the final four:

FINAL FOUR BLIND KNOCKOUT - matt's house, highland park IL (4/4/2009)

Several of us met up at Matt's house to watch the final four, and do a blind tasting knockout competition of our own. We had twelve wines initially and were bagged up and paired off in head to head flights. We'd taste two wines head to head, vote on the one that should move on, and then reveal the one that got knocked out. The initial plan was to have it be three rounds, but due to a tie in the vote on a matchup in the second round, we had a semi finals, and then the finals. We did our best to keep it to 1-1.5 oz pours as wines would be moving on

The wines were labeled as such:
A1: 2006 Beau Vigne Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
A2: 2004 Schild Estate Barossa Reserve Shiraz

B1: 2002 Shafer Relentless
B2: 2005 Auteur Sonoma Stage Pinot Noir

C1: 2004 Saxum Broken Stones
C2: 1992 Thackrey Sirius Petite Sirah

D1:2004 Pax Kobler Syrah
D2: 2004 Colonial Estate Emigre

E1: 2003 El Nido Clio
E2: 2001 Paloma merlot

F1: 2006 Saxum James Berry
F2: 2006 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvigno
A1&A2

• 2006 Beau Vigne Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
  nose: great big and rich nose filled with black berries, dark red cherries, dark raspberries, and a good amount of black currants and some hints of cedar. As it opens up more, it becomes a lot more expressive and balanced.
  
  taste: great medium/full feel with expressive, rich, and deep dark tones of black berries, dark red cherries, and black currants with tones of cedar on the back end. Surprising medium/low tannins
  
  overall: this is a beautiful wine at this young stage. Very expressive with excellent depth and very polished right now (94 pts.)
• 2004 Schild Estate Shiraz Barossa Valley - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  nose: very dark nose filled with berry tones, black cherries and dark red fruits. A bit of jammyness to it that isn't over the top, but its definitely a very ripe nose
  
  taste: good smooth medium feel with medium depth and ripe, but balanced tones of dark berries, currants, black cherries and a good helping of dark red fruits
  
  overall: an excellent wine, but isn't very expressive nor does it really kick into another gear. Good aromas and flavors with nice depth (90 pts.)

B1&B2

• 2002 Shafer Relentless - USA, California, Napa Valley
  nose: massive nose filled with black cherries, dark berry tones, red and black currants, with hiints of spices and some minty tones. Very deep and primal with a whole lot of depth and is very expressive
  
  taste: massive tannins and feel with rich tones of black cherries, loads of black fruits, bits of oak, dark berries and black currant jam
  
  overall: big, bold, and rich, this gets right in your face and is no holds barred. Great depth with a rich medium/full feel with really big tannins (93 pts.)
• 2005 Auteur Pinot Noir Sonoma Stage Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
  nose: real refined in a cool and laid back sort of way, but with some punch to it. Opens initially with cool red fruits, bits of anisey tones, spices, and mixed berries. On the second go around of it, more pronounced tart cherries and blue fruits. Pungent, on the first pass with this it almost had a Chateauneuf-like edge to it, but with more air, the cali pinot came to the forefront and worked very well in balance
  
  taste: Medium feel with great tones of red fruits, spices, mixed berries, bits of candy, and tart cherries and some blue fruits emerge on the second go around.
  
  Overall: this improved a lot as the night went on, and it ended up winning the Knockout competition. Easily the best California Pinot that I've had, it went from outstanding to amazing by the end of the night and when it knocked out teh Beau Vigne in a close race, it was the clear winner in the final. Great balance and feel with rich aromatics, this is definitely a bigger style pinot, but not super heavy, just has a great lushness and richness to it (95 pts.)

C1&C2

• 2004 Saxum Broken Stones - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
  nose: there is a bit of a chemical/paint thinner type smell with some heat too. After it blows off a slight bit in the glass, good tones of spices, dark red cherries, dried red fruits and some slight hints of vegetables
  
  taste: big, but a bit disjointed with tones of spices, dark red cherries, black currants, and dried red fruits. There is also a bit of heat that jumps on the back end
  
  overall: this note was during the blind knockout portion. It had been given a good decant, but was a bit on the disjointed side during the blind setting. When I revisited it later in the evening, it had really emerged and there wasn't any of the disjointed problems that plagued it earlier. I didn't take notes on the revisit, but what it showed was that this needs about 6 hours of air at this point. There wasn't any of the fizzy problems that have been reported, just a beast of a young syrah blend (88 pts.)
• 1992 Sean Thackrey Petite Sirah Sirius Marston Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District
  nose: very intriguing nose filled with loads of pepper, some bleu cheeses, dried black cherries, spice tones and hints of minty notes. This smelled a lot like a northern rhone and certainly threw several of us off
  
  taste: lovely and balanced medium feel that is more nuanced with good tannins and excellent tones of black pepper, bits of bleu cheese, dried black cherries, some black fruits and bits of spices
  
  overall: when this was finally revealed, it was a shock. This really felt like a northern rhone in almost every way. There was almost no bricking and this grew more and more as the evening went on and as it advanced in the knockout. Very intriguing and a real treat (92 pts.)

D1&D2

• 2004 Pax Syrah Kobler Family Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
  nose: wonderful depth and richness that is very balanced. Toes the line well between new world and old world with great tones of black pepper, spices, dark red cherries, bits of black fruits, and a touch of black berries
  
  taste: great rich and full feel with excellent depth. Plush and expressive tones of black pepper, Spices, Dark red cherries, tart red fruits, bits of black fruits, and a good helping of black berries
  
  overall: Rich and balanced with great fruit. Good tannins and a good life ahead of it as it really shows off what cool climate cali syrah can do. Great mixture of both worlds with excellent balance and a good richness to it that makes it very enjoyable (93 pts.)
• 2004 The Colonial Estate Emigré - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  something very wrong happened to this bottle. It smelled like mcdonalds ketchup with some V8 tones. Tried tasting it and quickly reached for the spit bucket NR (flawed)

E1&E2

• 2003 Bodegas El Nido Jumilla Clio - Spain, Murcia, Jumilla
  nose: a bit of paint thinner tones get this nose to be a slight bit off kilter. Good tones of black cherries, dark red fruits, and bits of spice. Not very expressive and decent depth
  
  taste: good medium feel with dark raspberries, cranberries, black cherries, spice tones, and some dark red fruits
  
  overall: This just doesn't have that next level going for it. Very close, but more depth on either the palate or nose would kick it up a notch (89 pts.)
• 2001 Paloma Merlot - USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District
  nose: intriguing nose filled with black pepper, spice tones, dark red cherries, dark berries, and slight hints of purple florals. Wonderful depth and expression on the nose and very different
  
  taste: great balance with a smooth medium feel backed up by well rounded tones of black pepper, spices, dark red cherries, dark berries and some currants underneath
  
  overall: a real surprise and treat when revealed. I've never had a merlot act like this before and it came across as an aged syrah (92 pts.)

F1&F2

• 2006 Saxum James Berry Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
  nose: very rich and big nose filled with red cherries, mixed berries, loads of dark and red fruits with some black licorice tones. Very hedonistic and big, but not in the runaway fruit category. The fruit is massive and very primary, but not gloppy
  
  taste: a bit hot, but not too much. Massive fruit and massive feel with very rich tones of red cherries, mixed berries,melted black licorice with some dark and red fruits and a bit of sour berries
  
  overall: an outstanding young wine. This was a thrill ride of a wine and it didn't hold back. Certainly needs some time to calm down a slight bit, but this has some serious stuff going on and should be fun at the different phases of the wine. If I owned some of these I'd want to wait another 3-4 years, but one would not be faulted for opening one up right now if they wanted a hedonistic fun ride (93 pts.)
• 2006 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley
  nose: lovely and intoxicating nose that just screams great california cabernet. Great balance with rich tones of cedar, dark red cherries, loads of red and black currants, bits of coffee beans and some sour cranberries. Very pure and wonderfully expressive with a good amount of richness and power behind it
  
  taste: great full feel with chewy tannins that are very present, but not overbearing. Well balanced and expressive tones of cedar, red currants, creme de cassis, dark red cherries and some fresh roasted coffee bean tones
  
  overall: this ended up placing second as it made it through a tough lower bracket. There is great balance to this and can easily be aged for a good 15-20 years as the tannins are there, but they are more on the sweeter side. Wonderful expression and purity, this isn't neccessarily mind blowing, as it just doesn't work like that. Its more of a sweet science type heavyweight boxer (95 pts.)

Opening and closing whites

• 1994 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
  nose: none of the oxidative tones that other have experienced, this has well balanced and mature tones of honeysuckle, beeswax, tropical citrus tones, and various hot oils with a touch of star fruit
  
  taste: great medium and fat feel with mangoes, beeswax, honeysuckle, hot oils and tropical citrus tones. really good weight that flows well on the palate
  
  overall: had a excellent medium gold color. I'm very glad that this wasn't on the bad side of the dart board. My first chave blanc and a very enjoyable experience (92 pts.)
• N.V. Michel Arnould & Fils Champagne Grand Cru Brut Réserve - France, Champagne, Verzenay, Champagne
  nose: this was like walking into a bakery. Loads of bread, dough, and yeast with lemon peels, minerals, and some bits of citrus'. Excellent depth that belies its NV labeling
  
  taste: excellent and refreshing medium+ acidity that is a bakery on the palate with bread, dough, and all sorts of yeasty tones
  
  overall: this has fast become a go to champagne for me. Excellent quality with great balance and acidity, this is perfect for an under 40 NV as it has a good amount of class and great aromas (91 pts.)
• 2006 Scholium Project Sauvignon Blanc La Severità di Bruto Farina - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain
  nose: an off teh wall nose that is really interesting and filled with all sorts of grapefruits, smokey tones, roasted nuts, and citrus tones. While they sound somewhat like Suavignon Blanc tones, there's a very different take to them that I haven't smelled before, and it really intrigues me
  
  taste: great light feel with excellent acidity and zero detetction of the alcohol. Excellent tones of grape fruits, various citrus tones, and a whole lots of interesting smoke tones
  
  overall: one of the more interesting wines I've had in a while. I really need to try more of these wines as this was so interesting and fun to drink (91 pts.)

This was a whole lot of fun, and a great format that made things very interesting. There were some great wines that were knocked out early because they suffered a bad fate of randomly being put into a tough flight. The second round was very close and could've gone either way on all three of the flights, and we ended up in a 3-3 tie on one, so we just moved both of them on

The Beau Vigne, Auteur, Thackrey, Pax, Paloma, and Switchback won their first round matchups

The Auteur barely squeaked past the Beau Vigne, the Thackrey and Pax tied, and the Switchback won in the second round

Semis: Auteur beat the Thackrey pretty easily and the Switchback beat the Pax pretty well at that point

Finals: The Auteur won

It says a lot for the Auteur to have won the competition as these types of competitions don't normally lead towards a pinot winning, especially as when the night moves on like that the pours get more generous, lol. The Auteur was showing amazingly by the end of the night as was the Beau Vigne and Switchback. The Auteur is in a perfect place right now and the Beau Vigne and Switchback have a great life ahead of them

A great night and a whole lot of great wine
Posted from CellarTracker

I just enjoyed one of the finest rieslings i've ever had and easily the best outside of Alsace and Germany.

Gosset 'Polish Hill' Riesling 2002

Minerals, apples, pears, and 'toasty' on the nose. Ridiculously intense with a lot of citrus (especially lime), pears, green apples all balanced out by a backbone of beautiful acidity. Finish goes on forever and will last for decades? Has the acidity for it. Will be picking up the 2008 as I hear it's awesome as well.

I am a huge fan of the Gosset rieslings. The Watervale is a little less toasty but also great.

I really need to try out more clare valley and new zealand rieslings. I've heard really good things about them

Ya, they do do their rieslings well. Well priced too.

Starting to get into Hunter Valley Semillion's, anybody have any suggestions? Even cheap examples are supposed to age quite nicely.

I really like Don Melchor, concha y toro

speaking of rieslings, I met up with a few friends on tuesday night to have

DONNHOFFS AND THAI - Sticky Rice, Chicago IL (4/21/2009)

Several of us had a yearning for some Donnhoff and what better to have Donnhoff then with Thai food. It's begining to fully get into the riesling season(of course, anytime is a good time to drink riesling) so why not kick it off with a bunch of great riesling

• 2003 Dönnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
  nose: very tropical nose that is jam packed with tropical fruits, limes, mangoes, bits of petrol, and some pineapple and bits of apples. Excellent nose that is very fruited like one would expect from donnhoff, but lacking a slight bit of depth
  
  taste: really good upfront attack of tropical fruits, mangoes, pineapples, and some apple cores. Excellent attack and finish, but lacking a bit on the mid palate that would really drive this wine and is lacking a bit in acidity
  
  overall: the nose was the main story on this one. Great tropical flavors that hold well together. Could use a bit more acidity to really drive it and lacks a slight bit of depth, but very enjoyable (90 pts.)
• 2003 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
  nose: good and crisp nose with nice fat tones of minerals, green apples, tropical citrus', bits of ginger, and peach tones. Good depth and expression with very pure flavors
  
  taste: bits of petrol start right off with wonderful fat and round tones of minerals, green apples, peaches, and a good helping of tropical citrus tones
  
  overall: showing off much better then the norheimer dellechen. More depth and expression on both the nose and palate that is drinking well at this time. Good crisp acidity that provides great balance with excellent round flavors (92 pts.)
• 2005 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
  nose: focused and bright(though fairly tight) nose of tropical citrus', apples, limes, bits of petrol and lemon peels. Very pure, though hard to get a full read on right now, and this had been decanted for a couple of hours
  
  taste: excellent feel with good medium+ acidity. Tart tones of tropical citrus', apples, limes and lemon peels with some bits of white fruits. Very focused and almost laser-like on the palate with the flavors
  
  overall: as expected, this is very young. This should be a beautiful wine in about 5 years. A terrific buy for around 35 and should have a good life ahead of it (92 pts.)
• 2002 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
  nose: on another level from the other donnhoffs that we had. Excellent depth filled with lemon cream tones, minerals, bits of oils, tropical fruits, hints of papaya and nice round cherry tones. A bit tight and on the primary side of things
  
  taste: very classy and elegant feel with beautiful and expressive tones of lemon creams, minerals, some oil tones, loads of tropical citrus' and nice round tones of cherries. Excellent medium+ acidity adds to it
  
  overall: a wonderful and classy wine. Obviously young and seems in a bit of a changing phase as there was good weight to it and the tones were a bit more round, but still came across as primary. A wine that I'd love to have in the future to see how different it is, but it is damn good right now (93 pts.)
• 2002 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Nahe
  nose: this was a completely different ball game from all of the other donnhoffs. Very rich, deep, and expressive with a touch of RS, but not in a cloying way, its just there to add an extra facet. Deep tones of apricots, pears, green apples, tropical citrus' and some bits of mangoes
  
  taste: very primary with rich tones of pears, green apples, tropical citrus' and loads of mangoes. Great depth and excellent acidity with a wonderful and rich feel that is light on the palate
  
  overall: this has a long way to go. This came across as extremely young and not completely ready to drink, of course, it is extremely delicious (94 pts.)

A real fun night. While the wines were on the younger side, they went great with the food, and sticky rice is a great place to eat at a great price. Very authentic food and it hit the right spot.
Posted from CellarTracker

I love Donnhoff.