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