Another blind tasting dinner.
1992 Mission Hill Riesling Grand Reserve – this elderly BC wine, teetering on the brink of extinction, was interesting more for the fact that it showed anything at all. Medium dark colour, a shot of fruit in the nose, then bland in the mouth, with nothing but acidity tailing off precipitously.
1993 Mission Hill Riesling Private Reserve – lots of colour, slight maderisation, off dry, another experience in forensic oenology. Curiosities I could have done without.
1990 Mondavi Cabernet – I hadn’t had one of these for awhile, so wasn’t sure how they had been doing. Nice nose with vanilla, cigar box and mature notes, quite decent levels of fruit on palate, smooth, long and totally ready although there is a small amount of remaining tannin. One of the best regular bottlings I can recall Mondavi doing, and brought out by me to mark his passing.
1996 Finca Valpiedra Rioja Riserva – woody nose, and a big ripe dark wine that is smoothing out and starting to drink well. Absolutely no rush on this one.
1999 Iniskillin Cabernet Franc Reserve (Niagara) – this company has a presence in its original home in Ontario, as well as more recently in BC. The dark wine was showing a little coconut (sign of maturity?) and vanilla in the nose, medium body, ready to drink, a creditable effort.
2005 Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands – this wine was a bit disappointing after the quite interesting blood/iron and strawberry nose, because the fruit it had was slightly candied, and it was light weight and fruity but lacked substance, with almost no perceptible tannin. Am I expecting too much – shouldn’t this wine be more interesting than that?
2001 Hartford Court Seven Bench Pinot noir – another Niagara offering and a travesty of a wine. A fairly pleasant but completely non- varietal nose, followed by a light to medium bodied wine of no distinction whatsoever that tailed off quickly into well deserved oblivion.
2005 Intriga Cabernet (Chile) – this Maipo cab showed much more mature than it was. A primary mint nose gave no clues as to age (and misled some of us as to origin) but on palate it was showing medium bodied, fairly dry, with resolved flavours and a little tannin. We were figuring it was 5 -6 years older than it was. Intentionally produced ready to go, I suppose, but one wonders about longevity. There was a slight astringency in the finish I didn’t like.
2001 Canet Valette (St. Chinian) – this never fails to show better than one would predict. Dark wine with a mellow nose, and good stuffing, it seemed to build toward the end. Very nice.
1997 Jackson Triggs Proprietors Grand Reserve Riesling – one of those heavy special half bottles with sugar water within. How can anyone that has ever tasted a QMP Riesling give this sort of crap the time of day?
2000 Mendelson Muscat Canelli – this Californian wine (from a maker I do not know) showed a bit of varietal character (sweet wines are often hard to peg as they often fail t be varietally clear when tasted blind), light colour, very sweet raisiny nose and it was simple. Not my cup of syrup, but much better than the Canadian attempt.
Rather disappointing wines with a few exceptions.