John T was in town from Santa Barbara, and Brad recruited folks from a Dec CalCab dinner from John’s last visit and a couple of others for a f ree form offline at Peking Duck House. A couple of cancellations (illness a nd work), but a nice crew of 5 met at PDH Thursday night. We enjoyed a coup le of ducks, some beef with bamboo shoots, beans, and Chinese broccoli.
2015 Vacheron Sancerre Young, ripe, very fruity, don’t know Vacheron enough to know if tha t is style or it’s a vintage thing. B 1989 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Turckheim Pit fruits, ginger, some stony soil notes. This is Olivier but still in Leo nard style. Good showing. B+/A- 1997 Zind-Humbrecht Clos St. Urbain Rangen de Thann Riesling Intensely rich, honied, a bit fat and oily, Riesling as Marsanne/Viognier. B/B-1999 Jamet Cote-Rotie I quite liked this. Dark berry, smoke, pepper, a little tarry almost Nebbio lo note. A-/B+
1999 Texier Cote-Rotie A little volatile and a lot sour at first. Time did it some good, though fr uit maintained a sour cherry note. B (Actually held up well overnight, if y ou can handle some VA )2002 Roumier Chambolle-Musigny Organizer has apparently said “wines Brad likes that go with duck ”, I missed the first part. Red and black cherries, a little earth, a little sandalwood. This isn’t super complex and you won’ t mistake for Amoureuses, but in a very nice place and what I look for in a mature village wine. B+/A- but an A for being what a village Chambolle can be. Will drink other soon. (Didn’t hold well overnight.)
2001 Pegau “Reserve” Chateauneuf-de-Pape. If more CdP was like this, I’d drink more CdP. Just a bit of barnya rd, red berry fruit, some leather. Not overripe, good finish. B+2005 Pinon "Cuvee Botrytis" Vouvray I didn’t actually write anything down, but thought this was great a nd surprisingly ready. Honey, apricot, ripe peaches, good acidic spine, lon g finish. A-
Good night with good people.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a p arty where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivi ty, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.