Jean's birthday was celebrated, as per her request, by a weekend spent camping in a State Park. Our first dinner on Friday was (for us) the traditional grilled ribeyes with potatoes and onions. To accompany this, we opened:
1995 Buehler Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon nose: cassis, plums, cedar palate: medium body, silky tannins, good acidity, smooth finishOne of our older CalCabs, from a producer that you don't hear much about (but who, in my experience, produce a tannic, ageworthy Cab). I went with CalCab rather than Bordeaux because of the steaks and the desire to open an older wine from the cellar. Although still fairly primary, this wine worked as hoped for and seemed very classic in its proportions.
For her birthday dinner, Jean wanted spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce (with an eye to what Andrew would willingly eat), so I cooked that with a salad. As an aperitif with the opening of presents, we had:
NV Gruet Brut nose: toasty, apples palate: soft entry, mild toast, simple lemon/apple fruit
Not the best example I've had from Gruet, but still a reasonably appealing sparkler.
With dinner, we opened:
1999 Rosenblum Eagle Point Vyd Zinfandel nose: oak, oak, oak, dark fruit palate: oaky, soft, undistinguishedThis was the last bottle of Rosenblum Zin in our cellar and, on the basis of this performance, we won't be buying more any time soon. In their defense, though, a recently opened bottle of the '99 Rosenblum Hendry Reserve Zin was much less oaky and more enjoyable. Still, this wine was simply obscured by the excessive use of new oak, and just barely enjoyable with the spaghetti. It also led me to wonder just how long, if ever, it would take for the oak to integrate?
Mark Lipton