First of (for you, Dale!) we had a party a week ago in which we opened a number of bottles that needed drinking and which we weren't too inclined to open up with dinner... aka a "cull party." So, we invite 30 of our closest friends over to help us drink the wines and invite them to bring an appetizer. It was organized into 3 flights (discounting the flight of '06 Kiwi SBs that I already posted about).
Flight#1 : CA Pinot Noirs
2000 Byron Santa Maria PN color: medium garnet with bricking at the edges nose: a beautiful mix of strawberry and smoke palate: medium body, velvety, excellent balance, nice fruit reaction: What a nice surprise! We'd been leery of this wine being OTH, but it was still in fine form and an excellent example of CA Pinot at its best. $25 at purchase.2002 Sanford Santa Rita Hills PN n: slight volatility, cherry p: pencil lead, acid, tart cherry, short finish r: Having enjoyed Sanford's '01 very much, this wine was a serious letdown. It couldn't hold a candle to the Byron
2001 Siduri 'Pisoni' PN n: black fruit, sappy p: thick, syrupy, alcoholic, reminds me of cherry cough syrup r: Not my style. Let's leave it at that.Flight #2 - Zinfandels
'98 Gary Farrell n: pencil lead, alcohol p: acids, cedar, blackberry, short finish r: Not bad, but a bit thin
'99 Seghesio 'Cortina' n: cedar, blackberry, tarry notes p: medium-full body, blackberry, acids, balanced r: A step up from the Farrell, but not terribly exciting
'01 Turley Dogtown n: berries, alcohol p: rich, pencil lead, fruit, oaky finish, tannic r: Again, not my style. We purchased this at the winery in Paso in '03 and I posted notes on it then:
"Ruby in color, with tart berry fruit in the nose, followed by toasty oak and darker fruit; rich entry was followed by berry fruit in the midpalate, slight oakiness and a clean, tannic finish."
I think it's fair to say that I liked it better in its youth, but the question is: did it change, or did I? ;-)
As part of party, we had a contest to see who could guess the identity of the mystery wine, with the winner getting a fabulous prize (wine glass charms).
Mystery wine n: cherries p: very International in character, cherries, oak, noticeable acidity r: *yawn* [1999 Falesco Merlot]
Flight#3 '98 CalCabs
1998 Livingston-Moffett [This wine disappeared before I got to it, but the bottle smelled of spices, fruit and leather. It was the crowd favorite, hence its disappearance]1998 Ridge 'Santa Cruz Mountains' n: stewed, minerals, cedar p: acidic entry, tea and cassis, not very open r: This was a wine that I had higher hopes for. I hope that it's just shut down right now because I have more and it's not in a good place right now.
1998 Staglin Family n: spices, pencil lead p: rich, cassis fruit, fine tannins r: Quite nice if a bit unremarkable. Still, a step up from the Ridge.Overall, my wine of the night was the first one, the Byron Pinot Noir. It, along with the Livingston-Moffett Cab, was the first wine to go, always a good metric of popularity. Fun night, good wines, good people.
Mark Lipton