Back in rainy NY after a week in sunny Laguna Beach. Busy week with Betsy's family, I never made it to Hi-Times or Wine Country as I hoped. So I mostly made do in the supermarkets and the one Laguna wineshop (spotty selection, mostly high prices) . Among the wines:
2002 Kunde Sauvignon Blanc Citrus and honeysuckle on the nose, nice body. A nice surprise in $13 California SB, very pleasant if unexciting wine. Went well with chicken and fresh figs. B
2001 Leaping Lizard Pinot Noir OK, so there's a limit to how well you're going to do at average supermarket for $13. Thin, sharp cherry and grapey flavors. Not obviously flawed, just dull. B-/C+ Jenise Stone and I had corresponded a bit about meeting. Despite a very busy week for her, she and Bob came down to Newport to meet us on Thursday. She suggested Gulfstream, just based on a driveby. Place was overflowing, mostly with 20-somethings. I wasn't sure that was a good sign, but it ended up being a nice place. Everything was good, especially the scallops. I was impressed with my first taste of ono. My only quibble was the artic char and maybe the ono were just a tad overgrilled. Food overall was quite good -very fresh seafood, and service nice too. We got one bottle off list, and weren't charged corkage for Jenise's bottles of Pinot Noir (yippee!). Mostly, it was a pleasure to dine with a really nice couple. The wines:
2001 Willakenzie Pinot Gris (Willamette Valley) Good acidity and structure, floral nose, sweet apple fruit. Actually a little too sweet for my tastes, there's a bit of residual sugar apparent. But a nice OR PG. Probably a better match for the calamari than for the tuna carpaccio. B
1995 Joseph Swan Estate Pinot Noir Herbs, spice and ripe plums on the nose. Good acidity, clean yet restrained dark cherry fruit. Very nice wine, elegant and balanced. Jenise thinks this needs a little more time to smooth out the remaining tannins, but this seems at its peak to me (of course, she's the one that has watched its evolution, so maybe she's better judge). This ranks with the '95 Saintsbury Reserve as my favorite Cal PN to date. A-
1999 Siduri Hirsch Pinot Noir Rich deep cherry fruit, good sized dose of sweet/spicy oak. A earthy note makes it interesting. I like much more than a '00 Siduri Garys' I had. Not my favorite style of Pinot, more fruit-forward than I prefer, but obviously well-made and gets one's attention. B/B+
Thanks Jenise for bringing both of those! Over our last couple nights there we had the 1999 Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico Riserva (Caparzo) ($20 at Len's Wine Cité). First night it was closed and showed virtually nothing - some tannins, fruit so subdued I wondered re TCA under my detection-threshold, and a strange herbiness ( anyone ever had eucalyptus in a Chianti?). Our last night in Laguna I reluctantly returned. A whole different wine. The nose was more cedar with some dried wildflowers and roses. Dried cherries and a little blackberry. A little softer than my preference for CCR, but not bad at all. B/B+ (I would have given C+ on first night, shows you how fickle my notes are)
All in all, a good week, even if outside Jenise's Swan there was no outstanding wine. I adore Betsy's grandmother (an amazingly spirited 80-something, who lives in an oceanview house decorated with dozens of original Valentines made by Betsy's artist-calligrapher grandfather - one for each year of their marriage till he died). I'd visit her if she lived in the middle of nowhere, but Laguna definitely is a nice place to visit.
My usual disclaimer: I'm a pretty easy grader, basically A is a very good wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.
Dale
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