OK folks, if you weren’t there, it’s time to (figuratively) kick yourself. You missed one of the best tastings we’ve ever had. Many thanks to Peter for putting on a GREAT Holiday tasting. This is the first of our TWO holiday tastings (Piedmont in December). I hope next month can match this one! [December Holiday Gala #2 tasting of Piedmont wines is sold out…but let us know if you’d like to be on the waiting list in case of cancellations]
Not a single wine below 90 points. Several wines in the 95 & up category, a few near-perfect wines. Please read through my notes and/or scroll down to the end to learn my philosophy & guidelines about numerical scoring.
Flight #1, Champagne:
1. Champagne Larmandier Bernier NV Brut
Appearance: Light Straw, Small (but not truly tiny) bubbles.
Nose: White bread toast, yeast, fresh apples
Palate: Bright fresh apple & floral fruit. More delicate style of Champagne. Very pretty. Refreshing. Quite good.
Score: 90 Points
Estimated Retail Price: $70.00 (Market of Choice, Ashland OR)
2. Champagne Dom Perignon 2008 (Moet & Chandon)
Appearance: Light Straw, tiny bubbles with delicate “strings of pearls.”
Nose: Very toasty, rich & full, creamy. Almost a hint of oak (although it’s not really there)
Palate: Full rich style of Champagne. Very round & creamy. Loads of toast. Layers of flavor evolve on the palate. Outstanding.
Score: 96 Points
Estimated Retail Price: $160.00 (Costco, Central Point OR)
Flight #1, Champagne:
1. Champagne Larmandier Bernier NV Brut
Appearance: Light Straw, Small (but not truly tiny) bubbles.
Nose: White bread toast, yeast, fresh apples
Palate: Bright fresh apple & floral fruit. More delicate style of Champagne. Very pretty. Refreshing. Quite good.
Score: 90 Points
Estimated Retail Price: $70.00 (Market of Choice, Ashland OR)
2. Champagne Dom Perignon 2008 (Moet & Chandon)
Appearance: Light Straw, tiny bubbles with delicate “strings of pearls.”
Nose: Very toasty, rich & full, creamy. Almost a hint of oak (although it’s not really there)
Palate: Full rich style of Champagne. Very round & creamy. Loads of toast. Layers of flavor evolve on the palate. Outstanding.
Score: 96 Points
Estimated Retail Price: $160.00 (Costco, Central Point OR)
Flight #2, 2016 Bordeaux:
1. Chateau Fonroque, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe
Nose: Intense CASSIS fruit with hints of smoke & spice. Very attractive.
Palate: Pretty, deep closed cassis fruit with medium tannins. Great Promise.
Score: 92 Points
Estimated Retail Price: $40.00 – a Great bargain at that price.
2. Chateau Maillet, Pomerol
Nose: Grapey cassis. The fruit is somewhat muted by lots of smoke & toasty oak. The fruit opens up with about 5 minutes of air in the glass.
Palate: Like the nose, the fruit on the palate is muted at first taste, but blossoms out with some air. Very plummy, suggesting Merlot (& as we discovered later, it is a Pomerol). A very faint hint of astringency in the finish, but so slight it’s not really a problem.
Score: 90 Points
3. Chateau Branaire-Ducru, Saint-Julien
Nose: Herbal cassis fruit. The herbal quality lead me to guess this was St-Emilion, with a healthy dose of Cabernet Franc…but I was obviously wrong!
Palate: Ripe, soft fruit, cassis/plum/cherry (more plum). The different qualities of fruit bring complexity to this fruit-forward wine, especially with a few minutes of air. A stunning young wine.
Score: 93 Points
4. Chateau Prieure-Lichine, Margaux
Nose: Rich cassis with cedar & cigar box qualities, & a hint of cola.
Palate: Excellent balance of complex flavors, following perfectly from the promise of the nose. Quite complex. I don’t care for the hint of cola quality in this wine, but within its style, it is excellent.
Score: 91 Points
Flight #3, 2016 Bordeaux:
1. Chateau Rauzan-Segla, Margaux
Nose: A hint of mint & earth with deep plums & cassis fruit.
Palate: SO GOOD! Layers of flavor. Plums, cassis, cedar, cigar box, tobacco. Great length. Very forward, but balanced to age well.
Score: 94 Points
2. Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac
Nose: Earth, smoke, plums & dark cherries.
Palate: This wine is excellent. However, I disagreed with most of the group. I felt the wine had a great beginning & finish, but fell a little flat on the mid-palate. The qualities it has are quite stunning. I think the mid-palate well flesh itself out with some time in the bottle. My score for this wine is based on its potential.
Score: 93 Points
3. Chateau Malescot St. Exupery, Margaux
Nose: Cassis, earth, graphite, some herbs. Really pretty.
Palate: Multi-layered wine with cassis & plums & herbs evolving as you roll the wine around in your mouth. Really a stunning young wine.
Score: 96 Points
4. Chateau Pape-Clement, Graves
Nose: Very ripe sweet plums and cassis. Showing more sweet ripeness than any of the other wines.
Palate: Again, sweet plums and cassis. Firm, tannic finish. Cabernet-heavy? Softens with air. The ripe fruit & firm tannins & acid foretell a bright future for this wine…but it needs time. It should be worth the wait.
Score: 94 Points
Flight #4, New World/Old World comparison (older vintage):
1. 2003 Osoyoos Larose (South Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada)
This property was formed in 1998 by Constellation Brands (Canada) in partnership with Group Taillan from Bordeaux (owners of several Grand Cru Classe properties). The 2003 vintage is a blend of 75% Merlot 11% Cabernet Sauvignon 6% Malbec 5% Petit Verdot 3% Cabernet Franc.
Color: Brickish, showing some age.
Nose: Deep, ripe, super-sweet cassis with earth, tobacco, & a hint of cedar. Very attractive.
Palate: Similar to the nose, but it doesn’t quite follow through on all that promise. Some of the fruit on the palate has faded with age. Still, an outstanding wine from an unexpected source.
Score: 91 Points (and fading)
2. Chateau Cos d’Estournel, Saint-Estephe
Color: Darker, young deep garnet color.
Nose: Beautiful earthy coffee & blackcurrant, with everything you want from top Bordeaux. Leather, tobacco, cedar, all support the more predominant coffee & cassis. Truly beautiful.
Palate: Outstanding wine. Deep & long. Every nuance of the nose follows perfectly onto the palate. This is a wine where the promise of the nose delivers on the palate. The flavors linger almost endlessly.
Score: 95 Points
Flight #5, New World/Old World comparison (we continue to go back in time…OLDER vintages):
This was clearly the COMPARISON flight of the night. Both wines were simply OUTSTANDING. I ranked them equally, for different reasons. The Lynch-Bages had the charm of an old world wine, while the Montelena showed the power & beauty of the pure fruit of the Napa Valley.
1. 2000 Chateau Lynch-Bages
Color: Slightly brickish garnet.
Nose: Smokey, herbal cassis, cigar box, tobacco, cedar & coffee. At first sniff, I was convinced (correctly) that this was the “Old World” wine in this flight.
Palate: All of that & MORE. I could throw in a lot of descriptors, but I’ll simply say WOW!
Score: 97 Points
2. 1999 Chateau Montelena, Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Color: Young, dark deep garnet.
Nose: Deep cassis, with coffee & cedar. More fruit prominent than the Lynch-Bages.
Palate: Truly beautiful stuff. The equal of the 2000 Lynch-Bages. More fruit predominance, not as much old world funk…but that fruit is just so deep & gorgeous, the wine simply shines. Still young, can age for another 5 years or perhaps more?
Score: 97 Points
Flight #6, New World/Old World comparison (We keep getting older!):
1. 1987 Robert Mondavi “Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon
Nose: Deep sweet fruit, earthy with hints of chocolate & cigar box.
Palate: Deep, long & round. Perfectly layered cassis/plummy fruit with chocolate & coffee & cigar box. Simply outstanding
Score: 97 Points
2. 1986 Chateau Montrose, Saint-Estephe (Sadly, this bottle was corked. Truly a shame. No score)
Flight #7, First Growth Bordeaux
1. 2004 Chateau Margaux, Margaux
Nose: Quite closed at the beginning, opening up with air & emerging to show notes of cassis, coffee & cigar box.
Palate: Beautiful fruit. Deep cassis, plums & coffee, with hints of cigar box & tobacco. Classic Bordeaux. Quite long. Very soft & elegant, quite forward for its age, but then it is Margaux, isn’t it. The characteristic elegance & beauty of Margaux shine in this wine. Relatively evolved for it’s age, but balanced so well that it should continue to improve for years to come.
Score: 94 Points, but with room to improve with age. It’s always difficult to compare “scores” between young wines & older wines. While this isn’t a baby anymore, it hasn’t developed the qualities of some of the older wines (2000 Lynch-Bages, 1999 Montelena, 1987 Mondavi). Be patient. It’ll get there in another five years or so.
Flight #8, Sauternes
1. 2016 Chateau Suduiraut, Sauternes
Color: Medium light gold.
Nose: Intense apricots & honey. Very deep & lush. So much fruit, it’s scary-good!
Palate: Sweet, luscious, unctuous (how often do we get to use that word?). Extremely full, rich, and long. Mostly apricot, but hints of other stone fruit interlaced with sweet honey characteristics. Quite a stunner…this was outstanding.
Score: 94 Points, with room to improve with age. Still available at reasonable prices ($65-75 online), and worth every penny.
2. 2009 Chateau Suduiraut, Sauternes
Color: Medium light gold, a little darker than the 2016.
Nose: Dusty honey & mixed stone fruit, apricot & peach. Not as intense as the 2016.
Palate: Again, nice dusty honey & apricot, but without the intensity I seek from a great sauternes. Really, really good, but a bit of a disappointment…I would expect more from this wine.
Score: 91 Points
Flight #9, Sauternes
1. 2003 Chateau d’Yquem, Sauternes (from a half-bottle)
Color: Light Straw Gold.
Nose: Sweet, nectarines & tropical notes, including coconut (Yquem?). A hint of diesel, similar to what I’d expect from some great German Rieslings…unexpected, but it works in this wine.
Palate: Pretty, dusty honey & peaches. Very, very young. Such wonderful fruit, but it needs more time to evolve. Great stuff, it’ll only get better
Score: 94 Points, but it should gain several points with more years in the bottle.
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Numerical Scoring of wines, Mr. Parker, you’ve ruined us!
For those of you who know my feelings about numerical scoring…I hate it. It is totally flawed, totally subjective, and the same wine will score differently to the same person on different nights. However, nowadays everyone wants a numerical benchmark, so I’ve trained myself to try to evaluate wines with a critical sense of consistency. Even if a wine is in a style that doesn’t appeal to me, I know what it SHOULD taste like, & evaluate it based on how good it is for that particular style.
I use a system of numerical ranking that my friend Pekka Nuikki of Fine Wine Magazine has laid out, as follows below. If you don’t have a “system” for your scoring, I suggest you develop one, for consistency. This is a good one…try it out:
Tasting chart
(Scores – as defined by Fine Wine Magazine)
98-100 Extraordinary wines at their apogee showing remarkable characteristics. The very essence of fine wine.
94-97 Distinct wines demonstrating the winemaker’s art, perhaps with some aging potential, although most likely to be mature.
93 – 89 Exemplary wines. These wines may also mature and even improve in the future. The score does not necessarily reflect their final status.
88 – 85 High quality wines showing characteristic features.
84 – 80 Unpretentious wines of good quality.
79 – 75 A non-specific and basic wine without any special characteristics.
74 – 60 Dull, lustreless wines which may possess faults.