It was a great pleasure to meet up with some old acquaintances this past Saturday night at the Herb Lyceum. We had a very nice meal and folks brought some outstanding wines to taste. It was a dark and stormy night, so it was a welcome respite to sit for a few hours in the warm dining room to wine and dine together.
Other than the two Champagnes, everything was bagged and served blind.
Starter sparklers:
N.V. G.H. Mumm Champagne Mumm de Cramant. Our opening sparkler displays a very crisp and bright nose, with aromas of citrus peel, burnt matchstick, and lemon drop. In the mouth, it features almost stinging acidity that feels like a razor blade across the tongue. If you can get past the mouth-puckering acidity, there are some flavors of ginger ale, pear and smoky sulfur. It has intensity and verve, but no complexity and, at least for me, it offers little pleasure.
N.V. Krug Champagne Brut. Now, this is a pretty nose, showing off aromas of brioche, butter cookies, pear, herbs and almond slices, with a red fruit streak like red pixie stick dust floating around in the back. This shows much better balance in the mouth than its predecessor. It is a bit light and airy, with an easy structure and only medium weight and body. There is a nice lift to the cherry, pear and cream flavors, but the whole package could use just a bit more focus, especially on the finish that sort of seems to come and go in terms of length. Still, it is a nice treat and got things going in the right direction.
White wine flight:
2001 Kongsgaard Chardonnay Napa Valley. Wow, this is just gorgeous stuff. The bouquet is complex and intriguing, with scents of juicy white peaches, candied lemon drops, butterscotch, citrus blossoms, and hazelnuts layered over one another in beautiful harmony. It is leesy and almost oily in texture and it clings to every crevice of the mouth while pumping out waves of lemon custard, sweet spiced pear, poached apple and stone fruit flavors. For all that, it is very well-balanced and far from over-done. The acidity is on the soft side, though it seems to pick up on the finish, which is squeaky clean and begs for another sip. This is exuberant, yet poised California Chardonnay with great presence and length—my clear white wine of the night.
2002 Henri Germain Meursault. In stark contrast, the nose on white wine #2 is very quiet and reserved, with just straightforward apple and melon aromas at this point in time. In the mouth, it is soft and rolls around the tongue in a languid sort of way. Flavors of grapefruit and other citrus fruits are both sweet and bitter at the same time, turning more to the bitter side toward the finish, which is dry and a touch abrupt.
2005 Ramey Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard Carneros. This wine threw me for a loop, as initially it comes across as perhaps a Chablis that has seen a bit of new oak, but then the longer one stays with it, the less that seems plausible. Up-front, the nose is all about chalky limestone, lime pith and crushed rocks. Slowly, though, aromas of fresh melon, white flowers, crushed hazelnuts and soft-kissed oak fill out the profile. In the mouth, it has a beautifully creamy texture, but also vibrant acidic drive. All kinds of yellow fruit, nut, oak, lees, melon and fresh-cut apple slice flavors swirl around on the palate, giving the impression of a rich yet restrained young wine on the way up. Give this a few more years to better integrate the oak and it should be even more impressive.
First course red:
2002 Siduri Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard Santa Rita Hills. This Pinot is showing a good amount of foresty funk and musk notes, along with aromas of bark, moss, tea leaves, pine tar and raw cinnamon stick. It opens a bit meaty on the palate, sort of dark and stormy. There is a good deal of richness here, along with a big spice component. The funky sous bois notes have me leaning initially toward a chunkier style of Burgundy, but as it sits in the glass, it becomes apparent that this cannot be the case—as it grows sweeter-fruited and more Californian with each passing swirl and sip. Cherry cobbler, dark berries, mushrooms and baking spices meld together in a nice way, leading to a pleasant, rounded finish. This was a really fun wine to taste blind.
Red wine flight:
1985 Chateau Margaux Margaux. This wine is a show-stopper. Once it was in my glass, it was hard to pay attention to anything else going on around me. It is obvious from the first whiff that this is an aged Bordeaux of some kind, with a serious bouquet of black leather, tobacco leaf, earth, crushed currants, coffee grounds, dry cedar, dark caramel, faint green pepper and later on black cherry and black currant aromas that are layered, complex and still somehow youthful. In the mouth, it is sooooo smooth, feeling like fine cashmere across the palate. The fruit is still decidedly youthful, but the tannins feel beautifully integrated and that texture is to die for. It is showing good heft and body, with a significant bass note that rounds it out and gives it a feel of gravitas. It is not what I would call wide-open or totally in the zone, but really approaching that and with plenty left in the tank. The whole thing hangs together really well and shows no drop-off at all during the course of the evening. This is all about class, depth and texture. Wine of the Night.
2000 Clos du Marquis St. Julien. Aromas of sliced green pepper, roasty red fruits, scorched earth, chocolate and toasted caramel have an interesting lifted feel to them on the nose of this wine. It is smooth and clean on the palate, with a creamy yet fresh feel. It veers a bit toward feeling too heavy-bottomed at times, but is repeatedly rescued by some juicy acidity that comes in late. It has sneaky tannins, but the overall feel is clean. Flavors of black licorice, dark chocolate and blackberry fruit are nicely framed in the finish. This is on the young side, but is drinking considerably better than I recall it doing so four years ago.
2005 Tor Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 6 Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard Napa Valley. Lifted and penetrating aromas of crushed red berries galore, framboise, rich cocoa and kirsch rise up out of the glass to envelop the nostrils in a bit of sensory overload. This is one ripe and rich wine, with a heady, almost syrupy quality and texture to it. It is really kicking out the big red fruit in a big-framed way. But, it also has a burly edge to it, and folds in interesting counterpoint notes like iron minerality and dried blood just when you think it is too boisterously fruity. In the end, when one inevitably compares it to the aged Margaux, there is no comparison of which I’d rather drink. Still, I was glad to try it, though when I learned the release price, I’m sure I would not go out looking for it.
Sweet wine:
2001 Château Suduiraut. Right off the bat, it is clear that this is a top-notch Sauternes. The nose if beautiful and sumptuous, with aromas of burnished apricot, fresh peach flesh, marzipan, nutmeg, brown sugar, dried pineapple cubes, and crème brulee topping. It just gets better and better and more deeply layered the longer it sits in the glass—showing off its complexity and class but also its youthful exuberance. In the mouth, it has a flowing viscosity, with flavors of mixed marmalades, caramel and baking spices. It totally coats the mouth with flavor, but has a potent acidic balance at the same time. It is long, juicy and perfectly sweet—it has been a real treat to have this wine 3 times this year, and it may have been just a tad better each time.
-Michael