Category Archives: Portugal

2013-2 Blind Pairs

Capital Grille

April 20, 2013 at 6:00 pm

I was very proud of our group at this even. Except for the BV flight, there was 100% consensus as to the best wine, and except for the Burgundy flight, there was almost 100% correct identification of the wines blind! Of course, the shocker of the night was the Jean Gros Richebourg, which beat the DRC, and was the Wine of the Night.

All the wines showed well, and it might have been our best set of wines ever. Favorites were:

69 Puligny Montrachet from Leflaive (96 pts). Amazingly youthful, with a huge char and ash componenet, and then lemon curd on the finish. The 2001 Haut Brion (93 pts) had the characteristic candele wax and later violets, but wasn’t a show stopper. Both wines lasted five hours in the glass.

55 Latour (94 pts). Again, really youthful even from a tenth, great depth. The companion 55 Cheval Blanc (91 pts) seemed slightly less young and more one dimensional in comparison.

70 Petrus (98 pts). Aromatically on of the most complex Bordeauxs I’ve had. The 61 Lynch Bages (96 pts) showed classic LB nose, and was drinking beautifully, iy just had steep competition.

87 Richebourg Jean Gros (99 pts). Young, earthy, extraordinarily complex. The 83 DRC Richebourg (92 pts) seemed tannic and simple in comparison, certainly not worth the current auction price of over $1K for this off year.

63 Taylor Port (99 pts) was the greatest port I’ve ever had, almost a claret style, light, not too sweet, tons of citrus, very complex. Not madierized at all, very fresh. The 99 Yquem (92 pts) was in perfect shape, but the port stole the show.

Other wines of note:

Nice Pommery Champagne from John, and an 87 BV cab we had no trouble picking out of the BV flight.

Excellent WIlliamsburg Winery Sauvignon Blanc (91 pts) from Andy that held its own against two huge whites.

Dick’s 87 Heitz Martha’s and 06 Beaucastel CDP both went well with the food courses, as did my 2010 Puligny Montrachet Les Combottes from Etiene Sauzet (94 pts) and Henry’s Drive CS (93 pts), which was very Bordeaux-like.

I loved all three of Ron’s wines. 2010 Kosta Brown One Sixteen Chardonnay (95 pts) was all about crushed lime, butter and caramel. I would like to buy some of this wine. @007 Aquilon Garnacha (96 pts) packed a chocolate nose followed by big fruit and a gamey finish, but wasn’t over the top at all. 1979 Clos de Vougeot from Drouhin (95 pts) came a bit too late for me to fully appreciate its wonderful iron, meat and sour cherry aromas. The wine is light, and should be drunk now, as it’s a perfect classic Burgundy.

I finished things off with the novelty of a St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram from the West Indies. The nose of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg is really quite fun.

A stellar collection of wines, and a great night. Service by Tim, his first time waiting on our group, was perfect.

The Wines

6	28	1969	Puligny Montrachet, Clavoillon, Domaine Leflaive	White	Burgundy		180
6	24	2001	Ch Haut Brion Blanc	France	Graves		375

9	18	1955	Ch Latour	France	Paullac	tenth	320
9	17	1955	Ch Cheval Blanc	France	St Emilion	tenth	320

7	19	1970	Ch Petrus	France	Pomerol		1,287
6	16	1961	Ch Lynch Bages	France	Pauillac		600

5	25	1964	BV Georges de La Tour Private Reserve	Cabernet Sauvignon	Napa		130
5	10	1970	BV Georges de La Tour Private Reserve	Cabernet Sauvignon	Napa		150

8	24	1987	Richebourg Jean Gros	Red	Burgundy		135
7	23	1983	Richebourg Domaine de la Romanee Conti	Red	Burgundy		300

9	21	1999	Ch d’Yquem	Sauternes	Bordeaux	tenth	85
6	31	1963	Taylor	Port	Portugal		150

							4032

Acquisitions

None	$

Upcoming Events

Syndicate	August 24
Syndicate	November 23

Treasurer’s Report

Previous Balance	-419
Dues Payable	5000
Purchases	0
Dinner	-1718
Balance	2863

Please bring your dues of $1000 per couple to the event.

2011-3 The Price Is Right

The Price Is Rightat Capital Grille

June 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm

It’s time for a somewhat more challenging event.
Your assignment is:

Match the wine to the correct price (or feel stupid)
Figure out the type of wine, year or producer (for kudos)
Identify the wine exactly (for a prize)

So how did we do?

We failed.

Meeting at The Capital Grille, we poured six pairs of wine, completely blind except for knowing the wines’ prices, but not which price went with which wine. The results were eye opening. Here are the six flights, and how things turned out:

1988 Haut Brion Blanc ($490) vs. 2006 Ramey Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay ($50)

The group unanimously preferred the Ramey (ash, oak butter, opulent, 95 pts), and thought it was the better wine! After a couple of hours the Haut Brion became a lot more interesting (waxy, candy, minerals, gigs, nuts, vanilla, honey, 90 pts), but my scoring was unchanged. No one caught the almost 20 year spread between the wines, and everyone thought the Ramey was a white Burgundy.

1973 BV Special Label “Burgundy” ($75) vs. 1983 DRC Echezeaux ($680)

This was the only flight where the group was evenly split as far as popularity. Most identified the true Echezeaux (mint, delicate, 93 pts), and Debbie named the BV Special Label (redwood, sweet, 92 pts). Good job Debbie!

1979 Opus One ($357) vs. 1979 Inglenook Petite Sirah ($30)

The group unanimously preferred the Inglenook (paint thinner, wood, figs, 89 pts). This was the first vintage of Opus (mint, vanilla, pencil shavings, 87 pts), and it was the worst wine of the tasting.

2007 Jean Royer Chateauneuf Prestige ($40) vs. 1989 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle ($230)

The group almost unanimously preferred the Hermitage (meat, smoke, bacon fat, mint, 90 pts) which was correctly identified by Ron. Good job Ron! The Chateauneuf was odd (candy, berries, fruit wrap, jam, smoke, 88 pts).

1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild ($900) vs. 1991 Dominus ($220)

The group unanimously preferred the Dominus (green pepper, gravel, lead pencil, mint, 97 pts) and thought it was old world and the more expensive wine! The Mouton (coffee, smoke, tar, green peppers, rubber, bacon, smoke, 95 pts) was a Parker 100 point wine that everyone thought was new world!

1963 Graham Port ($300) vs. 1992 Guenoc “Port” ($20)

A solid majority identified the real port (soft, delicate, complex, red-wine nose, 92 pts). The Guenoc (woody, 90 pts) was a fine product but was overshadowed by a great vintage of the real thing.

The Bottom Line

Out of six flights, we were unanimously wrong half the time, identifying the cheaper wine as the more expensive! Spend those dollars wisely, folks!

Upcoming Events

August 20

Wine Syndicate

Treasurer’s Report

Previous Balance	2972
Dues Payable	5000
Purchases	-813
Dinner	-1600
Balance	5559

Please bring your dues of $1000 per couple to the event.

2005-4 Tough Pairs


	Tough Pairs July 2, 2005 At Anaelle & Hugo’s

The theme of this event was Tough Pairs, but it turned out to be fairly easy in most cases. The overall favorites were the ’68 BVGDLTPR and the ’61 Cheval Blanc (made famous by the movie Sideways, where it is consumed from a styrofoam cup).

1955	Pommard 1er Cru dried cherries, waxy, balanced, 90 pts	Red	Burgundy	50
1966	Romanee St. Vivant T. Moillard bacon, fruit, balanced, 92 pts	Red	Burgundy	185

1952	Ch. Lafite peculiar nose when first poured but blew off, cedar, tight, lead pencil, 87 pts	Red	Pauillac	60
1961	Ch. L’Angelus intense vanilla, jam, very balanced and youthful, 89 pts	Red	St Emilion	40

1961	Ch. Cheval Blanc huge, fatty, balanced, chewy, berries, soft, 94 pts	Red	St Emilion	385
1975	Ch. Cheval Blanc tannic but fruit beginning to show through, mint, tight, 90 pts	Red	St Emilion	100

1968	BV sawdust, a bit off balance but still good, 92 pts	Cabernet Sauvignon	Napa	100
1968	BV Georges de La Tour Private Reserve eucalyptus, great structure, very balanced, 96 pts	Cabernet Sauvignon	Napa	185

1998	Henry’s Drive Shiraz a monster, vanilla, berries, smoke, wood, jam, 96 pts	Shiraz	Australia	45
2001	Marquis Philips Integrity intense vanilla, raspberries, candy, very detectable r.s., 99 pts	Shiraz	Australia	260

1963	Warre’s fairly light, excellent fruit, not very complex, elegant, 90 pts	Port	Portugal	150

				1,560
	Wines brought by members

	Piper Champagne A lovely, balanced Champagne, 92 pts	Robinson
1996	Fess Parker Blanc de Blanc Very toasty, complex, 92 pts	Crocket
1966	Ch. Lafite Characteristic Lafite, appealing but fading, 89 pts	Alcorn
1994	Ch. HautBrion Undeniably lafite, but tannic, 85 pts	Siegel
1994	Ch. Latour Quite tannic, gravelly, 85 pts	Siegel
	Sine Qua Non Chardonnay A lovely, complex, buttery, toasty chardonnay, 99 pts	Siegel
	Banfi Pinot Grigio Nice tropical fruit nose, 88 pts	Restaurant
1997	Ch. d’Yquem Superb, complex, syrupy match for the fois gras, 95 pts	Henline
1997	Ch. Suiduraut Unfortunately this wine was abandoned in the ice bucket, 0 pts	Alcorn

Coming Events

November 12 – Bern’s

January 14

Auction Action

None.

Treasurer’s Report

Previous Balance	0
Dues Payable	5000
Auction Purchases	0
Dinner	-2000
Balance	3000