Tasting Schedule

Tasting Records

Note about the scoring: The lower the score, the better liked the wine. Our scoring system just adds up what rank each person placed on the wine - so if it got the #1 pick from the 7 tasters - then it would get a perfect score of a 7.

California Cult Cabernet (Randy 11/20/08)

notes

Great dinner at 231 Ellsworth. Wines were opened and decanted 2 hours before dinner. The selections were all cult type cabs with small productions (below 600 cases). All were drinking very well. Clearly different wines, with each expressing its individuality. All drank like American cabs - full bodied and ready to drink now. Thanks Randy!.

1995 Bordeaux, plus Abreu (Kip 6/1108)

notes

Great dinner at BCC with lamb chops. Apertif wine was a Corton Charlemagne. Greg B. as guest for Joe T. Lafite was possibly corked. It was generally agreed that the wines still needed another 8-10 years. The Abreu provided a wonderful juxtaposition to the French Bordeaux. It was a treat to taste them all. Some favorite recent wines suggested were: Keever Cab, William Kohl, Drinkward Pichon, Jade Mtn Syrah. Sav blancs: Marjoram, Celine, Scolium, Peter Michael Apres Midi. Rose: Tempier Bandol.

Chateauneuf du Pape (Steve 4/3/08)

notes

Great dinner at PU with huge lamb chops. All were present.

French vs American Pinot (Howard 10/11/07)

notes

Note that the DRC was left out of the official ranking because it was very, very different and also obvious as to what it was. Thankfully, it drank wonderfully with an intoxicating nose, perfect balance and quintessentially Burgundy flavors. It WAS indeed the perfect time to drink it, as it was agreed that it would probably not be better in 5 or 10 years. The Seylem edged out the Vosne Romanee by a hair and so technically speaking, the Yanks won! But in fairness, all the wines drank well.

2004 Domestic Syrah (Joe H 8/21/07)

notes

The most expensive wine WON!

World Cabernet (Joe T 6/07)

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The surprise wine was the Fidelitas Champoux, it was hard to rate vs the others, but it was a hit.

2001 Super Tuscan (Randy 2/7/07)

1994 California Cabernet (Kip 11/15/06)

notes

Mark and Todd correctly identified the Beringer Knights Valley! Wines were consistently good and generally ready to drink (though they could go at least another 5-10 years). Thanks to "team Kip" for the wonderful dinner with impeccable service!

Note Parker rated the 1994 year as a "94". Prices listed are the release prices.

1999 Red Burgundy (Steve 9/18/06)

notes

The wines were uniformly fantastic. All were drinking well. No on was surprised that Domain Dujac dominated. Sensational dinner with Roasted lamb with dates and goat cheese.

1996 French Bordeaux (Mark 8/06)

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Overall our feeling was that these wines we still quite closed and needed another 10 years at least to come anywhere near maturity. We wondered how Parker could taste all he was tasting and be so sure of the vintage, because the wines were so closed. The ones that we ranked best were probably those which were the most approachable today. The others are going to require patience. If you have 'em - hold 'em!

2002 Australian Shiraz (Howard 5/8/06)

Howard was the host and this was held 5/8/06 at Left Bank.

Comments

Guys, add your comments here:

The Fox Creek Reserve was an "add-on" and general thoughts are that it would have scored in the middle of the pack. At $40-$45 - its an exceptional value.

Global Cabernet Competition (Joe T. 2/15/06)

Joe T. was the was the host at BCC.

Comments

Guys, add your comments here:

Leonetti, from little ol' Washington State was the reigning champion of the WORLD!

Joseph Phelps Insignia Vertical (Joe H. 12/5/05)

Hosted at Il Fornaio by Joe H.

(This table still needs to be properly ranked - anyone recall the scores?)

Comments

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These wines were remarkably consistent, despite the fact that the composition of the wines varied greatly with respect to the varietals.

1997 California Cabernet Tasting (Randy 8/24/05)

1997 World Syrah Tasting (Kip - 6/7/05)

Comments

This was Chez Kip. The wines were opened up to 3 hours before the tasting. The surprise here was obviously the Fox Creek. It was a real crowd pleaser that everyone loved. It received a score of 12 while the next score up was a 23, so it really ran away with the prize. The wines were well matched with beef tenderloin served with a Bechamel sauce.

1993 Red Burgundy Tasting (Steve - 6/3/05)

*corked

2005 Schedule

In an effort to improve our planning for 2005 I would like to suggest the following schedule the wine dinners for the coming year. My suggestions is that the wine dinner fall on the first Tuesday of each month except for those months where there is a high likleyhood of many of us being absent. Exception months that we will skip are: July, August, December (and probaly Jan, though we will deal with Jan later) . If an individual cannot make a dinner, the host is welcome - indeed encouraged - to invite a substitute guest(s). If 3 or 4 of us cannot make a dinner (or the host cannot do the date), then by all means the host can/should make an effort to reschedule. But barring that, the show will go on. So here is the proposed schedule:

Domestic Pinot tasting Jan 2005

I recently put together a wine tasting to find out the very best Pinot Noir made in the US. The year 2002 has been heralded as possibly the best year for California Pinot EVER. The mission for our wine group was to find the absolute best domestic Pinot Noir of the past few years where price was no object. It was a great tasting, because as one participant put it: "the quality of the wines was uniformly high and differences were more stylistic than anything else. In the end, the points did show a characteristic spread, but there wasn't a wine in the group that we wouldn't be proud to serve to the most discriminating palate."

Our convivial tasting group is composed of professional level collectors and/or imbibers: The type that has spent a lot of time, money and aspirin developing their palettes. Our tasting's are always conducted completely blind where the bottles are typically wrapped in foil to conceal the labels, then poured. Participants then taste and rate the wines 1 through 8. We are forced to choose one over another, even though at first taste, two may seem similar. Only after they are rated are we permitted to discuss our perceptions of the wines. Then all of the scores are tallied and then the wines are unveiled. Here are the results, counting down to the winner:

8th Best Pinot Noir

2002 Beaux Freres - Beaux Freres Vinyard. $75 Wine Spectator gave this Oregon wine a 95 rating, the highest rating it has given to a 2002 Pinot. Wine Spectator commented �Big and ripe, a mouthwatering wine with tingly acidity bringing harmony to a wash o plum, blackberry, cherry and dusky spice flavors, which persist on the fine-grained, not terribly tannic finish. Our group thought the wine to be slightly out of balance, and without the depth of the great California Pinots. This wine scored last in the group in 8th place.

7th Best Pinot Noir

2001 Kistler - Cuvee Catherine. $200 Rating: unrated by Parker though previous years typically have been in the mid 90's. Parker�s comments on the 2000 vintage: The Cuvee Catherine is a wine of extraordinary ripeness and richness with intense violet aromas mixed with scents of blackberry and cherry liqueur.' Kistler is considered one of the premier American Pinots (and of course, Chardonnay). This wine like all of the wines in the tasting was a superb wine, though frankly I think we all expected more from house of Kistler. In a previous Pinot tasting we did several years ago, this wine finished second. This time around it finished 7th.

6th Best Pinot Noir

2001 Wesmar - Piner Ranch Vinyard. $35 (mailing list). From the Russian River Vally, this limited production wine had not been professionally rated as far as we could find, but has several die-hard supporters in our tasting group. It was more Burgundian in style, that is to say, more subtle and lighter taste, with a perfumed nose. It was also wonderfully balanced and silky. One taster who loved this wine commented that the Wesmar " had a wonderful dark fruit nose, a nice balanced cherry that persisted throughout the tasting but that never dominated, and tannins that provided a nice structure." This wine came in 6th in our tasting, but interestingly it was scored as #1 by its staunch supporter.

5th Best Pinot Noir

2001 Williams Seylem - Rochioli Riverblock Vinyard. $64. Rating: 92 points by Robert Parker. Williams Seylem was a no-brainer for inclusion in the tasting as Pinot aficionados everywhere recognize the consistent quality and uniqueness of their wine. Parker calls it a �spectacular effort. A striking nose of crushed rocks is intertwined with rose petals, as well as sweet black cherry, raspberry, and blueberry fruit�� We agreed with Parker: a great effort it was, but I think we all expected this producer to score higher; perhaps, in the top three. It fell short of that and came in 5th place.

4th Best Pinot Noir

1999 Marcassin - Marcassin Vinyard. $225. Rating: 95 points by Robert Parker. This was the wine had the whole group charged with anticipation. This was the eyebrow raiser �Oh, so we have a Marcassin!� We handled the bottle like it was the Hope diamond, and as far as availability and pricing go � it was. This is Helen Turley�s tour de force and the most expensive domestic Pinot one can buy � if you can buy it. It is only sold from their wine list, in very expensive restaurants (where you can expect to pay $400+) or at auction. Parker commented that the 1999 revealed ��a mineral, soy, Asian plum sauce characteristic, along with notes of black raspberries, scorched earth, steak tartare, and assorted black fruits. Subtle notions of toasty vanillin from new oak aging�� This wine was good, very good. OK, it was brilliant � but it was not the best and many of felt it should have been, given the hype and price. The Marcassin scored 4th place.

3th Best Pinot Noir

2002 Patz & Hall Pisoni Vinyard. $65. Rating: 91 Wine Spectator and 88 Points from Parker. We chose this wine because one of our group had heard special praise for the grapes from the Pisoni Vinyard and because Wine Specator had given it such a high rating. The wine had also scored well in previous years. While no one in the tasting gave this wine a 1, no one gave it lower than a 5. Wine Spectator said �rich, smooth, supple, graceful Pinot, with layers of cola, raspberry and blackberry fruit�� We generally agreed. Not much to dislike here, the Patz was well rounded, had real depth and was generally a crowd pleaser. It also has the advantage of being generally more available than many of the others. This fine effort won 3rd place.

2nd Best Pinot Noir

2002 Martinelli - Zio Tony Ranch. $50. Rating: 93 points Robert Parker. Martinelli has a bevy of single vineyard Pinot�s: Bondi Ranch, Blue Slide, Zio Tony and others. Their winemaker is fabled Helen Turley, so it�s no accident that they are ranking at the top of the list, not just from Parker, but in our tasting as well. Make no mistake about it, these are profound wines, all. Deep as the middle of the sea, rich as honey, they are unmistakable fruit bombs in the grandest sense. Parker points out plum, raspberry, sweet black cherry fruit and spice. I would add ripened blackberry, and a bit of the signature Turley high alcohol heat which mixes wonderfully with the spice. These are the type of quintessentially American Pinot�s that the French dare not to make. This Pinot garnered a 2nd place and notably shared many similar characteristics to the 1st place finisher.

THE Best Pinot Noir

2001 Miner � Gary�s Vinyard $50. Rating: Top Pinot 2001, New York Times. The last time we blind tasted Pinots was three years ago and Miner surprised the group by finishing first. Most of us had not even heard of the producer. Much like winning the Masters golf tournament, I decided that once a winner, it deserved a chance to defend its title, even though Parker hasn�t bothered to rate it and the best score that Wine Spectator could muster was an 88. The 2001 did not go unnoticed though, as the New York Times gave it the top slot of 2001 domestic Pinots. There was a certain amount of �shock and awe� when we finally unveiled the winner of our blind tasting: Miner had done it again. Sure, some will argue that it won�t age as well as the others. Perhaps, but I doubt many bottles will make it more than a few years, it�s just too good not to drink now.

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