Bob Foley Wine Tasting Results

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Tasted Saturday, February 11, 2006 by KenK with 1,488 views

Introduction

Wine Flock (Our Weekly wine group) got together to asses Bob Foley wines, one of my favorite winemakers. The one real complaint I here is that Bob's wines tend to taste the same. We tasted the following wines blind and tried to determine varietals.

Flight 1 - Welcome Wines (3 Notes)

  • 2000 Pride Mountain Vineyards Chardonnay 85 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Nose of light carmel scents with hints of dried applewood
    Palate was dominated by oaky dry flavors with little fruit and a bit of acid. Seemed over the hill and not well balanced to me. Drinkable, but without much pleasure.

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  • 2000 School House Chardonnay 91 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

    Sweet carmel nose with rich complex nuances
    On the palate concentrated white fruits with toasty flavors and notes of minerals, cloves, and ginger.
    Well balanced and very good length. a touch hot on the finish.
    I do not see it improving from here, but likely holds a couple more years.

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  • 2004 Weingut Berger Grüner Veltliner 86 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal

    From a 1 liter bottle
    Light airy peach and mineral scents
    On the palate, Enjoyable, but simple light flavors of peach and apricot.
    A wine perfect for a warm summer picnic. Not too serious, but nice and easy going.

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Flight 2 - The Main Event (10 Notes)

  • 1996 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot 95 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Tasted Blind
    Classy cabernet-like nose with earth, toast, black cherry, very complete and satisfying with a touch of older aromas
    A very nice palate coating viscosity that features tobacco, dry cherry and toast. Smooth, seamless feel to the wine with a soft, but long finish of dark chockolate. A yummy wine, that has me very excitied regarding the potential ageability of Pride wines.

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  • 2003 Pride Mountain Vineyards Petite Sirah 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Tasted Blind
    Amazing dark purple color that seems to almost glow in the glass
    Dense Black Raspberry kirsch nose that super ripe and concentrated
    Amazingly thick rich wine in the mouth tasting of very dark plums, A dry vintage port-like quality packed with lots of fruit, tannins and acid. A dense brute of a wine that I could almost feel staining my teeth and tongue. Needs gobs of time, but the materials are all there.

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  • 2002 Robert Foley Charbono 90 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Tasted Blind
    Sweet red fruits dominated by plum and a touch of anise on the nose
    On the palate, a lush and mellow wine with great mouthfeel. Good concentration of ripe red fruits with a floral, spicy component. A bit monolithic or one-dimentional, but well balanced.

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  • 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Syrah 94 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County

    Tasted Blind
    Concentrated aroma of sweet black raspberry
    On the palate, a massive wine with a big chewy mouthfeel of plums and dark ripe spicy fruits. Great bright underlying feel to the wine and a dark brooding finish. A bit monolitihic at this stage, but would like to try again with about five more years of age.

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  • 1999 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 95 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Tasted Blind
    Sweet earthy black cherry fruits that were ripe with a sharp edge on the nose.
    Ripe concentrated black and red fruits that build in the mouth and bring the tasteuds alive. A wine that made me say WOW inappropriately upon initial taste. The wine finished big, tannic and long. In revisiting the wine, I noticed a green pepper, tobacco component reminding me of cabernet franc (my guess). I also noted a grainy rough feel just after the midpalate that I suspect will need some time to mellow. One other note on my sheet was yum yum.

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  • 2003 Robert Foley Claret 97 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Tasted Blind
    Sweet nose with minty note. Dark rich fruit flavors with elements reminding me of red and black licorice.
    Lush sweet dense and chewy. A real mouthfull of wine. More masuline in style due to intesity, buffered by soft ripe red cherry notes and many almost hidden complexities. Amazingly well balanced and concentrated with a rich lovely finish that seemed to go on for minutes. I suspect this wine gets even better with time, but very tasty right now. This was our clear WOTN, a real crowd pleaser even when tasted blind. Mysteriously, this wine vanished after the tasting eventhough I brought the bottle and it was about one third full. I was not happy about this. Luckily, I have more ;-)

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  • 2003 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot Vintner Select Mountain Top Vineyard 95 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County

    Tasted Blind
    Ripe raspberry, cherry, berry nose a real fruit bowl with great polish and depth.
    Palate was wonderfully deep featuring a lush quality of juciy red fruits and milk chocolate. Great concentration of fruit with plenty of acid and sweet tannin backbone. A wine that I describe as savory. Can be drunk now or held. Some thought finish was a bit quicker here. The group placed ths wine second in the flight. My fourth place wine.

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  • 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Franc 93 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Tasted blind
    Toasty nose with dense dark fruits and hints of new leather,flowers, black plums and wet soil.
    Soft rich ripe entry of red and black fruits, tasting a bit more mature then other wines in the flight. Wonderful balance and secondary flavors provided a complexity not seen in some Pride wines. A very slight musty component held back my rating. Some thought this was very Bordeaux like, my guess was Cabernet Sauvgnion.

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  • 1999 Paloma Merlot 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

    Tasted Blind
    Rustic nose of barnyard with ripe pleasant blackberry fruits provided a puzzling aroma.
    On the palate, soft entry with flavors of chocolate and rich dark berries that lead to a satisfying finish. A seamless wine with notes of drier fruits indicating some older qualities not found in younger wines. My guess was Merlot with a touch of age and I was right.

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  • 2000 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard 95 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Tasted Blind
    Sweet dark chocolate nose with elements of raspberries, blueberries, and cherry.
    Dense chewy feel with great concenetration of smooth black fruits, chocolate, and toast.
    A touch simplier than some others in the flight and a finish that while nice, did not last long.
    I guessed Cabernet Sauvignon and was right. During discussion with group, but before revealing the bottle, I felt I may have slightly overrated the wine.

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Flight 3 - Dessert Time (1 Note)

  • NV Pride Mountain Vineyards Mistelle de Viognier 92 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County

    Very ripe high toned white stone fruits (apricot and peach) on the nose.
    Rich concentated sweet apricot and accacia(sp?) flowers. Good mouthcoating feel to the wine. A touch hot toward the finish and as such tough match for food.
    More of a very interesting curiousity than a great wine.

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Closing

Overall, the wines were superb. While individually we did not do so well getting grape varietals correct (I did pretty well), as a group we did very well. While all the wines were concentrated and lush, clear nuances were present that provided real varieral character in each wine. Most surprisingly, the 1996 Merlot was drinking beautifully. I say surprisingly, because the wine shows how nicely these wines can age. We do tastings like this each week. Life is good.

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