WCC in Irvine, CA
Tasted Saturday, November 6, 2010 by grafstrb with 779 views
A couple weeks ago a group of fellow CT’ers gathered at the Wine Cellar Club in Irvine, CA for the 8th installment of our Orange County Poker for Wine (OCP4W) series. Usually we do a themed tasting, and this time, with fellow CT’er and Berserker, Dave Smigielski, in attendance, we did a blind Grenache tasting. Dave brought a couple bottles of his 2008 Dacalier - De La Terre CA Rhone blend to the tasting, including one to throw into the blind tasting.
Coincidentally, Dave brought both of my favorite wines of the blind tasting: a cheapo Spanish wine that was my favorite (score!!), and his ‘08 De La Terre. As with most blind tastings, there were some surprises and some disappointments. At the end of the event, Bob (aka: fingers) opened my WOTD, the 2007 Clos des Papes, which might be the best CdP I’ve ever tasted.
-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
NOSE: kirsch; smells a bit aged; leathery spice.
BODY: garnet color with a bricking throughout and at the edges; medium-light bodied
TASTE: smoky; alcohol pokes through a bit; hint of pepper; some kirsch; nice, but seems to lack structure; good acid; no tannins.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
-- 50% Grenache, 50% Syrah --
NOSE: smells very sweet; a tad stemmy; HUGE wine; very ripe/concentrated; a bit oaky.
BODY: dark purple color of great depth; full bodied
TASTE: boysenberry; very ripe; smooth tannins with decent acidity; round; lacks structure; warm in the belly.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
-- wine was decanted for 5 hours before the event --
NOSE: maple syrup; a bit of tar; smells ripe/extracted; black licorice with a hint of eucalyptus.
BODY: purple-garnet color with a hint of bricking at the edges; (forgot to note wine's weight)
TASTE: a tad oxidative; black licorice; slightly drying tannins; open knit; not built for age.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
NOSE: very tight/closed; a bit woodsy and yeasty.
TASTE: juicy; muted fruits; touch of leather; a bit hot in the belly; tight -- probably a young CdP; good acidity; 14% abv.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: pure oak; a tad smoky.
TASTE: very ripe; medium-full bodied; extracted; huge; not complex; glycerin; 16.1% abv.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
NOSE: orange rind; spicy; stemmy; expressive; Christmas tree; I liked this a lot.
TASTE: orangey; light-medium bodied; spicy/smoky/meaty; lower in alcohol; bits of red berry; good acid with a hint of tannins. This was my favorite of the tasting. 14% abv.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: smoky; hints of tangerine and sausage; moderately expressive, but does seem a bit tight.
TASTE: garent color with slight bricking; strong tannins; muted dark fruits; closed; thought this might be a shut-down '04 CdP.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: a bit pruney; raisined; expressive.
BODY: garnet core, becoming more mahogany colored towards the edges; medium bodied
TASTE: ripe fruit; good tannin/acid balance; a bit loose; too ripe.
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-- tasted blind over 10 minutes --
-- 85% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Counoise --
NOSE: earthy flower bed; smoky oak; matchstick (sulfur?); some earthy red fruits.
TASTE: purple color; ripe; big; drying tannins; ripe boysenberry; a bit jammy, but has enough acidity to keep it from becoming cloying; 15.5% abv.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: port-like in a good way; ripe sweet red fruits; at first the Nose was laden with alcohol/varnish, but this did give way to that which I noted otherwise.
TASTE: dark purple color; overripe; a bit port-like; oaky; HUGE; too big; massive fruit concentration; 14.9% alc.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
-- 81% Grenache, 14% Carignane, 5% Syrah --
NOSE: minerally; earthy; smoky rubber.
TASTE: medium-full bodied; drying tannins; leather; good acid; lots of leather; animale. This was my second-favorite wine of the tasting; was very surprised to see this as an '08 CA Rhone, as I thought it was old-world with some age on it; I don't think this will age well, but it's delicious today. 13.8% alc.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 15 minutes --
NOSE: fruity; ripe; smoky.
TASTE: ripe blackberries; underlying Spanishy funk/leather; decent acid; cherry pie; raspberry; well-balanced between acid and tannin; huge wine.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
-- 50% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre --
NOSE: ripe/huge; dark; smells young.
TASTE: dark purple color; juicy boysenberry; alcohol; somewhate non-desript; sweet. 15.8% alc.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: not complex; big/huge; ripe; purple fruits; blackberry; hint of mineral
TASTE: sweet; full bodied; "dark" tasting. 15.8% alc.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: leather; spicy; dark fruits.
TASTE: medium bodied; red fruits; good acid; thought it was the '04 Boisrenard CdP that I brought.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: loads of smoky sulfur; some dark fruits.
TASTE: full bodied; a bit smoky; dark fruits; earthy; over-extracted; a tad bitter.
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: alcoholic; a bit port-like (nutty); dark earthy purple fruits.
TASTE: very ripe; boysenberry jam; smooth; very jammy; fine-grained tannins; sooo jammy. 15.5% alc..
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-- tasted a single glass blind over 10 minutes --
NOSE: ripe purple fruits; seemed tight.
TASTE: ripe and a tad overextracted; lots of plum; tannic. 15.6% alc.
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– tasted non-blind over 25 minutes –
NOSE: ripe; funky; dense; ripe boysenberry; smoky; could smell this for days; pretty freakin’ awesome.
BODY: purple color of great depth; full bodied.
TASTE: super ripe; leathery; spicy; good acid; blackberry/dark fruits/kirsch; ridiculous amounts of fruit concentration; huge wine; very well-balanced, which absolutely astounds me given the massiveness of this wine. 15% alc..; possibly the best CdP I’ve ever had.
B: 50, 5, 14, 18, 9 = 96
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2009 Curran Grenache Blanc
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
-- popped and poured --
-- tasted non-blind over 15 minutes --
NOSE: perfumed; some warm tropical fruits --- smells a bit like a musky chardonnay; moderately expressive.
TASTE: intense and rich; alcohol is somewhat noticeable; a bit sweet; typical Gren. Blanc. flavors; medium-full bodied; sweetness is a bit distracting.
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2006 Tercero Grenache Blanc Camp 4 Vineyard
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 15 minutes –
NOSE: hint of diesel; bit of cardboard; papaya; moderately expressive; a bit less expressive than the ‘09 Curran - Grenache Blanc that this was tasted next to.
TASTE: medium bodied; sweet tarts/cotton-candy sugaryness; minerality kicks-in on the back end.
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