Magnum Madness 2011!

The premise, as far as I can tell: Bring a magnum of something good and some food to nibble with it. Imbibe. Socialize. For a couple years I had heard of Marshall and Carolyn's Magnum party, and I happened to have scheduled events of my own on the day of this in years past so a number of my friends were unable to attend my party. Alright, if a bunch of my friends are going to this anyway, I want in! ;-) Al was kind enough to extend the invite this year, and I had a blast. A great assortment of friendly people and friendly wine (in big bottles).

There were three tables, so I'll separate my flights into these sections: Upstairs white wines, Upstairs medium bodied reds, and downstairs full bodied reds. The last flight was when the dessert wines started showing up late in the evening. I'm not the biggest fan of desert wines, but there was an impressive showing on this evening. The 1952 Dalva Porto Golden White Colheita hand carried back by Roy Hersh was an absolutely shocking discovery... the best port I've come across.

• 2009 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 88 Points

  France, Provence, Bandol

  Very nice up front strawberry fruit on the nose, with very light minerality showing through. The palate is fairly mild, with a mouth puckering dryness taking over quickly. It's fairly light in the mouth, with a tartness as the dominant play. The finish is slightly bitter and metallic, with mouth coating dryness and just hints of the bright fruit noted in the aromas.

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• 2004 Domaine Robert-Denogent Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé

  Creamy aromas of lush almonds, tart acids with mild oak and already taking on a slightly aged character. The palate is quite nice and tart, with a healthy balance of integrated oak and more tasty almonds. The finish shows puckering funky acids. Not overly complex, but certainly balanced and very drinkable.

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• 2001 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Privat 92 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal

  Really intriguing deep golden color. Impressive deep aromas of honey, some pineapple, and a certain oily notion. Great, deep structure on the palate, with some honeycomb and some earthiness. I also get a nice petrol note which carries into some apricots. The texture and richness of the mouth feel are wonderful. Really nice acids permeate my scenes on the finish. Awesome length and delicious richness as the acid carries complexities deep into the finish. This evolves impressively for 40 seconds. The window on this is certainly open, but it will likely continue to go for some time into the future.

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• NV Schloss Gobelsburg Brut Réserve 91 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal

  Really nice zesty mineral aromas, with pleasing rocks and a strange deviled egg smell. Very nice texture on the palate, with a light sweetness to the fruit. I get a strong feeling of cold water flowing over hot rocks. The finish was a bit wild the first time I swallowed as it begins with really nice minerality but there's this odd, delicious sweetness to it. A cool combo of the up front fruit and minerality. I bet there's a couple grams residual sugar here. Pretty tasty.

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• 2005 Domaine de la Grange des Pères Vin de Pays de l'Hérault Blanc 87 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Vin de Pays de l'Hérault

  Everyone was raving about this wine tonight and it was one of the first bottles to be emptied. I think I was one of only a couple people who didn't totally love it, though I did like it just fine. Massive, rich and thick nose with heavy apples and plenty of deep oak thickness to the aromas. This smells a bit more like a rich Chardonnay to me than Roussanne. Quite rustic on the palate, with an interesting, chunky though light texture, expressing some slightly medicinal qualities along with bell peppers. It feels like a smooth ball of odd texture in my mouth; smooth, yet not soft. The finish is really spicy with pleasing acids growing rich on the finish. The effort gone into the production of this wine is apparent; it just wasn't firing well on my palate.

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• 2005 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Loibenberg 90 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  A difficult transition between the Grange des Pères and this wine. This shows really lush, delicious aromas with slight petrol. Quite pleasing. The palate is soft, with mild acidity, but it's the fruit that really cuts through the palate of this one. Awesome acid ramps up into the finish, with some distinct dryness on a large sip. Very pleasing, but not too much depth.

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• 2009 Vincent Pinot Noir Eola - Amity Hills 88 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

  Pretty light aromas, but they are of pleasing bright berries. The palate is mild, with tart fruit and nice tannins building, though the wine feels a bit thin. Tart finish shows cranberries, with tannins that are fairly sweet.

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• 2009 Vincent Pinot Noir Zenith Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

  Both of the Vincent wines were quite light in color. The Zenith shows nice spice on the nose, with slightly green notes coupled with caramel. Fairly pleasing nose with fine balance and interesting depth. The palate shows nice spicy fruit, again tending slightly green, and it's held together with a nice tannic backbone. Pleasing acids caught my attention as I began a conversation immediately after swallowing. Pleasing fruits, but not too much length.

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• 2001 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Evenstad Reserve 89 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  A lot of folks found this a bit large on this night, but it surprisingly didn't come across as such for me. Certainly there is plenty of spicy oak on the nose, but there's also this thick, funky meat smell that's interesting. The palate is large in scale, creamy and lush, with nice wood spice balancing it. The savior comes with high levels of tart acids on the finish which keep the big fruit and tannins tame. The acids are what I'm primarily left with on the palate. Without the acid this wouldn't be too interesting, but with it I found it quite enjoyable.

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• 2007 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvée 3.14 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon

  Spicy and energetic nose which is fairly soft though incredibly elegant and graceful with a pleasing balance of fruit and earth. The wine feels large on palate entry, with a presence that makes me initially find it quite full bodied, though certainly its on a light frame. Really nice tartness and acid builds as it remains in the mouth, with pleasing fruit and structural balance. Like the good Foillards do, the elegance is fantastic on the finish, as it initially attacks with really nice tartness and a wave of graceful acid and impressive structure take over my mouth after the wine exists. This is a textural experience and a graceful one. Very contemplative at the end. I'd love to give this a try in another 5 years. 91+

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• 2001 Cameron Rouge Clos Electrique 88 Points

  USA, Oregon

  Quite funky aromas at first, but some vigorous swirling cleans that up. Certainly still earthy and funky, though, but in a pleasing way as it's coupled with mild fruit, nice mushrooms and forest floor aromas. Fairly light bodied, with nice earthy presence, with light greeness. Really not much going on on the palate, though. More tart greeness on the finish. Pretty straight forward.

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• 1995 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  On this night, this wine was as hard as a rock. The aromas on the nose were quite marvelous, though. Very impressive balance of aromas. There's some awesome deep berries (almost to the point of smelling like a naturally sweetened gummy bear, but this is deep down there), with some tar and pulverized gravel. With such graceful aromas I was expecting much more openness elsewhere, however, on palate entry the tannins nearly immediately overtake the whole mouth and you're never able to quite get to any fruit. This is very difficult to hold in the mouth for more than a couple seconds as a puckering dry grittiness is everywhere, with little notion of any flavors. Interesting finish, as the mouth is brutalized by tannins to start, but this veil is slowly lifted over 20 seconds as the tannins begin to fade and pleasing bright fruit blossoms. Really nice new fruit begin coming in even a minute after swallowing. The structure on this wine is quite imposing; today it seems like the tannins are out of balance with the rest of it, and I fear it not coming around. In hopes that it does, though, I'd give this at least 10-15 years before diving back in. It's just massively tight at present, and while it's an interesting experience for sure, it's not much of a pleasure to drink (though it's certainly a pleasure to smell). 90+ today, the + being for a great deal more potential if those tannins shed or come back into balance.

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• 1999 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Balanced, nice aromas of fairly ripe, deep red fruit with light rubber, tar, and spice rounding things out. Nice, but not too complex (the Giacosa certainly had a more graceful, deep nose). The palate is drying, with bright fruit trying to cut through the tannins, but the tannins do wind up winning out after this is kept in the mouth for 15 seconds. With a long stay on the palate the finish feels closed. Unlike the Giacosa, small sips really make a difference here, with graceful flowers, gravel, and delicious fruit revealing themselves in the end. Pretty delicious.

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• 1996 Château Léoville Poyferré 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  This wine is a complete infant, and right now, totally shut down. I initially got a strong aroma of distinct Indian curry when I poured it, but this dissipated with some air simply revealing its typical St. Julien structure. Massively grippy on the palate and into the finish, all that is really seen here is imposing structure. It is actually balanced quite well, but all key elements are locked hard. For my palate I wouldn't revisit this for 20 years. 90+

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• 1988 Clos de Gamot Cahors 92 Points

  France, Southwest France, Cahors

  Wild dirt aromas, with really massive, deep, dusty red fruits filling the senses. The palate is softer, with big fruit and impressive size. Mild tannins come in the palate later, but this is drinking really well right now. I thought this was peaking more than any other red at the event, drinking perfectly with impressive length and dusty, dirty tannins still on the finish, but it's balanced very nicely with mild acid and imposing fruit. A very integrated wine. Great to try a 23 year old Cahors.

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• 1998 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 86 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

  I'm a huge Amarone fan so I was really excited about this wine. This was definitely not showing its best. It was quickly thrown into the decanter when it arrived, but I think it needed a lot more time to show well. I've found several older Corvina wines (Valpolicella Superiore as well as Amarone) that exhibit tons of rank smelling stewed fruits upon opening but after very extended decants (or in the bottle for days) this completely dissipates revealing only the thick lush fruit underneath. Anyway, this wine certainly was showing tons of heavily stewed funkified fruits on the nose, almost like decaying plums and figs. There was also some spice present. The palate shows massive fruits and decent structural balance, but the fruit is darn funky again, nearly decayed tasting. The finish begins with plenty of spice, but again that old Corvina fruit notion. I think this could have opened up to a much more pleasing wine with more air, but in the moment I had it, the enjoyment wasn't too high.

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• 2006 Quinta do Crasto Douro Reserva Old Vines

  Portugal, Douro

  I don't believe I've had the 2006 before, but I have had other vintages of this wine and I've never been a fan, so I wasn't surprised that this didn't strike my fancy. This is just not my style of wine at all, so take my review with a grain of salt. The nose is massive in scale, showing tons of spice and extract. The texture on the palate is really not my cup of tea. It feels like peanut putter mixed with liquor. I can still remember the feeling days later and it's not a pleasant memory. The flavors are of stewed fruit, lots of spice, tons of alcohol, and general extract. The label says 14.5% alcohol, but it sure feels like more. American oak has a way of standing out, and even though this is only done in 15% of it, it's definitely very apparent with huge amounts of wood and vanilla being the dominant flavors lingering at the end. This wine is certainly a stand out... I'll just refrain from a score.

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• 2008 Buty Cabernet Sauvignon Beast Phinny Hill Vineyard 88 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills

  This was from a beautiful etched magnum bottle from The Classic Wines Auction. I did not see the typical "Beast" designation for this vineyard. It offered very soft aromas of deep, dark fruit, but overall it was surprisingly quite restrained and quiet. The palate is full bodied and soft, with some large extracted fruit, kind of like spree candy flavors if spree weren't tart. There's lots of dryness throughout the mouth and the alcohol is prominent. The finish first attacks with spiced alcohol, but it's pretty soft. There isn't really any subtlety here. It's not bad, in fact I quite enjoy it as a slurper, though I don't get any complexity. The textural experience is actually quite good, and I appreciate it for its softness.

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• 1990 Champalou Vouvray 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  This wine was a surprising pleasure for their standard Vouvray, but what beautiful age it had on it. This golden beauty offered very pleasing aromas that were initially nutty, but there was also an interesting apricotty fruit and a slight bit of rubber. Really creamy and lush on the palate, with fantastic fruit flavors and what I could only describe as a sweet rubber band component that I really enjoyed. This carried into the pleasing finish. Pretty impressive.

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• 1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive 93 Points

  France, Alsace

  What a stunner this was. I was initially told this was NOT the Vendange Tardive, as someone handed me a glass so I didn't see the bottle. However, I immediately detected some botrytis scents on the nose and going back to the bottle for seconds confirmed this was in fact the Vendange Tardive. This was showing other typical aromas I get with botrytis affected fruit: Nice house paint, pineapple, and rubber. The palate is soft, tasty, though fairly light on its feet. I get a strange unused cat litter component that isn't off-putting at all... fairly interesting actually. The finish is tart, with pleasing acids, great texture, and fantastic richness. One of the top wines of the night.

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• 1996 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Really awesome fruit aromas, with richness that is obvious. The aromas just smell sexy and lush. The palate expresses tart fruit with pleasing balance still. The finish is the pure extract of fresh fruit, primarily pineapples. Quite light on its feet for a Moelleux, but really impressive. Drink these if you have them, but I also don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.

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• 1952 Dalva Porto Golden White Colheita 96 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  This wine was a revelation. Hand carried back to the USA by RH. This was in cask for 57 years, bottled in 2009. The nose smells wild; feral. The first aromas I pick out are those of shellfish: crab and shrimp. Awesome spices, some alcohol for sure, but it doesn't get in the way. For me, this also smells like donuts stewed in liqueur. The palate was shocking... the most interesting and intense Port experience I've yet had. Absolutely luscious, though the alcohol is felt. There's lots of spice present, some stewed soft white fruits, an impressive number of spices, with amazing depth and length. The texture was awesome. This wine has one of the most impressive palates I've had on any wine, let alone port. I could hold it in my mouth indefinitely (and I tried to). It never grew tired or too hot on the tongue. The complexities just continued to develop and evolve in the mouth. I can still sense it two days after tasting it as I write this. The finish was quite spicy... in fact, my note actually reads, "Really spicy; amazing spice; shocking spice" I think I was in a trance, writing spice with each sip without remember that's what I had written. The length on this was remarkable. Perhaps the most amazing thing of this was how youthful it felt. While the depth of flavors and complexity all surely came with age, there was nothing "old" tasting about this. It was in fact very vibrant, with cutting acid on the finish. What an experience. 96+

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