Copain Visit To Taste The 2009s and 2010s

Our annual road trip to see Wells and Jennifer. Was a great visit to get a sense of where the 2009s are headed, which was a relief to see the 2009s following the disaster of the 2008 vintage which was wiped out for Copain by smoke taint. We also got to taste a # of 2010s from barrel. All the wines were flighted and then we had a great lunch that followed tasting the 2009 Voisins syrah and pinot, along with a collage of wines brought from various cellars of the group, including Wells. Thanks to The Macks, The Joyers, Alan Rath, Mike Dildine and Steve Nordhoff for making this a great event, and most of all, to Welss and Jennifer. Awesome day.

• 2010 Copain Pinot Noir Monument Tree

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  (Barrel sample)--roughly13.3%, 20% new wood. Nice ruby color with red apple, pomegranate and strawberry flavors. Also, seems a bit more fleshy than past vintages, too. But true to MT, the wine remains zesty and fiinishes with minerals.

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• 2010 Copain Pinot Noir "En Bas" Kiser

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  (Barrel sample) 13.1%, with 20% new wood. Just fininshed malo within the past week so like the other samples we tried, keep the age of this wine in context. Big minerality and tannin filling in the core of the wine, with red apple, soil and erathy tones shading the red raspberry fruit. The big standout for me in this particular version of En Bas is the pure raspberry skin that shines through this barrel. It creates energy, adding a zestiness that really worked for me. Whereas En Bas can sometimes tastes a bit more round and fleshy given its location on the vineyard (lower block), this wine is zesty. Terrific.

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• 2010 Copain Pinot Noir "En Haut" Kiser

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  (Barrel sample) 12.8%, with 20% new wood. Where this differs from the En Bas is first the aromatics, which here are more floral, with a crushed rock note, too. Then, where the En Bas is zesty, the En Haut shows to me more silkiness, with a lean strawberry flavor, plus blueberry too and less raspberry. Then the finish comes through and it's full of slate.

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• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir Monument Tree

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  13.7%, 20% new oak. This wine is wrapped up pretty good, shows a lot of youthful structure, the most of all the 2009 Copain pinots in my view. Rocky, with a deep and dark red fruit, like a black raspberry. Like with the other Copain pinots from the Anderson Valley, the red apple and minerality cover into the finish, As we talked about this wine over lunch, tasting the 2006 version of it over the same meal, this 2009 seems to be headed the same direction. Energetic and deep with a long life ahead of it.

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• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir Wentzel Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  13.7%, with 20% new oak. Starts off with a smoky, gamey aroma. A beautiful juicy core of blue and red fruit that washes over the palate and cuts a balanced, broad path. Zesty blue fruited finish that again shows the gamey note I mentioned. Then, the crushed rocks come in to hold it all in place. Excellent.

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• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir "En Bas" Kiser

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  13.7%, with 20% new oak. Tasted next to the 2009 En Haut. This En Bas shows the same spice as the En Haut, but not the brown spice, instead more pungent like a cardamom, perhaps? Has the same minty quality in the aromatic, too. Racy with a crushed mint leaf, zesty red apple and lots of red raspberry in the finish.

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• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir "En Haut" Kiser

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  13.4% with 20% new oak. An exotic nose on this wine, a bit different from the 2009 En Bas, like a browner spice along with incense. Seems darker than the En Bas and blue fruited, too. Also spicier and tighter. Rocky, with some strawberry but mainly blueberry framed around minerals.

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• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir "En Bas--Greffieux" Kiser

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  I had to add this wine to the database and given the novel name of this wine (which I think is a translation in french to "grafted"), and since it is a subsection of En Bas, forgive me if I have not added the wine properly. Today, we tasted this wine from magnum, done in a shiner, as I am not sure this wine has been really tasted before. It is essentially a grafted section of En Bas in 2006, using suitcase clones. In short, it tasted tremendous. 13.1% alcohol, with a nose of spicy mint, wild berry and dark raspberry. Also shows a zesty apple and a broad textural sweep across the palate but not heavy at all. I then retasted the bottle before we left, with it then showing the addition of some red apple but also stone and slate. The wine is just gorgeous, even at this early stage. Will only be released in magnum, I think in 2012. Count me in.

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• 2010 Copain Syrah Baker Ranch

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  (Barrel sample) About 11.5% alcohol, 50% whole cluster and 0% new wood. This is very unique and I will show my own cards, too: If I had not got the light pepper and saddle leather on this wine, I could be fooled about this wine being the Baker Ranch pinot. Now, maybe you'll laugh and think I'm not relying on my own palate experience and should be able to tell the difference and how the hell would I ever confuse these two varietals. The fact is that this wine is unique and given the vintage and the beautiful lighter color and weight, the gentleness of the expression, it has a feminine pinot character. Aromatics of blue flowers, lavender, but then flavors of blueberry and green peppercorn help add clues that this is rhone, not burgundy. Several at the table discussed this wine and how it expressed itself and I really liked it, as did a few others. Wells took what the vintage gave and made something distinctive.

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• 2010 Copain Syrah Halcon Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  (Barrel sample) 13.1% alcohol, 50% whole cluster, 0% new wood. Black pepper on the aromatic, with saddle leather and lots of tannin. Still youthful and to me not yet a Halcon that has been truly defined. Cherry and blue fruit with more tannin. Too soon to really say more as opposed to the 2010 Baker Ranch, this wine is quite far behind in for me showing what it will become.

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• 2010 Copain Syrah Hawks Butte Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  (Barrel sample) basically the same #s as the Halcon: 13.1%, 50% whole cluster and 0% new wood. The aromatic shows a sweet floral note that lifts it up. I heard Alan Rath who was at the other end of the table make a similar comment, too: like a candied raspberry that sweetly infuses the air. More generous in texture than the Halcon, too, with a cherry fruit note and a juicy even feel across the palate. Finishes chalky and juicy with a kind of weightless expression. Be nice to see whether this picks up more weight as it barrel ages or continues to retain the medium weight elegance and purity this showed at this stage.

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• 2009 Copain Syrah Halcon Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  12.8%, no new oak and 50% whole cluster. Floral, broadly textured and not surprisingly, it's darker than the 2010 we tasted from barrel just before it. Fruit is darker in tone too and the wine is more supple. The acidity versus the 2010 seems a little lower too, as well as the complexity yet the wine finishes nice and bright. Still very young and like the 2008, which we also tasted in the same setting, the 2009 here will need lots of time to bottle develop.

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• 2008 Copain Syrah Halcon Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  13.5%, no new oak. Smells a little bloody, meaty. Generous but yet full of chalky blue fruit, cooked meat and a dry jerky note. Still so young, as if the wine has just went to sleep. This is going to last a long time. Interestingly, we tasted this 2008 next to the 2009, which were both preceded by the 2010 from barrel. The 2008 for me tasted terrific, I had it starred in my notes. And now having tasted them all in short span, I do think Halcon is showing that the vineyard produces wines in the Copain style that need to sit and evolve in the bottle. This 2008 needs at least 2 more years to really start cranking but its got the materials to be there and it left me impressed, the same way it did when I tasted it from the demi-muid about 2 years ago.

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• 2009 Copain Syrah Baker Ranch

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  13.6% alcohol, no new wood and 50% whole cluster. My notes show the word beautiful underlined in reference to the aromatic, which is exotic and fragrant. Chalk is still framing the edges and within it lies blue fruit, charcoal and a terrific depth. Finishing and also supporting the wine is nice acidity that freshens it all up. Terrific.

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• 2009 Copain Syrah Hawks Butte Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  13.9% alcohol, no new wood and 50% whole cluster. My notes say "light for Hawks", in reference to the weight of the wine. Crunchy cherry and light blue fruit, along with olive and pure mineral. That purity is what has often set apart Hawks Butte for me and was squarely what the 2007 has done for me time after time. This 2009 version seems more feminine in weight, maybe the lightest version I can recall thinking back to 2003. Yet, what is here is again terrific balance. My notes are starred, I really again likes what Hawks Butte does.

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• 2009 Copain Chardonnay Brosseau Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Chalone

  I forgot to get the listed alcohol on this wine but I do recall Wells telling us that the wood program on the wine had no new wood, but there was a single on-year old barrel used, along with 5 very older barrels, for a total of 6. Put this wine into a blind event, tell me it doesn't ring like a Puligny or a Meursault. Honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon oil. The first chardonnay made by Copain, grown in limestone and I really enjoyed it.

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• 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  No premox here. Yes, the color is getting towards a more golden hue but there was no oxidation in my view. Orange blossom, some light honey around the edges and a smoky/citrusy finish. Still shows good life but at the same time, I'd say this is ready to drink. As to whether the wine held up after being open and sitting out, no way to tell as we shared it between 10 people and I didn't take the small leftover with me.

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• 2007 Robert Mondavi Winery Fumé Blanc Reserve To-Kalon Vineyard

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Lots of fig, even textured with a great balance. Peach and mango with a nice acidic cut, too.

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• 2003 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Elizabeth Occidental Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Man, this is ripe and the aromatics suggest that VA kind of quality. Soapy nose with red and black fruits. The palate is better than the nose but this wine kind of fell flat and was out of sorts with the Copains and other french styled reds we had mixed in with it. Just too out of balance for me.

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• 2006 Copain Pinot Noir Monument Tree

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  This wine is in a very good place, really has rounded out into a beautifully crafted wine. Pure red apple, gentle and delicate, along with raspberry, even some game. Yet, it still has some rocky/mineral qualities and give this wine a few more years, stick it alongside something from the Cote de Or, tell me it can't hang right there. Really just shining now and will get even better.

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• 1997 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  The mental set I formed about smelling this wine.....reminded me of a peppered turkey bacon I had recently. The aromatics of game, bacon and pepper all came together and attached a sensory connection to this food. Funny how wine can do this so well. Spicy and vibrant, with game. The complementary forces in this wine's palate were very unique to me: the silkiness lies against a pungent flavor with still brisk acidity. I enjoyed this marriage of flavors.

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• 2005 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Like with the Fonsalette last year when I visited Copain, again I try yet another Rayas bottling that I too seemed to enjoy. I used to scratch my head when it came to grenache, not able to understand why some liked it. But after tasting this wine, enjoying the pepper, spice and what my notes say, a watermelon note. Hard to think the latter would fit with the other descriptors but it seemed to be there for me. Drinking whole cluster grenache done like this just seems to fit for me now and yet again, Rayas does, too.

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• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir Les Voisins

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Rose petal, juicy and open textured with strawberry, pomegranate and a hint of caramel and herb.

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• 2009 Copain Syrah Les Voisins

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  Spicy with good size acid, along with charcoal, blue fruit and some chalk. Juicy and lighter bodied than the single vineyard syrahs and also more will need more time to settle down as opposed to the 2009 Voisins pinot.

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