Dinner at Abood's.

Michel's.
Tasted Saturday, February 19, 2005 by BradKNYC with 372 views

Introduction

Had a lovely dinner this past Saturday night at Michel Abood’s place. Also gathered ‘round the table were Dan & Jane Myers, Wilfred Van Gorp, his friend Craig and Michel’s friends Cataline and Eileen.

A few nice wines on a relaxed, informal night and lest folks think that New Yorkers are an uncaring lot, we had the building doormen pounding on the door to make sure we were alright after receiving apparently numerous calls from his neighbors that were concerned that we were either on fire, or that Michel had converted his apartment to a smoker.

Flight 1 (7 Notes)

  • 1990 Château Léoville Barton

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    This wine has really started to show nicely the past couple of years. While still youthful, it is fully out of its dumb stage. Classy, textbook Bordeaux that shows focused cassis flavors and aromas, with earth and herb notes and tobacco joining the party later in the evening. No hurry to drink it, but I like where it is now. Solid A-.

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  • 1999 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape

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

    Boy, is this a fun wine. It initially showed nothing other than garrigue and olives on the nose, but slowly opened up to sweet red and black fruit. Quite juicy on the palate, showing the vintage’s higher acidity and relatively toned down fruit, but it works well. Spicy, with garrigue and herbal notes and reddish fruit, it’s complex without being complicated. One of those perfect wines to have around the house. Low A-.

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  • 1995 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

    Always one of my favorites from Clape, this was a good showing. It’s pretty tannic, but when you’ve had enough of them, you realize that they’re always going to stay that way more or less. Shows plenty of meat and game on the nose and palate, with bright, yet lightly roasted red raspberries and cherries, spice and herb. Certainly coarse and rustic. I’m not convinced further aging will make it evolve into anything better. Maybe a little smoother, but, to my tastes, not better. A-.

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  • 1987 Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Flawed

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Corked. NR.

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  • 1998 Château Monbousquet

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    I haven’t been a fan of this Château since they switched on the oak. Indeed, that was my real problem with this wine. It’s effusively oaky on the nose with drippy, ripe black fruit underneath. Charred oak dominates the palate too much for my tastes and covers up the ripe, but lifeless black fruit. Bleeh. B.

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  • 2000 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    I know there are plenty of folks out there that love Pride wines, and indeed they are a class operation and nice folks, but while I’ve always found them well made, they’re not my style. They’re a little too extracted for my tastes and I find them cumbersome on the palate. The 2000 sports an effusively fragrant nose dominated by chocolate covered Bing cherries with a trace of heat. Lots of vanillin wood notes on the palate with extracted, big mountain fruit, though it’s primarily upfront. The wine thins out in the mid-palate, as many ‘00’s do and finishes with gritty, bitter wood tannins. I was told the wine was decanted at 4:00 pm and we drank it around 10:20 pm. B/B+.

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  • NV Yalumba Muscat Museum Reserve Rutherglen

    Australia, Victoria, North East, Rutherglen

    It’s been about five or so years since I last had one of these. Don’t even know what they cost anymore, but back then they were around $12 and offered good value for a sweet treat. This one took some time to get going. Upon opening VA aromas and flavors dominated. It showed medicinal notes with burnt sugar and alcohol, but was not all that pleasant. After being in the glass for half an hour or so, the VA started to blow off, the wine filled in, dried figs made an appearance and the burnt sugar took on a less harsh note and became more molasses-like. Not particularly complex, but enjoyable. B+/A-.

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