San Antonio Wine Geeks
The Monterey
Tasted Friday, July 1, 2011 by Nutty08 with 764 views
Flight 1 (13 Notes)
Closing
Maybe our best tasting yet (that I attended). Great wines, big names, and again multiple people bringing sought after, bucket list wines, and generously offering them to the group. Ridge and Solaia were my favorites, with VT close behind. Maybach was probably the group consensus #1
1998 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau 94 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Decanted an hour prior to tasting. Wonderful, exotic nose, with kirsch, asian spices, orange peel, and an interesting acetone/plastic character that I can't really explain but didn't detract. Palate with fine tannin, but otherwise soft and round, coating the mouth. Great anise, spice, dried fruit palate, with lengthy leather, sandlewood, and mineral finish. Drinking perfectly, fresher and better than the previous bottle, and opened up through the evening gaining layers of spice. Perfect cork, obviously well treated bottle bought at auction.
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2004 Château Haut-Bailly 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Decanted an hour and followed through the evening. Lovely nose of roasted coffee, gravel, and soot. Palate is rather sharp, strong acidity (especially for '04) with prominent toasted oak notes that carry through a lengthy coffee and gravely finish. Has some nice cassis and black currants on the palate. This just isn't ready. Seems packed tightly and set to unwind over the next 5rs, but needs the fruit to come out more to carry the oak.
After 4-5hrs the tannins faded somewhat, with toasted cassis and black currant flavors. Better, but no need to touch for many years.
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2008 Donelan Syrah Kobler Family Vineyard 93 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Green Valley of Russian River Valley
Blind #1 – Ripe boysenberry nose, showing some slight heat that dissipated with time in the decanter. Eventually showed some black currants and typical pepper notes with a violet note. Coarse, big tannins on the palate, with loads of acidity and ripe fruit. Lengthy finish adding a toasty oak element. This has a lot of everything—tannins, acid, and fruit. Really opened up after about 4hrs, showing well. In the big but balanced Cali syrah style. Guessed young Cali Syrah, but incorrect producer.
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1997 Trinchero Cabernet Sauvignon M. Trinchero Founder's Estate 88 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Blind #2 – Cork scattered through this. Ripe cassis and currants on the nose, with a creamy buttery feel. Palate showing ripe but mature cali fruit, hint of green pepper. Smooth and round, but with air lost complexity. Short clipped finish. Guessed ’01 Napa Cab, but after finding out it was ’97 that made more sense. Past peak, but enjoyable enough
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2008 Outpost Cabernet Sauvignon 91 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
Bright ripe fruit nose, boysenberry, cassis, wild berries, and red cherry. Dense and concentrated with loads of fruit on the palate, but impressive balance and retained acidity. Despite the concentration, not a lot of depth and complexity, but still very finish. Finishes with a delightful chocolate tone. Big tannins as well, needs to pull together some. Nice wine, not my preferred style though.
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2004 Kosta Browne Syrah Amber Ridge Vineyard 84 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Having the Donelan there really hurt this one. Big ripe nose with a nice meat, iodine and pepper character. Nice nose. Things fall apart on the palate, with syrupy, ripe, alcoholic fruit that becomes clipped on the finish. Hot and out of balance, apparently not aging well.
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2004 Antinori Solaia 93 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
Bright, slightly candied cherry fruit nose with touches of coffee. Focused refined palate, great depth, showing cassis and licorice—much brighter and higher toned with more tension than the Cali cabs. Lengthy finish with some drying tannins in the background . Surprisingly approachable at this young age. Should continue to improve. Great wine, though somewhat lost in the shuffle of great "flashy" wines tonight.
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1999 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill
USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
Bought at auction, unknown storage. Nose was rather shy and unyielding, with a little hint of cassis and herbal spice. Palate was rather acidic and thin, with fading fruit. Quite earthy on the finish. Slightest hint of mustiness, through not clearly flawed by TCA. Guessing maybe a poorly stored bottle. 86-88
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1994 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único 92 Points
Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero
Truly generous friends to be able to taste 2 different Unico’s in a month. Nice rish nose, with hints of citrus, smoke, coffee, and fresh leather. Palate smooth, concentrated and rouhd, but with fine tannins in the background. Acidic and high toned, lacking the mouth coating richness and depth of the ’99. Lengthy coffee finish adding a savory tobacco edge with air. Opened up through the evening. Given the acidity, I think this is still a few years away from peak (though keep in mind I’m not experienced with this producer), though I’m not sure it’ll catch up to the 99. 92+
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1998 Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Flawed
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Sadly corked. Seemed to have good fruit and acidity underneath though.
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2000 Ridge Monte Bello 94 Points
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Great nose of mocha, leather, spice and gravel. Nice comparison to the Pessac-Leognan with similar character. Fine tannins on the palate, with dark toned fruit, nice acidity showing a crystalline pure fruit style. Lengthy berry and coffee finish. Classy and polished. Really nice. Slightly below the ’94. 93-94
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2007 Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Materium 94 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
Crazy massive wine, though like other high end wines, this extruded balance. Huge nose concentrated nose of black currants, plum, blackberries. Massive palate, with layers of complex, concentrated fruit, though avoids any hint of heaviness. Lengthy soft finish with some vanilla. I get the excitement and press, but I’m not sure this is a style of wine I enjoy enough to seek out. Not even clearly Cab, though is certainly well made and complex. Similar in style to the Outback, but this is leaps and bounds more complex. Others who had had this in the past thought previous bottles showed better. Seamless and balanced, though lacked tension and grace.
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1999 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Éloge 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Very similar performance to a recent tasting. Herbal, exotic fruit nose with hint of spice and green pepper. Nice red fruit centered palate, really showing the exotic character cab franc can add. Lengthy complex finish. Really nice wine, again showing well. Much more youthful than the ’97 and the ’99 Diamond Creek.
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