Labor Day BBQ

my place
Tasted Sunday, September 3, 2006 by trankin with 637 views

Introduction

Well the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto rained out (& turned the power out on) our original plans, so we adapted and moved the evening to my place. A bunch of nice wines, so good bbq, and great company.

The wines were served with: a great cheese course, the most tender meatballs and sausages you can find (cut the sausage with a spoon!), my baby-back ribs, a great pasta salad (Emeril's recipe), Asian sweet potatoes, and a lovely dessert cake.

Flight 1 - A white to kick things off (1 Note)

Flight 2 - Some nice older Italians (2 Notes)

  • 1978 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 92 Points

    Italy, Abruzzi, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

    Bottom neck fill. A little mold on the top of the cork. The cork came out basically intact. Certainly appeared to be good provenance.

    As I began decanting this, a gorgeous nose immediately filled the room. Wonderful cherries and strawberries and some other stranger notes as well. Allowed to sit in the decanter for about 20 minutes before serving.

    The color is a gorgeous garnet, totally clear except some modest sediment I didn't completely eliminate in the decanting process. In the glass, the nose was absolutely enormous, and very difficult to describe. There was loads of forest floor, and a barnyardy thing - wet hay mostly - going on. But there was also some lovely spice, and a nutty thing - chestnuts is what I pegged it at. An incredibly intriguing nose.

    On the palate, this is another wine entirely. It's clean and pure with none of the barnyardy thing showing up in the flavor profile. Still somewhat tannic, but the tannins are integrated and do not stand out inappropriately at this age. Loads of strawberries, some leather, sour cherries, very nice acids. Really an incredibly cerebral wine. From an intellectual standpoint, this wine gets a 95+, although the flavor profile is probably more like a 91-2 and the nose, while fascinating, is barnyardy enough to be a drawback. Overall, one of the most intriguing wines I've had in a very long time.

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  • 1993 Roagna Barolo Riserva La Rocca e La Pira 91 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    The nose is small compared to the pepe, but gives up nice cherries and cedar notes. On the palate, lovely black cherry, along with strawberries, some cedar, and some leathery notes as well.

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Flight 3 - The big boys (4 Notes)

  • 2002 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 91 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Nose of purple fruits, white pepper, and leather. On the palate, lovely sweet fruit. Very concentrated, with some gravel/graphite notes adding nice complexity. Plums, coffee notes, toffee. If I were having this blind, I might very well have guessed syrah - the nose was very syrah-like and the palate doesn't deter that thinking at all. Very nice wine overall.

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  • 1989 Château La Dominique 89 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Nose of barnyard, horse, manure, and green pepper. As McNulty put it, the Emidio Pepe was like a barn that's got wet hay in it and has been sitting around for a long time, while the Dominique is like a barn that gets tons and tons of use. The palate is vibrant and youthful, with nice fruit, good structure, but a good bit of green bell pepper which for me mars an otherwise very nice wine. I seem to have a very low tolerance for green notes in my wine, and this bottle was yet another example.

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  • 2000 Justin Vineyards & Winery Isosceles 90 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    Nose of dark plums, dark fruit, coffee and a touch of earth. On the palate, it's all sweet plums, blueberries and raspberries, with just enough structure to keep it going strong.

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  • 1998 L'Aventure Optimus 92 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    I've been wanting to open one of these for a long time. Finally found the excuse. Decanted for maybe 20 minutes, then poured.

    The nose is huge, dark and brooding. Treebark, saddle leather, caramel - really a wonderful combination. The palate is smooth and rounded with lovely fruit. The tannins are fully and beautifully integrated, giving the wine nice structure despite the overall round-ness of the wine. Dark brooding fruit with notes of coffee and espresso. A nice, reasonably long finish predominated by mocha notes.

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Flight 4 - And a little dessert wine (1 Note)

  • 1999 Bonny Doon Vineyard Recioto of Barbera 89 Points

    USA, California

    On the nose there was a bit of a raisiny thing going on, but on the palate it was raspberries, raspberries, and more raspberries. Went perfectly with the devil's food cake with inch-thick genache frosting topped with raspberries and whipped cream center that Shefali made.

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Closing

As always - a wonderful night. And the wines weren't too shabby either!

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