Graduation Dinner

This was an excellent low-key graduation dinner at Restaurant Lulu. The food was quite good and corkage was reasonable at $20.

Both the wines we brought were excellent. Drink up any Littorai left, the Papapietro has a bit of time. The Littorai has more character, but the Papapietro has better balance and is a better wine right now.

• 2003 Littorai Pinot Noir Mays Canyon 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Cork crumbled. Pale ruby color with some mild bricking; nose has muted but interesting complex fruits, savory cherry, some earth, seems less fruity than expected, slight green/herbal; palate is dry, light bodied, fruit has dropped out leaving a dry midpalate; finish is medium length. This is a very interesting Pinot with an intriguing nose and real character, but it is on the downslope, has lost too much fruit on the palate without enough complexity to replace it (unlike the nose, which certainly has enough complexity to replace any lost fruit). 89-90 on the downslope.

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• 2009 Papapietro Perry Pinot Noir Nûnes Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Youthful pale ruby color without much bricking; nose has good red fruits with nice integrated spices, warm weather but not over-ripe fruits; palate is fresh and interesting but similar to a lot of California pinot. This is a well balanced wine, perhaps a tad young but drinking well now, very enjoyable but easily replaceable by other pinot since it lacks distinctive character. I would probably still buy a handful since it is an excellent wine. 90-92

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These were wines we were given to sample when we were thinking about buying a wine. Both were mediocre, but the Turley in particular was interesting to try because I love single vineyard Turley zins. This one was disappointing in that context... no concentration, no character. Poor value even at its price.

• 2011 Turley Zinfandel Juvenile 83 Points

  USA, California

  Based on a small tasting pour. Fruity, but not much intensity or concentration, some very mild spices. This is a decent wine, but it has no Turley character or concentration and is far inferior to Ridge zin in this price range. I love the Turley single vineyard zins, but this is not the same experience. 82-85

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• 2010 Morgan Pinot Noir Twelve Clones 85 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Insipid. Decent fruit. Absolutely nothing stands out in this wine as interesting, and it is very poor QPR at $25. 85

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Quite a decent Crozes-Hermitage for the price, which was $60 at the restaurant ($30 retail). They comped a corkage fee, so the price was actually $40, which is superb for this wine in a restaurant.

• 2010 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 89 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage

  Deep purple color; spicy dark fruit, needs time to open, minerality; medium density, fresh acid, not much concentration of fruit on the palate. This is a good northern rhone styled Syrah, perhaps lacking a bit in concentration and intensity but is a nice positive surprise for the price ($30 retail, $60 on wine list but $40 after another bottle's corkage was waived for purchasing). Very good. 89

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