Summer cabin weekend

Jambalaya

• 1992 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Anniversary Release 97 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  (8/8/2014)

  Decanted 75 minutes and followed over the next two hours. Elegant, very polished, Barolo-like nose leads with black cherry and red currants. There's a subtle creaminess and smokiness to the nose that carries over to the palate. This bottle had much better expressiveness than one tasted in March, with perfectly mature fruit playing against good acidity. This was more feminine but equally as good as the '97 Phelps Insignia, and it crushed the '92 Dunn Howell Mountain, which needs more time. Drink now-2017.

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• 1992 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  (8/8/2014)

  Decanted 75 minutes and followed over the next two hours. The Dunn is quite youthful, closed down on the midpalate and finish, and clearly needing several more years. The nose has crushed iron and mineral, chocolate truffle, and doughy pastry batter notes. The fruit is very red—currants, wild cherry, and berry—and there's still a ton of acid grip on the palate. Nowhere near as good or expressive as the '92 La Jota tonight. Drink 2018-2025.

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• 1996 Joseph Phelps Insignia 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  (8/8/2014)

  Decanted 75 minutes and followed over the next two hours. The nose has Napa herbs, milk chocolate, toasted wood, smoke, teriyaki sauce, blueberry, and plum skin. The palate has nicely refined dark fruits, dry clay-tinged black currants, plum, and berry. Drink now-2022.

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• 1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia 97 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  (8/8/2014)

  Decanted 75 minutes and followed over the next two hours. This has an incredible, exotic, masculine nose of cream cheese, blackberry, charcoal, and hazelnut aromas. The palate is also powerful and exotic, more black fruits like black currants and plum, tons of energy and tension between fruit and acidity. Can't quite maintain the same power from midpalate through the finish, but no doubt this is a classic wine. Drink now-2025.

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• 2006 Willi Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Auslese 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  (8/8/2014)

  Not decanted. Sweet but vibrant, honeyed pear and melon, wildflowers, and wet chalk/stone increasing with time in the glass. Wouldn't mind having a case of this in the cellar. Drink now-2030.

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An array of sandwiches

• 2010 Ojai Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

  (8/9/2014)

  Not decanted. Lovely Chardonnay that is initially a bit alcoholic on nose and palate, but with more air it calms down to be nicely sophisticated, with creamy, ripe citrus and peach notes and a good amount of stony mineral. White honeysuckle flower notes carry over from nose to palate. Obviously Californian but with plenty of restraint. Drink now-2018.

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• 1990 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 94 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  (8/9/2014)

  Not decanted. Tremendous wine at a good point of maturity, and much better than the bottle from last month which was certainly not representative of the best this wine can offer. This cork was easily extracted and the wine immediately showed plenty of honeyed tangerine, inflatable beach ball, crystallized brown sugar, and exotic papaya and pineapple. These notes carried over to a viscous, concentrated palate with a level of fresh acidity that seemed several years younger than the wine's 24 years. Drink now-2020.

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Buffalo-feta burgers

• 2005 Celler Cal Pla Priorat Planots Vi de Vinyes Velles 97 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  (8/9/2014)

  Decanted 2.5 hours and followed over the next two hours. Ripe and beautiful, juicy and intense red currant/cassis fruit, wild red cherry and strawberry, some black slate in the background. The concentrated red cassis fruit dominates the palate from beginning to end, perfectly pure and refined with no hard edges. Its only real shortcoming, perhaps, is the lack of secondary nuance on the palate, but otherwise it is an amazingly ripe, full-bodied example of Priorat. Drink now-2023.

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• 2005 Bodegas Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero Malleolus de Valderramiro 93 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

  (8/9/2014)

  Decanted 2.5 hours and followed over the next two hours. Big oak nose, milk chocolate, mocha, creamy black plum, and cofffee grounds. The palate carries these flavors and adds a good amount of leafy tobacco, spicy ground black and red pepper, and velvety purple plum skin/pulp. Nice richness to the nose and front palate, but the late-palate tannins are a bit austere and challenging. Needs a few more years to integrate. Drink 2017-2024.

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• 2004 Bodega Catena Zapata Nicolás Catena Zapata 94 Points

  Argentina, Mendoza

  (8/9/2014)

  Decanted 2.5 hours and followed over the next two hours. Dark, opaque purple color. Nose of blackberry juice and creamy, sweet milk chocolate. There is subtle, distant graphite mineral and earthy loam, but the overwhelming notions are full-bodied, rich, ripe blackberry juice and extract. Compared to the bottle in 2010, this does not have the same degree of secondary complexity. It's a very tasty, fruity Cab-Malbec blend now, but it should benefit from a few more years to allow the massive fruit to tone down in favor of the secondary characteristics. Drink 2017-2026.

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• 1998 Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella Vigneto di Monte Lodoletta 96 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella

  (8/9/2014)

  Decanted 2.5 hours and followed over the next two hours. Intense smoked sea salt, balsamico, black slate dust, black plum liqueur, and noticeable heat on the nose. Ground metallic slate mineral notes carry over to the palate, rich blackberry fruit, licorice, wet stone, espresso, and fig sauce continue to a spicy, alcohol-hot finish. A unique, dark, and intense wine that is difficult to compare to any ordinary table wine. Drink now-2030.

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• 2001 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Sélection de Grains Nobles 94 Points

  France, Alsace

  (8/9/2014)

  Decanted one hour and returned to bottle for four hours. This wine was way too young, but the quality was obvious. It's a lemon-lime laser beam, extremely tight given its acidity, slowly giving way to pineapple and melon flavors, deeply buried wet stone, honey, and melted wax. If I could go back and do it over again, I'd wait 10 years on this bottle. Drink 2024-2040.

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