Browns suck - Wine Don't (Seahawk edition) SHL, Pride Reserve

My Basement
Tasted Monday, December 21, 2015 by Loren Sonkin with 279 views

Introduction

and we're back. After a one week respite of good football, the Browns were back to their old form today. The started the game with great play calling, a nice intensity and a 7 minute touchdown drive. Then, they never went back to that. The defense was totally unprepared. Time to break out some good wines. I narrowed it down to two, and said, WTF, we opened them both. Hey, its almost Christmas. As for the wines:

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

  • 2003 Château Smith Haut Lafitte 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Pop and pour, this really took about 3 hours to hit its stride. Ruby/purple. On opening the nose had cassis, cigar box and a ton of barnyard funk. I like that quality and it was at the limit for me. The wine was good but had drying tannins. I scored it around 88. At about the three hour mark, the barnyard had 80% blown off. What was left was classic Bordeaux nose. Cassis, black cherries, cigar box and a touch of funk. On the palate, this put on some weight. The tannins softened and the wine unwound. Dark cherries intermixed with tobacco and a slight forest floor notes. Reasonable acidity for the vintage. The drying quality was gone. In short, a very nice aged Bordeaux. Give it plenty of air though.

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  • 2009 Pride Mountain Vineyards Reserve Claret 95 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    I have a few, so I thought I would check in. Though these take time, they usually are more approachable than the Reserve Cab. This one was very approachable. It did improve over the few hours it was open though. Purple in color. The nose has dark cherries, plums, dark chocolate, tobacco and pencil lead. On the palate, this is soft but with enough structure to hold together all the components. Lots of dark cherries with some milk chocolate notes. Plush is a good word to describe it. Showing a nice complexity as it unwinds in the glass. Nice finish. This is not flamboyant, very elegant, but clearly California. Great wine with a long life ahead.

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Closing

Next Kansas City on the road, now where is that bottle of Screaming Eagle... ;-)

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