'08s for the Elite Eight

The Apt
Tasted Saturday, March 26, 2016 by MC2 Wines with 336 views

Introduction

It's that time of year where we typically hole ourselves up and watch a lot of basketball. This year a few wine friends joined us (the Captain and his wife Michelle) and so we opted to make a whole wine night out of it. Theme was Napa 2008 which happens to be my favorite vintage in Napa so I was excited for the line-up. Of course we added some bubbles and a sticky on either side to have the full set of courses. Started with some cheese and iberico bellota from our local cheese shop (Ideal Cheese on 1st Ave) and then ordered in some Shake Shack and Dominique Ansel goodies for dessert to complement the Rieussec.

Flight 1 (6 Notes)

  • NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Cuvée Rubis

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    While not exactly fitting the theme for the night ('08s for the Elite Eight), it's always fun to start with pink bubbles. This is one of my favorites, especially for the price. Hints of strawberry, very soft bubbles. Touch of complexity there. Good start to the evening.

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  • 2008 Sloan

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

    This was just very quiet compared to what I expected. We opened and decanted prob 3-4 hours before drinking. Wine was fairly closed down. Could get a bit of the alcohol but not the evolution of flavors I was expecting. Will sit on the rest of ours for some more years and hope it's just a dumb phase.

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  • 2008 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Showket Vineyards

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

    Showing a bit better than the Sloan in a side by side comparison. This had just a touch more going on although it still felt a bit tighter than I would have expected. Wondering if some of these are just heading into more of a sleeping phase and need to wait a bit to open. Very smooth wine, alcohol well integrated, more fruit dominant, but not as fruity as Anderson Conn Valley we poured later.

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  • 2008 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Reserve

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Maybe the most approachable early on of all of the reds. It was decanted and served prob within 30 minutes. The most fruit forward of the wines this was easy drinking, well integrated. Perhaps not quite the future depth of the others we tried, but one of the tasty ones today.

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  • 2008 Colgin Syrah IX Estate

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    One of my favorites of the day less for its early performance and more for the evolution over time. This was meaty and briney in addition to more black fruit. Despite a decant of 3-4 hours it started fairly tight and was really opening up more later in the evening. Enjoyable, but would wait on our others. Suspect CT drinking window which ends in 2018 is premature.

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  • 2001 Château Rieussec

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    My third experience with this wine and it never disappoints. Very glad that we've got some bottles of these hanging out. This is just spectacular and was a real show stealer for the night. Light and yet decadent; the balance on this is stunning. Wine lasts forever on the tongue but doesn't feel overwhelming at all. Honey in a glass. Very enjoyable.

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Closing

Overall I'd say the wines were fairly quiet and maybe in a bit of a deader period (major exception being the Rieussec which was absolutely singing and clear WOTN). When we were in Argentina someone introduced us to the idea of the garden calendar - fruit/leaf/stem/flower. There is a cycle through those and in general wine tastes better during fruit/flower timing than it does during leaf or stem. Funnily enough, looking back on last night (there's a 'When Wine' app we downloaded for fun) I realize we were in a dead period until around 9 pm when the Flower took over again. If you believe it, maybe that's why some of the later wines tasted better than their earlier brethren. Or maybe as mentioned earlier just a deader period for some of the '08s.

Great Nova-Kansas game and a general good time with Captain and Michelle. Looking forward to the next one!

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