An Evening With Roy Hersh and Justin Wells
Roy's Place
Tasted Thursday, March 10, 2005 by Tubbs with 990 views
Introduction
Whilst surfing the Squires BB, Roy and I discovered we live less than 1 mile apart. As I had a need to discuss some port matters with Roy, he was gracious enough to invite myself and my wife to join him, and Justin Wells for an informal tasting.
Roy had things all set up for a blind tasting & I brought two naked bottles of burgundy. So, the bags came off everything but the port. (Sorry about that Roy.) :)
NOTE: We really didn't have formal flights, I'm just breaking things up for purposes of organization.
Flight 1 - Warm up - Some burgundies and a Washington Syrah (3 Notes)
Justin brought the Cougar Crest as a bonus. It serverd as a nice interlude between the burgundies and the Bordeaux/Cab's - thanks Justin!!!
Flight 2 - Some 1990 Bordeaux and a 2002 Foley. (4 Notes)
I Love Bordeaux and Calon is one of my favorites. I had no idea I'd be drinking a couple of 90's, what a surprise. The first bottle of Pichon Roy opened was off, so he opened another. I've included notes from both - guess which is which! :)
When the Foley came out, I sniffed, took in a large mouthfull, swished, swallowed and announced - hmm... "I wouldn't say this is over oaked." At this point I knew I'd convinced Roy of my tasting prowess as he looked at me flatly in disbelief... jaw on the table. (I guess he found it a touch oaky, :) , me too on further inspection.) I'm personally not a huge fan of Cali Cab's, therefore, I have no business scoring one. Ha! Too bad! I'm gonna give the Foley a score based on how I think it represents it's class of wine. It was a well made wine. Just a style I don't particularly care for - nothing wrong with that. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to try it Justin!
Flight 3 - Roy tries to convince Justin that a Pinot can be fruity too. (1 Note)
In the process of showing Justin a fruit forward California Pinot Roy inadvertently converted me. (Darn you Roy! Are you going to help me expand my cellar?) Although I'm not sure this actually was the best of the bunch, (those '90's were damn good, and the port was sublime), I'm giving this WOTN status for opening my eyes to California Pinot. (Damn)
Incidentally, Roy put this in a bag and made Justin guess the wine and the vintage, (cruel man.) :) Justin nailed it!
Flight 4 - You don't taste wine with Roy and not taste Port. (1 Note)
Earlier in the evening we had been discussing our wine preferences. Now I'm a real port lover, I don't KNOW port, but I really love port. In the course of discussing our preferences, I'd mentioned that I'd be best at picking a champagne blind, (not that I'd be good, just better at that than another wine.) Well, apparently Roy thought I said that about port and now it was my turn to guess. I protested, took a sip, analyzed the wine - hmm... young and zippy, probably a 94 Fonseca. Viola! I couldn't have been more wrong! :)
A special thanks goes out to my wife for colluding with the perpetrators.
Closing
Indeed time flies. We managed to keep Roy up well past 2:30 a.m. Of course, it was Roy who kept running to the cellar for more. (We also had a Madeira and a Meritage blended by Roy himself - sorry no notes on those.) We had a great time. It was wonderful to meet Roy and Justin, and see Roy's collection of port paraphernalia – incredible. Thank you Roy for welcoming us to your home and sharing your wines with us.
(I'm now totally screwed. The next time I see Roy, he's gonna have a bottle of something fizzy in a bag with my name on it.)
2003 Verget Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre Caniculus 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Wonderful delicate yet powerful aromatics. Lime, grapefruit and under-ripe pineapple on the nose with a palate that closely matches. Long finish of citrus rind and a zip I found similar to that found in botrytiscized wines. Nicely balanced but could use a touch more acid, (could this be a forshadowing of things to come from the hot 2003 vintage?)
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2000 Frédéric Magnien Bonnes Mares 91 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
I decanted this for 2 hours before re-bottling it for the tasting. Out of the bottle this had the signature twang of a young fresh pinot. At the tasting the twang had mellowed giving rise to a wonderful nose of smoky bacon, mushroom and earth. I found this to be nicely balanced with good fruit and a long smoky finish.
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2002 Cougar Crest Syrah Reserve Stellar Vineyard 88 Points
USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
Very dark. Smoke, oak and a touch of rubber on the nose. Sweet black fruit with cinnamon on the palate. Somewhat port like, with a slightly chemical component. Not overly complex but pleasant with very soft tannins.
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