ITB(?) dinner at Oceanaire

Seattle, WA, USA
Tasted Tuesday, June 1, 2004 by Eric with 891 views

Introduction

Dinner with Justin, Jason and Lorne at Oceanaire.

A friend of a friend works at a PR firm that does a lot of food & beverage work, so tonight I had my first ITB (in the business) dinner to talk about longer-term opportunites for my CellarTracker! web site. It is sort of weird for me to think of my hobby for the past year as a potential business let alone to spend 3 hours talking about it from a variety of angles. Of course, we kept the evening interesting with some exciting wines, mostly from Napa.

Flight 1 (4 Notes)

  • 1987 Spring Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Much better than the last bottle I tasted. This showed a nose of 'screaming' cassis with some mint and cedar. On this palate this is very nice, full and totally resolved. It didn't blow me away with its complexity, but it was a pure, albeit somewhat monolithic example of quintessential Napa fruit. Very nice!

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  • 1986 Château Talbot 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    This gets the shitter award for the evening. Compared to three wines from Napa, this was distinctively old-world with serious 'Cordier funk.' I loved it! Barnyard and leather dominated the nose. The highly-structured palate was very dark, black and chewy with a grippy, tannic finish. Awesome stuff!

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  • 2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot 93 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Purchased off the list. Out of the bottle this was explosive and slutty with brown sugar and wood notes dominating. However, with some air this settled back and showed somewhat more subdued and balanced aromatics with a hint of herb. On the palate this was massively primary and rich, chocolately smooth, long and delicious. What this lacks in complexity it make up for with purity of fruit and texture. A delicious and seductive Merlot.

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  • 1999 Joseph Phelps Insignia 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    As if we really needed a fourth bottle, Lorne ordered this at the last minute off the list, so we popped and poured with the briefest of decanting sessions. This wine was surprisingly complex with a spicy and lightly herbal nose that showed cocoa and a hint of dusty minerality. The palate was rich and complex, much more delicate, tight and complex than the 2001 Pride Merlot tasted alongside. This had very little time to open, and as consequence it mostly showed tight and tart red fruit with cranberry, black cherry, raspberry, and red currant. This one needed an hour or two in the decanter to really shine, but it was awfully tasty.

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