Crappy Old Wines
Nazca Peruvian Restaurant, San Jose
Tasted May 28, 2010 by davetong with 885 views
Introduction
Otis and Allison made the trip out from Chicago to the Bay Area, so Paul and Wes arranged some tastings and events.
Friday's dinner was at Nazca Peruvian Restaurant in San Jose. The theme was "stinky old wines" - an opportunity to pull some unusual ancient relics from the cellar
I have some photos, but don't know how to embed them.
Flight 1 - Whites (4 notes)
A few older whites served before and with the appetisers.
We ordered the Papa Relleno and Halibut Ceviche; the ceviche was tough to pair with because of all the acidity.
White
1994 Stony Hill Chardonnay
USA, California, Napa Valley
Initially seemed very youthful; rather light weight with a sherryish hint. Of the four whites this was my least favourite.
Flight 2 - Reds (7 notes)
The slow cooked lamb shank went well with all of these wines, but the sauce, onions and carrots with the filet mignon were way too sweet to pair anything with.
Red
1990 Cronin Pinot Noir Peter Martin Ray
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
From a magnum. The nose really delivers - lovely, savoury and herbal. Sweet rich fruit, with tremendous depth. Probably my WOTN.
Red
1978 Sycamore Creek Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Clara Valley
I continue to be impressed by this wine time and again. An unknown producer with no track record, an unnamed vineyard but over 30 years later it's still in great shape.
Plenty of smooth blackcurrant fruit, still some fine tannins, really good.
Red
1960 Gemello Cabernet Sauvignon
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Amazing; this wine is 50 years old. Mushroom and floral nose. Tart blackcurrant, rosemary, forest floor. Some leather, but less than I'd expected. WOTN candidate
Red
N.V. Almaden California Mountain Burgundy
USA, California, Central Coast, Paicines
Paul brought this out partly as a joke, expecting it to be undrinkable. It's a non-vintage wine from the early 1970s. Who knows what's in it; it was cheap stuff then.
The nose was porty and it had pruney flavours, but it wasn't anything like as bad as we anticipated.
Flight 3 - A sticky with dessert (1 note)
© 2003-24 CellarTracker! LLC.