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Hart Davis Hart – BYOB
Blackbird Chicago
Tasted March 26, 2009 by KenK with 819 views
Introduction
First BYOB event held by HDH. Everyone was asked to bring a bottle. No theme. Turned out to be a great evening with maybe too many wines as I has early flight to Maui the next morning. It had been a couple of years since I was at Blackbird and time to give it another try. I have found it to be inconsistent in the past and once again that is my conclusion. Portion's generally very small and courses were hits or misses. Beef dish was my fav along with crab. Chefs came out to meet and greet, a nice touch. Maybe 20 in attendance and was nice to see friends from HDH along with the Wine Flock Crew. I missed tasting a few other wines as I hit my limit. A great line up of wines. My notes trailed off as evening went on. I wonder why ;-)
Flight 1 - Whites (7 notes)
A diverse group of high quality whites. Very unique wines each a pleasure
White - Sparkling
N.V. Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier
87 points
Clean fresh bright and focused. Good zesty white fruit flavors. Balanced and refreshing starter.
White
2005 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
92 points
Smoky, stoney white fruits and mineral nose. Solid backbone of white fruits, stones and vanilla hints. Nice classy mouth feel with nice balance. Young and light, showing nice raw materials that holds nice promise for future development.
White
2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes
96 points
Expressive exotic nose expressing sweet honeyed almond quality, Follows thru on palate with loads of concentrated ripe fruits. Fat and fleshy with great fruit forward mid palate featuring extracted wild nutty honey. Loads of unusual, but distinctive flavors and long finish. Nothing delicate here, a wow wine. 96
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Comment
White
1995 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L'Orée
89 points
From Magnum: Clean dry mineral nose and a bit shy. Great rounded weight in mouth showing a stone white fruit character and subtle complexities. After tasting Beaucastel this came across light and almost simple with slight hot edge. Relative to my expectations this was disappointing as subtle and bit hot. 89
White
1996 Marcel Deiss Altenberg de Bergheim
95 points
Sweet lush with nice spicy edge. Creamy mouthcoating density ripe with some residual sugar. Great complexity with layers of distinct flavors. Nice opposing acidity for density of fruit. I like where this wine is currently. Doubt it improves, but likely holds a few more years. 95
White
2000 Marcel Deiss Altenberg de Bergheim
94 points
Very perfumed nose. Features floral elements in rich concentrated style. A heavy wine showing significant sweetness, but maintains nice balance. A wine I usually love, but slightly outclassed by the complexity of the 1996 tonight. 94
White
2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man
93 points
Nice nose of sweet apple wrapped in vanilla toast. Big ripe wine pushing the edge. Flavor packed with apples, pear, and touch of mango. Slight hint of heat on finish. Nothing shy here. 93
Flight 2 - Reds (12 notes)
A diverse flight of wines to wow the palate.
Red
1990 Domaine René Engel Clos Vougeot
95 points
Nice classy rich black cherry nose infused with mineral and touch of earth. Beautiful flavors, clean almost crisp with nice intensity to black cherry fruits. Yum. 95 with potential for more.
Red
1966 Château Figeac
93 points
Dark dried black fruits and green pepper aromas. Dry, earthy black flavors with distinct green pepper element. Amazing dry fruit shows thru well and very nice acid backbone. An over acheiver. 93
Red
1966 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
94 points
Dark green pepper nose with black mineral toast. Nice dark spicy wine with surprisingly rich core of dried black cherry fruit. Slight green pepper adds distinct complex edge. Nice finish. 94
Red
1992 Harlan Estate
97 points
From Mag: Classy Bordeaux-like aromas. A complete wine showing deep ripe complex black cherry fruit with many layers, Wine is at point where fruit is tamed, tannins and acid fully integrated. Sleek black mineral quality with long finish. Very impressive as proves to me Harlan's can age great and actually pick up subtleties. No sense of heat or any imbalance. A real learning experience. Very Wow. 97num:
Red
1984 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
95 points
From Magnum: Distinctive dill aromas I associate with American oak along with ripe red cherry nose. Lush creamy red berry flavors with chocolate. Wave of dense fruit considering age is eye opening. Surprisingly fresh. Nice balancing acid with no sense of tannins. Shouts new world. 95
Red
1987 Dominus Estate
93 points
Dark sweet black fruits with mineral edge. Good dark dense sweet blackberry flavors. Touch of anise and fennel seed. 93
Red
1996 Dalla Valle Maya
97 points
Rich creamy black cherry nose. Nice deep ripe chocolate cherry fruit. Great balance and soft rich texture. Long and concentrated. Another yummy wow wine. What's not to like? 97
Red
2000 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul
93 points
Nice rich sleek wine featuring red and black cherry fruit. Balanced with great wall of fruit density and nice depth, finish and length. 93
Red
1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
flawed
From Magnum: Sauvage, damp earthy quality. Animal, gamey and spicy with weird almost spritzy quality. Just plan strange quality that got worse into finish. Bottles showed slight leakage. Not corked, but seemed flawed. Heat damage? NR
Red
1994 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
96 points
Pride is one of my favs and did not disappoint. Dark rich ripe sweet red cherry . Creamy wine showing nice spice. Well balanced and nice length. 96
Red
1995 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
94 points
Nice concentration of lush cherry and blackberry fruits. Spicy edge with nice acid backbone keeping it fresh. Thumbs up. 94
Red
1987 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select
96 points
Rich concentrated lush cherry flavors with great balancing acidity in soft round package. Toasty, long and deep. A porno wine I want to spend the night with. Yum yum yum 96
Flight 3 - Dessert (0 notes)
a 1959 Italian Red sweet wine. I did not catrch the name. Someone thought a red Trebbian solera.
Sweet rich creamy port-like. Very ripe fruit forward style showing raspberry, blackberry, and some sweet rubarb. Like a dessert Petite Sirah from Ridge. Very youthful. 1959 Solera. Like a Ridge Essence? 92
Closing
Next HDH BYOB 4/23/2009 Stay tuned.....