Dinner at Jace's

A few appetizers on the porch (Thai Shrip/Cucumber, Cheese plate, Prosciutti and Goat Cheese Fritatas):

• 2007 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 91 Points

  France, Provence, Bandol

  A 2007 Rose that tastes young. Nice floral lift from the mourverdre. The wine has verve and a succulent and juicy palate. I think it needs time to gain a bit more lift and I think it will bulk up in size as well. Very nice pallate opener

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• 2008 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Very flush, opulent and creamy. Heavy buttery elements with a fat and unctuous pallate. Cloudy upon swirling. The wine has weight and substance but needs more lift and backbone; lacks the acidity to make it worth more reflection. Well crafted and imminently pleasureable. Should hold nicely for 3-5 years. Potential upside.

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• 2007 Maybach Family Vineyards Chardonnay Eterium 95 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  The class of the whites. Was popped and poured. Immediately a viscous attack of butter, butterscotch, unctuous american oak. Very deep and rounded, the wine began to transform minutes upon swirling. Intense lemon zest with a stringent acidic backbone came to the forefront. The wine was perfectly balanced and immaculately crafted, but clearly required far more time to settle. A glass was revisited at the end of the evening (4-5 hours later) and there was significant aromatic complexity that developed, with a more competent and restrained sense of poise. The wine is clearly a precocious youth that is trying very hard to show what it has. Give it time to develop. Wonderful.

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We moved over with the cheeses (La Tur, Roquefort, Camambert) to an introductory flight of reds prior to sitting at the dinner table.

• 2005 Mollydooker Shiraz Carnival of Love

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Served blind. Darryl had menacingly placed the wine in a false bottle and told us it was popped and poured into the empty bottle 45 mins prior to this service. Immediately upon pouring, my mind was brought over to Australian Shiraz due to the aromas of blueberry preserves, cobbler and southern style pie. It has mocha and milk chocolate notes and some smokiness to it, but upon the palate, the blue fruit is overwhelming in its voluptuous presence and I started waffling over to CA Syrah. Note to self, go with gut instincts!
  
  The problem I imminently had with the wine was that it was just too polished. I likened it to a Michelangelo understudy taking his master's unfinished sculpture, which was raw with potential, vision and artistic naissance, and sanding and smoothing it into a perfectly pleasant simulacrum of David to submit to the teacher (Prof Bob?). While it is pleasing and pretty close to representing the masterwork, it is internationalized, lacking seminal creation or heritage; simply a touch insipid, albeit imminently refined. The tannins on this wine were polished away and almost recessed. There is something troubling about this approach to winemaking, in my opinion. While it is superbly crafted, it will never be art. There is a fundamental difference between the two.

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• 2004 Château Montus Madiran 89 Points

  France, Southwest France, Madiran

  Decanted at 2pm and served throughout the evening at 8 and then 10pm, the wine is still painfully tannic on the finish, with a nice floral lift of cherries and tapenade, but less depth on the palate as the finish of the tannat grapes are not fully integrated. I think it has very nice upside but won't see its potential for another 7-10 years. Bury and revisit in 2020.

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• 2006 Bodega Numanthia Toro Numanthia 88 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  Lacking presence or vitality in the palate, the wine felt deperssed and unwilling to come out of its room. It has a certain stylistic approach to its craft; heavy handed blueberry and ripe, opulent fruit, but it seems to be missing the mark to my palate (as an AFWE wine should, bien sur!).

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We moved over to the dining table where we had strip steaks along with broccoli and potato gratin.

• 2007 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Imminently pleasureable and this wine will really strike a chord with many pleasure seekers. Such an opulent nose of clove, cardamom and cinamon spice. Very rounded with no edges and balanced, but again, the wine lacks typicity, variance, charisma and identity. One topic of the discussion was vertical tastings and their importance. We were in agreement that seminal vineyards show authenticity in vertical tastings; by that I mean that the wine is authentic to its terroir as well as authentic to the vintage. This 07 Caymus is neither, an international vagabond of no origin or heritage. I could see how many could go crazy over it though. Very hedonistic but don't expect it to ever be in my cellar.

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• 2006 Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Materium 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  Very infantile, the wine hadn't seen significant air and it showed. While it had a plush and expansive classic Cali nose, the palate was a touch muted and it only began to coax some complexity out with extensive swirling. The wine still has stellar depth on the palate. I hope it retains (or fills into) a sense of acuity when it reaches maturity. I would wait several years to derive more from the wine, but it was still eminently pleasurable.

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• 2002 Ridge Monte Bello 93 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  A wine that exhibits typicity; the type of wine that also demands bottle age. It was in a puberty phase, beyond its infantile exuberance but before it began to flesh out the density of its maturity. Still, it shows a beautiful pitch of blackberry and mullbery with very little sense of meddling, extraction and intervention that various wines that preceded it gravitated towards. A noble wine that makes a compeling case to be bought every vintage for one's cellar. Revisit in 5-7 years for a great showing.

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• 2001 Tardieu-Laurent Gigondas 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas

  I brought this one as I knew we needed something old school otherwise I might have truly been in bizaro wine land. Popped and laid open for about 2-3 hours. The Gigondas opens with an expansive and terroir driven nose of Southern Rhone spice, grange and garrigue. The grange added more depth and merdeness, but the pitch was perfectly lovely, almost enchanting. The wine didn't exhibit the depth of palate and the permanance of finish of many of the wines of the night, but I think it was comfortable with its slightly less brawny stature (think red versus black). It was a wine to be enjoyed with at a comfortable dinner, rather than to be discussed ad nauseum on a bulletin board or at a geeks convention. My idea of an exceptional table wine I suppose.

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