WS Group Mid-Winter Offline
Himmarshee's - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Tasted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 by vinole with 746 views
Introduction
Board-O joined us during his seasonal escape from the cold, while StarV100 and his lovely wife joined us for the first time and are a welcome addition to the group.
2009 Calera Chardonnay Mount Harlan 90 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Mount Harlan
Full body, low acidity, with prominent oak. Pear and pineapple fruit with some vanilla and butter notes on the rather heavy finish. Not a style I enjoy (old school big oaky, buttery CA chardonnay), but awarding 90 points as it is a good effort for its style as it maintains good balance of its components.
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2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 90 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Medium to full body, forward candied cherry fruit with a little heat on the finish. No earth or funk to speak of. Not my favored style of pinot, but scoring at 90 points as it is well made for the big, fruit driven style of pinot.
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1998 Château Monbousquet 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Somewhat restrained currant fruit (compared to what I was expecting) with a little cherry and raspberry, medium acidity, with a 35 sec finish. A hint of earth, some oak, though lacking the complexity of better Bordeaux at this age, but still a classy well balanced wine that I found very enjoyable. Drinking very well right now.
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1998 Château Péby Faugères 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Opulent and New World styled, with darker fruit than the Monbousquet. My initial taste found it acidic, but after some bread and pesto, it came across as a wonderful lush and well balanced wine of medium to full body and medium acidity that tied for my WOTN. We all toasted to LaTour67's health and continued recovery with this wine as Board-O noted it is one of his favorites. Good taste LaTour67.
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1996 Château Cos d'Estournel 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe
Decanted about an hour prior to tasting. Medium body and acidity, some graphite upfront, and reserved blackberry and currant fruit. A drying, slightly tannic, finish hurt my score a bit, and also held out potential that this wine is likely to improve with more age.
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1998 Château Léoville Barton 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Decanted about one hour before tasting. I found this still a bit closed with some drying tannins vying with the very dark fruit. My opinion is that this wine would benefit from more aging as I have found 98 Left Banks to be a "hard" vintage much like 95 that require more aging than other vintages. However, others liked this more than I and thought it was drinking nicely. I felt a 96 I drank last year was much more accessible than this right now.
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2005 Penfolds Shiraz St. Henri 91 Points
Australia, South Australia
More reserved than most Aussie shiraz (certainly a good thing in my book) with blackberry and currant fruit and low to medium acidity. A nicely balanced wine with a healthy dose of fruit, but in a classy way. Will benefit from futher age.
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2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel 93 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Opened, but not decanted, two hours prior to tasting. This wine was the surprise of the night for me. I expected it to be good, but not stand out among such a strong group of wines (Group WOTN) . Drinking better than when I had at the winery in 08. Some funk and earth on the nose, though less pronouced on the palate. Mostly red fruit of cherry and lighter currant, with some blackberry towards the finish. Would swear this was a French Rhone if drinking blind, as it has more in common with those wines than most of those from Paso Robles. Will certainly benefit from more age, but drinking very well now also.
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2007 Villa Creek La Boda 90 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Ripe plum and currant fruit, low acidity, with medium to full body. A fun, tasty fruit forward wine.
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2005 Carlisle Petite Sirah Dry Creek Valley
USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
A big, full bodied wine with some tarry notes, blackberry and dark raspberry fruit and low to medium acidity. A brooding wine needs a few more years age to soften in my opinion, though PS fans that enjoy this sort of intensity may disagree.
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