2002 PRIDE dinner: Merlot, Cab Franc, Syrah, Cab Sauvignon, Merlot Vintner's, Pride Reserve Cab & others!

On occasion of my company's President's vist to Monterrey, I organized a wine tasting dinner in his honor. Since he likes Pride's wines I thought I'd do a horizontal tasting of the approachable 2002 vintage. Pinning down as many variables as possible in a tasting makes for a better learning opportunity. Since most of Pride's vineyards adjoin each other and thus share the same terroir for the most part, and given that the 2002 weather was the same for all, this was a great opportunity to discern the impact of the different varietals and the winery's selection process when setting the best grapes aside for the Reserve selections.

I invited 8 other people from our management team, only two of which were wine saavy.

All wines were served in Riedel vinum stemware. Only the regular cab, Reserve Cab, Merlot Vintner's select and the '89 Suduiraut were decanted before the dinner.

Served to accompany Pacific Ocean mussel and saffron bisque en croûte. This was a great pairing once the bisque cooled off a bit.

• 2002 Beringer Vineyards Chardonnay Sbragia Limited Release 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  This was my last bottle of this wine, and what a bottle it was! This is one of the best Chardonnays I've ever had, but then again I am not a Chradonnay drinker and have never had Kistler, Peter Michael, etc.
  
  This great white is on the fruity side of the flavor spectrum, with essence of pineapple and green apple,and very little oak and butter. The purity of fruit and laser like flavor and aroma precision makes this wine a great food companion. It worked wonders with the mussels bisque (after the latter cooled off a little!).

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Served with a Fois Gras trio: pan seared fois gras scallop; fresh terrine of fois gras; and fois gras crème brulée. This was also a great pairing. This wine clearly had the stuffing to stand up to the world's greatest food treat!

• 2001 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl 93 Points

  France, Alsace

  This wine showed much better than a bottle I opened a few weeks ago. The intense aromas of apricots and quince, combined with its unctuous texture and sweetness level were a perfect pair for the fois gras dishes. When deciding for a wine to pair up with this dish, I was a little concerned this wine wouldn't have the stuffing to stand up to the fois gras. Fortunately, this Indice 5, indeed has Vendage Tardive-like concentration.

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Served with braised pork bacon over bed of lentils in a chipotle pepper and orange reduction. This was probably the dish of the night for most diners. It wasn't a fatty type of bacon, but rather had a good chunk of fleshy, soft pork meat underneath. At first I worried about the chipotle component, but it was almost imperceptible.

• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot 93 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

  What a gorgeous Merlot this is!!! Surprisingly open for a Pride of this age, this wine was singing from the beginning, despite it not being decanted. Less of a Cabernet character when compared with Pride Merlots from different vintages. Open, flamboyant, dominated by blackberry and some red fruits. Coating the mid palate with tons of fruit and offering very ripe tannins that are barely perceptible. A winner.

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• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Franc 92 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

  This wine was also a beauty. Open and forthcoming, this confirms what a great early consuming vintage 2002 is in Napa. Crammed with blackberries and some vanilla, it shows its exotic character with a deep tobbacco leaf aroma and some mintiness. Medium bodied and long, this wine has a gorgeous nose, great texture and very good overall balance. This wine was not decanted prior to the event.

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Served with almond crusted rack of lamb with green apple and mint purée. As always, a great dish.

• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Syrah 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  I'd never tasted a Pride Syrah before tonight. I liked it. It wasn't as thick and alcoholic as I, for whatever reason, had feared it would be. Very dark in color with an interesting nose of crushed black pepper and black fruits. Full bodied and unctuous, this wine is outstanding and is reminiscent of some of the more restrained Aussie shirazes. This wine was not decanted prior to dinner.

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• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  This wine was the most closed of the night despite the fact it was decanted 2 hours prior to consumption. Even tighter and more closed than the Pride Reserve Cab. A muted nose showed only some black currant. The tannin was less intense than the Reserve's. I am puzzled by this wine. You can perceive it is not giving all it's got.

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Served with beef tenderloin over a cocoa and freshly roasted coffee sauce. This was probably my second favorite dish after the pork plate.

• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot Vintner Select Mountain Top Vineyard 95 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  Oh my!!! As good as the regular Merlot was, this is one notch up in every respect: concetration of flavor, palate impression and finish persistence. I will have to try the Reserve Claret to see how mind boggling that wine must be!!! Incredible varietal expression, complete mid palate coverage. Full bodied, ripe and unctuous, this is one of the best Merlots I have ever tasted. Only Pahlmeyer's Merlots from the mid 1990s seem close to this.

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• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 95 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  This was a great ending to the red wines. Not as flamboyant and extroverted as the Vintner's Select Merlot, but still surprisingly open for a cab of this stature. This is the essence of Napa Cabernet. Full bodied, crammed with black currants and blackberries, this is an intense, yet balanced wine. The tannins are very perceptible and have a dusty quality to them, but they are very ripe. Not as silky as a 1997 Reserve Cab I had a couple of months ago, but with more time, this may turn to be as good or better. Kudos to Jim Pride and Bob Foley.

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Served with an apricot tart with bee honey ice cream. What a great pairing this was! The Apricot in the tart and the apricoty aroma in this great Sauternes played off each other beautifully intensifying the fruit enjoyment.

• 1989 Château Suduiraut 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  This wine was decanted two hours before serving on a recommendation from a very Sauternes-saavy friend. It showed very well, picking up and enhancing the apricot tart flavors. Thicker than I expected and starting to turn to a darker shade, this was a good choice for ending the meal.

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We ended the night smoking beautifully preserved Cuban Partagas Seried D Número 4 robustos that were nutty and a bit spicy. I had a 1994 Taylor's vintage port waiting to go with the cigars, but we'd had too much wine already and it was well over midnight.

What a great dinner this was. The food was incredibly well prepared, the service was impeccable and the wines all showed very well. Not a single wine was corked and only the regular cab showed tight. These events are what make my hobby worthwhile.

My wines of the night were the two Pride reserves and the Beringer Sbragia Chardonnay, but all others were very closed behind as shown in the tighness in my score ranges.

As always when we have a nice dinner with wine and cigars, we ended the night with stained teeth and a breath that could kill a mockingbird, but also with a smile on our faces and a more optimistic view of life. Wine brings out the best in people when drunk in moderation and in the company of true friends.

PS As fate would have it, I was promoted to Managing Director for our company's Latin American Operations the following day!