Weeknight Wine Tasting

Bistro 7, Philadelphia PA
Tasted Wednesday, August 31, 2011 by ews3 with 666 views

Introduction

A weeknight wine tasting arranged with Bistro 7, a wonderful BYOB in Old City Philadelphia. Gathered some friends and popped some corks. We went all American (dessert wine exemption) and loosely grouped the wines.

Flight 1 - Whites (3 Notes)

  • 2008 Auteur Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard 86 Points

    USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

    nose smelled a little fishy to me, but i dont think the bottle was off -- just some odd aromatics. green streaks run through this -- it was offputting at times. lots of underripe orchard fruit -- little oaking obvious on this. finish is a bit sour.

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  • 2007 Ridge Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains 92 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    syrup oak dominates the profile, but there is also some lush ripe red apple and nice clove notes. although prominent, the oak is well integrated and does not ruin the wine -- those who talk down the CA Chard style could give this a try to understand what an oaked Chardonnay can be even at a reasonably budget-friendly price point. med (+) finish.

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  • 2004 Kongsgaard Roussanne/Viognier 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    honeysuckle dominated the palate for me, with nice floral notes and the waxiness i love on white rhones. heat creeps in on the finish and detracts from an otherwise pleasant wine.

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Flight 2 - Pinots (3 Notes)

  • 2005 Chehalem Pinot Noir Reserve 87 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    nice red sour fruit profile. a little underripe with a slight green streak. watery on the mid-palate, this has decent acidity and would go well with food. medium(-) sour finish.

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  • 2007 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Occidental Ridge Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    nice berry fruit profile with blackberry and raspberry. some soft pepper and sarsparilla notes late on the midpalate. medium(+) finish is quite pleasant. a pleasure to drink this.

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  • 2007 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    this wine surprised me, as i had an 07 alesia falstaff the night before and loved it -- i had even higher expectations for this. there were some serious green streaks in it at present (had ~ 2 hours of air before we got to it). i am hoping that it is just too young and this is actually a sign of more advanced structure than i typically see. it was primarily on the attack and then rounded into a lovely dark fruit driven mid-palate which led into a delicious finish. sharp acid here shows potential for aging. i will wait a while to open my second bottle and check in on CT notes to make sure it will be integrated.

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Flight 3 - Syrahs (3 Notes)

  • 2005 Pax Syrah Griffin's Lair Flawed

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    moderately corked. could have been drinkable, and i went back a bit later to check again, but definitely corked.

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  • 2007 Saxum Broken Stones 96 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    decanted 4-5 hours. delicious, and insult added to injury when i got the e-mail the next day saying 'no wine for you'. beautiful dark fruit profile, with blackberry, boysenberry, and dark spice notes of clove and black pepper. this is a powerful wine, and yet avoids becoming a pure pleasure bomb, showing a modicum of restraint amidst all the fruit. long finish continues to show primary fruit. will continue to purchase on the secondary market where i can until i make it.

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  • 2006 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Edna Valley

    where the saxum showed restraint, this did not. loads of ripe fruit that has been overly extracted -- this was almost, but not quite, pushing into mollydooker territory for me in terms of the extraction and concentration of fruit -- in the good way, but also in the bad way of noticeable heat and cloying on the palate. (i may have been prejudiced by calling this a 'slutty' wine all night based on my past taste of it). long fruit driven finish.

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Flight 4 - Dessert (2 Notes)

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