Siggy Turns Forty!!!
Tasted Saturday, November 5, 2011 by Dave Dalluge with 666 views
Introduction
Steve Sigmond turned forty on Tuesday. He and his wife Jenny celebrated by hosting a dinner at Heidi's last night. Siggy worked with Stuart Woodman to plan the menu and then selected some great wines to celebrate with -- including a 5L bottle of 1971 Cheval Blanc. Attendees were a mix of Steve's friends, family and wine-group regulars (including Craig and Nita Vanderah, Brad and Diane England, Diane and Derek Rucker, and Dave McMahan). The atmosphere was high-energy and festive the entire night.
Flight 1 - The Wines (12 Notes)
Steve established a basic framework for the wines (Pol Roger, Fevre, Cheval Blanc and La Tour Blanche) and attendees added their contributions as they saw fit. We ended up with a spectacular collection of wines that all showed extremely well. I'll go with the '71 Cheval Blanc as WOTN, but there were many others in the running.
Closing
I first met Steve at a Montelena tasting in ~2005. He was there with his dad (also a wine lover) and I already knew much about him from his many bulletin board postings. After a number of tasting events we ended up organizing a two week trip to the Rhone and Burgundy in 2006 with a few other people; during this trip I got to know and appreciate Steve even more. I have many great memories from that trip, and Steve was a major force in making the trip memorable. We have been tasting together more or less regularly since then and my life has been greatly enriched by this friendship. Steve is one in a million and is first-class in everything he does. Here's to hoping we'll continue to taste together and enhance our friendship for many years into the future. Thanks for a great night Steve.
1998 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 93 Points
France, Champagne
Pretty ale yellow color. Excellent on the nose, with clean fruit and mineral with hints of dough/yeast. Mid-weight with great balance on the palate. Flavors are intense and expansive. Acidity appears by mid-palate and builds to produce an excellent finish. A complete wine, and an excellent way to kick off the celebration.
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2005 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Deep yellow color (but not premox/gold). Beautiful and expressive nose showing clean, fresh fruit with some mineral. Delivers lots of flavor on the palate and has an intriguing salinity. More dense and weighty than I would have expected, but with the structure to carry it off. Great length on the finish. Drinking pretty well now, but this really needs a good, long cellaring (if not for the risk of premix).
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2009 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Faint yellow/green color. The nose is very expressive giving beautiful aromas of grapefruit/citrus. More clean and crisp on the palate than the Fevre. Barely mid-weight but with tons of flavor and delightful acidity. Long, satisfying finish. This is drinking so well right now I'm not sure I'd bother cellaring. Great stuff.
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2007 Domaine Dujac Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
From mag. Popped and poured. Thin rusty-red color. Explosive nose, just bursting with aromas red fruit, baking spices and mineral. A wine to smell all night. On the palate this is tasty, but not quite as stunning. Surprisingly light; I'd say barely mid-weight with light red fruit and minimal structure. Flavors on attack are solid, but really fade fast from mid-palate to the finish. After repeated tasting I suspect my score might fall, but that nose is just so mesmerizing. This is definitely worth a look if the price is right.
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2008 Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru Teurons
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru
Dark rusty-red color. Reductive nose that eventually blew off to reveal a straightforward nose of mainly dark fruit. Stern and structured on the palate with nice weight and structure. Flavors of dark fruit are compact and the finish is relatively clipped. There seems to be a lot lurking here, but it just didn't materialize in the very short window of time (~10-15 minutes) that this was open on the table.
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2002 Louis Jadot Latricières-Chambertin
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru
I had a very small pour of this, so hopefully others will add their notes. I thought this was pretty impressive on the palate with pleasant flavors of red fruit and oak. Texturally this seemed light and soft but it had good balance and a nice long finish.
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2000 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 94 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Popped and poured. This was most impressive for a 2000 CdP. The nose is stunning, showing plenty of ripe, dark fruit with hints of herbs/garrigue and loads of mineral. Equally great on the palate, with tons of fruit but also tons of structure and perfect balance. Flavors expand and coat the palate from the attack through the long, satisfying finish. This is drinking really well right now, but I see no reason why this won't continue to improve for many, many years in the cellar.
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2006 Sine Qua Non Syrah Raven Series 94 Points
USA, California, Central Coast
My first taste of SQN and I only had a very small pour. Nonetheless, this but it lived up to any expectations I could have for SQN. Dark black color. Pleasant nose of mostly dark fruit. Really excellent on the palate with a silky texture that was stunning and tons of beautiful fruit flavors. Packed with fruit, but also well structured -- meaning perfect balance. Great long finish.
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1971 Château Cheval Blanc 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
The main event -- Siggy's birth year wine. Poured from a 5L! Steve called it a little funky when first opened, but by the time I got a taste it was rocking. Murky rusty-red color. The nose was a haunting blend of red fruit, smoke and spice complimented by endearing notes of fresh mint. Awesome. The taste was more red fruit mixed with iron/mineral and a bit of brown sugar. Barely mid-weight and overall a bit frail but flavors were surprisingly expansive and the finish is very nice. I had relatively low expectations, and this exceeded them by a long way. Siggy has a second bottle, and I can only hope to be there when it gets opened (for the 50th?). A truly special wine.
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2003 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
I only had a quick taste and then gave my pour away (as I was still preoccupied with the Cheval Blanc). This had a soaring nose of ripe citrus fruits. Equally great on the palate with tons of flavor and surprisingly good acidity. Long finish. Excellent stuff.
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1970 Dow Porto Vintage 94 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
I only had a quick taste of this too and then gave my pour away (as I was still preoccupied with the Cheval Blanc). Very light rusty-red color. Ethereal nose. Desiree thought it smelled like cognac; I thought it had more red fruit aromas. Either way it was stunning. Equally good on the palate. Surprisingly light, but still highly impactful. Great long finish. One of the better ports I can ever remember tasting.
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2002 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut
France, Champagne
Took a small pour at the very end of the tasting. This was popped and poured after all the other wines and proved to be an excellent finish to an excellent night of wines. Dense yellow gold in color (darker than I would have expected). Big expressive nose. This is large scaled in every way on the palate with tons of flavor, great balance and a long, satisfying finish. Hopefully others can add their notes (especially Craig who loved it!) as mine are pretty weak.
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