Chinese New Year
Home of Mike and Sandra O.
Tasted Saturday, February 4, 2012 by Nutty08 with 808 views
Introduction
New Years event with plenty of desert and some fantastic Chinese food. Wine's opened through the night, not decanted. I didn't take any detailed notes, just some random scribbles while enjoying the wines, food, and company.
Flight 1 (13 Notes)
Closing
A crazy night of high end Bordeaux. The '00 vintgage is clearly very strong, but the classified growths are probably a decade away from their drinking window.
2009 Château de Pez 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe
Decanted 4 hours. Nose of saline/stone, roasted toasted oak, and dark currants and berries with the oak notes integrating after 2-3hrs of air. Lush and surprisingly approachable palate. Ripe, plush currants, spice, and stone. Finishes toasty, with a little bitterness from the oak, but a distinct saline quality and deep ripe currants. Smooth, lush, but very fresh and structured. Still classically bdx, but the most approachable young bdx I've ever and while the fruit was ripe, had a great energy and freshness without any heaviness--something I don't find in napa. Impressive complete wine though I don;t think I could place this in St Estephe blind.
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2006 Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Kathryn Hall Napa Valley 89 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Very nice nose with ripe sweet currants and casis, cedar with an exotic spice note. Palate showing ripe dark fruits with cassis highlights, prominent tannins. Finishes with prominent creamy vanilla and pipe tobacco that really overpowers the fruit. I'm not sure this will ever integrate it's oak. Disappointing at this price point.
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2006 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Flax Vineyard 92 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Served double blind to me. Guessed Anderson valley pinot ’07. Close I guess. Some cola on the nose, lots of black cherry and a touch of blue fruit(why I was thinking cooler climate). Palate was smooth, round, with a touch of sweetness to the fruit that Cali pinot’s tend to get. Length finish with some cherry pit and lovely earth component. One of the better RRV’s I’ve had in a while. 91-92
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1988 Château Calon-Ségur 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe
Very St Estephe with strong bell pepper cedar nose. Palate was very austere and dry, but with polished tannins and a refreshing acidity. While most of the fruit had faded, but had a delightful steely mineral tone with plenty of leather, bell pepper, and other tertiary notes and showing good complexity. Moderate finish, slightly green, but lengthy and showing the dry tannins. If you’re a fan of St Estephe, you’ll like this. The austerity makes me think this will last forever, but I wouldn’t expect it to “improve”. This was drained quickly.
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2000 Château Duhart-Milon 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Not decanted, followed over several hours. No formal notes. Lovely nose of leather and tobacco leaf with some cassis. Palate was maybe the most open of the ‘00’s, with more leather and leafy tobacco, herbal notes, and long with dried red fruits. Fine slightly coarse tannins and a lengthy earthy finish with some earth. Very enjoyable and maybe the only ’00 here that is actually coming into it’s drinking window.
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1998 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L'Orée 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Not decanted, but had been open a couple hours. No formal notes. Lovely nose that was quite floral and subtle, with a touch of apricot and pear—am I smelling rocks?-- and honey. Palate, smooth, really coats the mouth with a fantastic slightly waxy mouth feel. Fantastic depth with ripe yellow fruits and bursting with mineral character. Finish a little short than I expected, but showing more of that fantastic mineral quality. Wish I had spent more time with this. Seemed to be fading quickly with air.
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2000 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Not decanted, followed over several hours. No formal notes. This was my WOTN. After a couple hours the nose opened up, very polished, with currants, spice, flint and mint. Palate with very fine polished tannins that were quite prominent, but plenty of cassis and red berries. Finished strong, with cedar spice and earth. Seamless, polished, coming across as more noble than the Mouton. Glad I have a couple bottles of this—don’t open for at least 5yrs.
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2008 Aubert Pinot Noir UV Vineyard 92 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Not decanted. No formal notes. Really big nose with ripe dark fruit profile of black cherry and currants with plenty of cola and violets. Palate was smooth, very fine tannins, good acidity and just a hint of heat. Lots of oak usage, but absorbed well and balanced, finishing with a strong mineral note along with the dark fruit and cedar. Very good in the style of big ripe cali pinots. I liked it better this time than the first. Heat wasn't too distracting.
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2005 Château Fontenil 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Fronsac
Not decanted. No formal notes. This was rather lost in the group of big name '00 bdx. But showed well, with plenty of ripe red fruits and very prominent fine tannins. More structured and less overly ripe than my last bottle. I think I'll hold my other for a while as I originality thinking this was an earlier drinker. Not sure now.
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2000 Château Smith Haut Lafitte 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Not decanted, followed over several hours. No formal notes. Fantastic wine. Nose was quite dark, with tar, gravel, roasted fruits and smoke—very intriguing. Palate added some black currants with a little cassis mixed in, gravel and leather. Prominent slightly coarse tannins compared to the other ‘00’s. Lengthy tar, mocha, and gravel finish with some dark berries. I found this quite complex and balanced, and drinking reasonably well though a few more years with benefit this.
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2000 Château Cos d'Estournel 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe
Not decanted, followed over several hours. No formal notes. I was a little underwhelmed compared to the other ‘00’s. Nose with a touch of bell pepper, vanilla cream, cassis and dried red berries. Palate was very polished with fine regal tannins, but overall quite closed. Some red fruits were mixed in. Moderate finish showing a little vanilla to the oak and nice earthy character. Balanced and refined, showing some St Estephe typicity and quite structured with very good quality tannins. Hold for at least 5yrs though.
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2000 Château Mouton Rothschild 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Not decanted, followed over several hours. No formal notes. Initially quite closed and saturated with roasted toasty oak notes. Eventually a very nice wine emerged, with a slightly nutty nose mixed in the black currants and leafy herbal notes. Palate was quite concentrated, very polished and balanced, and a leafy tobacco character that I’ve only ever picked up from Mouth and Ch. Margaux. Lengthy finish. Not really showing any Pauillac typicity to me and will need a lot more time to integrate all the oak. The Ducru and SHL were drinking better on this night, but this is certainly a well made wine, still quite closed, but has all the components to be great in 10yrs. HOLD 92-93
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1997 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru 94 Points
France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru
No formal notes. A great sweet white with pear and apricot and almond. Lovely acidity and really hanging on the palate for a long time. Greatly enjoyed.
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