Mixed Wines Offline

This was a bring a bottle event centered around a blind challenge of the 2007 Star Lane Vineyard Merlot vs. the 2005 Barnett Spring Mtn Merlot. 9 of us gathered to run the gauntlet and drink some good wine.

• NV Veuve Doussot Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 91 Points

  France, Champagne

  Pale straw color. Drank 1 glass over 30 minutes. Nose has pear, white florals, a little earth, almond, and really develops a perfumed quality in glass. The palate is clean, crisp with refreshing minerality. This was a solid from the start, but I really found it getting better the longer it sat in glass. 90+ to 91 pts.

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• 2002 Ridgecrest Pinot Noir Estate Reserve 91 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Ribbon Ridge

  Dark red with moderate bricking. PNP, drank 1 glass over an hour plus. This clearly shows it age, but it drinks pretty nice, at least for the first 30-60 minutes. Nose has dark fruits of black cherry and black raspberry, spices, underbrush, oak. The palate has a fairly silky texture, black cherry, raspberry, underbrush, medium grained tannins, medium body, medium finish. This looks to be stable in the short term, but it seemed to fall apart after an hour. 91+ pts. (perhaps 92pts for a brief period)

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• 2009 Chronicle Pinot Noir Cerise Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Very dark red color. PNP, aerated into glasses, drank 1 glass over an hour plus. This is a big and bold style pinot, black cherry, earth, lots of oak and spice. Young. This mellowed considerably over two hours. Give a little aging, this may become a little more balanced. 89(+)?pts.

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• 2005 Domaine Jean Garaudet Pommard Les Noizons 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard

  Very dark red color. PNP, aerated into glasses, drank 1 glass over 90 minutes. Pretty funky on the nose, cinnamon, spice, oak, dark fruits, tart, sour cherry. May improve mildly.

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• 2007 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Zenith Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

  Medium red color. PNP, drank 1 glass plus over an hour. Another interesting disconnect of opinions on this wine tonight. I thought it was quite pleasant, not the best bottle of this I've had by any stretch, but certainly very enjoyable. Very similar to the note on 1/27/12. I like the nose with that earthy, smoky quality, lightly floral, raspberry and strawberry, with some underbrush. The palate is on the lighter side of medium body, raspberry, cherry, spices, dusty tannins, a bit tart. Medium finish.

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• 2005 Barnett Vineyards Merlot Spring Mountain District 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Very dark red/purple color. Decanted for 3 hours. Drank 1 glass blind over 2 hours. The nose is gorgeous with blueberry, blackberry, cherry pie, black olive, earth. The palate is layered and deep with blueberry and blackberry cobbler flavors, elegance and class, lovely minerality, spice, integrated oak, chocolate, and a long finish. Outstanding. This was a landslide winner in a blind head to head challenge against a 2007 Star Lane Vineyard Merlot (which the winery rep had heavily hyped). The votes were 8-0 for wine 1 (Barnett ). The Barnett started off at 92+ points out of the gate but evolved dramatically in glass over the first hour (even with a 3 hour decant) to finish at 94pts and WOTN.

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• 2007 Star Lane Vineyard Merlot 88 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley

  Very dark red/purple. Decanted for 3 hours. Drank 1 glass blind over 2 hours and tried again at 24 and 48 hours. I liked the nose, but that's about as far as it goes. The nose had some nice black fruits, graphite, and spice. But the palate was very disjointed and didn't show any improvement on day 2 or 3. Loads of new oak, very spicy, lots of licorice, grippy tannins, and showing heat at the end. Couldn't hold a candle to the Barnett in a blind head to head challenge. No shock there. But I have enjoyed their Bordeaux blend in the past. I'm not that optimistic that this will settle down in time.

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• 1999 Clos de l'Oratoire 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Very dark red color. Decanted back and forth between bottles. Drank 1 glass over 2 hours. I liked the nose, a little on the barnyard side, but that evened out and was nicely funky after that, raspberry, red currant. I found the palate a bit on the astringent side, a little heat shows, funk, spices, dark raspberries, cherry. Medium finish. Good, but not great. I don't think this is going to get much better. Drink with some decanting.

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• 2007 Rivetto Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d'Alba 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Dark red color. Decanted 3 hours. Drank glass over 90 minutes. The nose is still tight, though it gradually offers up some promise with earth, leather, anise, cherry, and florals. The palate is tight too and bogged down in oak and tannins, sour cherry, anise, spice. I agree with Wineglas that this has potential with long term cellaring.

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• 2004 Robert Biale Petite Sirah Royal Punishers 87 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Purple color. Followed 1 glass over 90 minutes. This had a nose full of spices, blackberry, blackberry liqueur, oak. The palate is huge, dense and chewy, black fruits, firm tannins, oak, very spicy, hot. I had a hard time with this wine. Others found it much better, but I could not get past the sense of chewing on wood chips bathed in alcohol.

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The challenge turned out to be more of a slaughter than a fight. The Barnett was the hands down winner 9-0 in voting over the Star Lane, and it was the landslide winner of WOTN with 7 first place votes and 2 second place votes.