Highly Rated Rhones and a Few More

Shari's house, Mpls, MN
Tasted Saturday, February 1, 2014 by rocknroller with 401 views

Introduction

This was the last event at Shari's before she moves downtown. Twelve of us gathered to drink some highly rated Rhones plus a few others.

Flight 1 - Starter (1 Note)

  • 2006 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese * 92 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Medium gold color. Drank 1 glass over 30+ minutes. Nose has mild fusil, zesty, citrus, apple, minerals and florals. The palate is quite sweet, orange, orange peel, ripe peach, pineapple, mineral, mild fusil, and finishes long. This steered to the far right side of the Auslese spectrum than what one would expect from a Spatlese. That being said, it was very enjoyable for what it was.

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Flight 2 - Whites (2 Notes)

  • 2006 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier d'Or 93 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Light gold color. 80% Chard/20% PN. Drank 1 glass over 30 minutes. This had a lovely expressive nose with great purity, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, citrus, yeast, minerals, and small amounts of spice, and mango. The palate reveals a very fine bead, green apples, slightly tart, very delicate and elegant, fine minerality, melon, mineral, medium plus finish. Very pretty.

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  • 2003 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc 92 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Medium dark gold color. Decanted for 30 minutes. Followed one glass over 2.5 hours. The nose is lovely, a mix of oily, nutty goodness, almonds, wax, butterscotch, butter, white flowers, crème brule, and vanilla. The palate is rich and becomes more dense and textured with air, viscous, oily, petrol, waxy, nutty, filberts, spice, mineral spirits, full bodied, slightly oxidative. Very complex and very intriguing wine. 92+ to 93 pts.

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Flight 3 - Reds (6 Notes)

  • 2000 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Caillou Les Quartz 95 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Very dark red color with a purple hue. 2.5hr decant. Drank 1 glass over 2+ hours. Fantastic deep aromatic nose with abundant earthiness, funky - not over the top, mushrooms, leather, floral, spices, black fruits of cassis, and cherry round this out. The palate is quite elegant, supple texture, medium-full body, cherry, kirsch, blueberry, pepper and Asian spices, well integrated tannins and a very long 40+ second finish. This was a beauty and the clear WOTN.

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  • 2000 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire 90 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Very dark red color. Decanted for 2.5 hrs. Followed 1 glass for 2 hours. The nose shows spices, pepper, dried forest floor, black cherry, red currant, plum, wood, slight heat and later some bacon fat. The palate can't embody the nose; showing more wood character, not obnoxious, but prominent, heat, more tart, red fruits, sour cherry and red currants. Disappointing showing. 89 to 90pts.

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  • 2000 Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape 92 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Medium-dark red color and a bit cloudy. This had been slow-O'd for 3 hours. Drank 1 glass over an hour. This bottle was thrown into the tasting as a teaser since several of us had just had it a week ago. Though it was quite good, it was not nearly as good as the previous bottle. In fact, this closely resembled a bottle I had back on 5/10/13 which had me thinking it may be best to drink up. Nose offers up some perfume with leather, light florals, tobacco, cedarbox, cherry and berry, earth, and later some pretty subtle garrigue. The palate is earthy, funk, leather, lavender, medium body, a bit thin, medium plus finish. Very Burgundian. 92+pts.

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  • 2004 Mas Doix Priorat Costers de Vinyes Velles 94 Points

    Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

    Very dark purple-red color. Decanted for 3.5hrs. Drank 1 glass over 1.5hrs. Deep nose of black fruits, anise, eucalyptus, blackberry, black raspberry, scorched earth, oak. The palate is dense and chewy, blackberry, black raspberry, glycerin, licorice, scorched earth, tar, full bodied but not heavy. Shows a little heat on the palate that largely blows off. Impressive depth.

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  • 2004 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Flawed

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    corked. sadly.

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  • 2002 Two Hands Shiraz Ares 95 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    Very dark purple color with a garnet tinge. Decanted for 4 hours. Drank 1 glass over 1+ hr. Nose shows eucalyptus, menthol, dense, blackberry, coffee, meat, tar. The palate is very concentrated, rich layers of black fruits of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, graphite, intense, very balanced and very long. Nice round tannins. This was very impressive. My and group #2 WOTN.

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Flight 4 - Dessert (1 Note)

  • 2005 Emrich-Schönleber Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Auslese 91 Points

    Germany, Nahe

    Light gold color. PNP. Drank 1 glass over 30 minutes. Nose shows fusil, pineapple, pear, and apricot, light minerality. The palate is nice, lighter-medium body, pear, pineapple, subtle apricot, fusil, minerals, sweet - but balanced well. This takes on some weight in the glass. Not even close to as sweet as the Spatlese starter wine. 91(+)pts.

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Closing

WOTN voting:

#1 WOTN: 2000 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Caillou Les Quartz - 28pts (3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+2+2=28pts)
#2 WOTN: 2002 Two Hands Shiraz Ares - 15pts (3+3+3+2+2+2=15pts)
#3 WOTN: 2006 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier d'Or 1er Cru - 11pts (2+2+2+2+1+1+1=11pts)
#4 WOTN: 2004 Mas Doix Priorat Costers de Vinyes Velles - 10pts (2+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=10pts)

Thanks for hosting Shari and we look forward to the first event at your new place!

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