Westchester Wine School - Premium Wine Tasting

Bar Lees, Mamaroneck, NY
Tasted Thursday, June 5, 2014 by cephomer with 889 views

Introduction

The final tasting of the WWS season is always a special one. Only 13 tasters, led by none other than Uncle Ned Towle, and some serious wines were enjoyed. No particular theme; Just really good juice

Flight 1 (1 Note)

  • 2004 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année Rosé 91 Points

    France, Champagne

    Drank at WWS tasting. Light copperish color; almost didn't look like a typical rose. Feint nose of flowers, berries & toasted bread that became more pronounced over time. (The bottle was a bit too cold). As it warmed, the complexity of this wine really showed through: toast, brioche, red fruits, yeast, cream. Crisp acidity and pleasant freshness. I detected what I felt was caramel at the back end. Some thought the wine was somewhat oxidized, but I think that's the deliberate style of this wine. This is a bold and powerful champagne with wonderful length & structure. It's not my favored style of bubbly but I still very much appreciated it for its obvious level of quality. A nice way to start a great tasting.

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Flight 2 (1 Note)

  • 2007 Kongsgaard Chardonnay 91 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Blanco supplied for WWS tasting. I know this wine and vintage well, having just had it this week. My notes are consistent with previous tastings, though the wine appears to be mellowing with bottle age. Rich golden color, generous nose of butterscotch, tropical fruits and new oak. Sweet fruit, oaky, somewhat buttery (but this is lessening each time I drink this wine), lots of spice and power. Some love this bold style; not my favorite, and this is my least favorite vintage of this wine. Got to admit, it's getting better all the time...

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 2004 Château Valandraud 3 de Valandraud 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

    Drank at WWS tasting alongside 2000 Canon La Gaffeliere & Certan De May. Decanted for an hour, it was a deep ruby color. Medium to full-bodied, very tannic, lots of fruit but fairly muted at first by the very prevalent spice and tar notes. As the wine opened up, it showed a very powerful, robust, somewhat earthy character. The tannins are very heavy at this point so I found it difficult to thoroughly enjoy this wine, but it's certainly a quality concoction. This was especially so when drinking next to the 2000 Gaffeliere which was stunning, and easily the best wine of the tasting hands down.

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  • 2000 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

    I supplied, and drank at WWS tasting. Drank alongside 2004 Valandraud & 2000 Certan De May. The wine was decanted for a solid 90 minutes before drinking. Dark ruby color, generous nose laden with coffee & earth. Medium bodied, silky smooth tannins, nice freshness and great length. Classic example of a well-aged bordeaux in its prime drinking stage with tons of cigar box, smoke, spice, & earth, yet still showing excellent fruit and acidity levels--all in perfect symmetry at the moment. Wonderful complexity & structure, and just a pleasure to enjoy--especially with many who appreciated this wine for what it was. Easily voted the WOTN by a landslide. I'm loving that I still have several bottles left in the cellar.

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  • 2000 Château Certan de May 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Drank at WWS tasting alongside 2004 Valandraud and 2000 Canon Le Gaffeliere. Decanted for an hour in advance. Fairly light in color. Fairly generous nose of dark fruits & a bit of coffee (next to the 2000 which reeked of coffee, it was hard to tell). Fruit has faded somewhat, leaving mostly tertiary elements and some spice. I've had this wine a few times over the past year and, as I commented last time I drank it it's a bit thin and lacking in complexity. Again a disappointment, especially knowing that this wine has likely seen its best days with little to look forward to. It was especially difficult to like this wine coming on the heels of the 2000 Canon Gaffeliere which was fantastic.

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Flight 4 (2 Notes)

  • 2010 Château Pape Clément 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Drank at WWS tasting vs. 1988 Domaine de Chevalier. Deep ruby color showing this was obviously the younger wine of the two. Fat and rich, bold and powerful, very new world in style--a definite favorite of RP. Lots of dark fruits, toasted oak, some tar and some earth. Soft tannins and good length. This wine is showing ok, though still a baby, but I'd lay it down for several years before opening again.

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  • 1988 Domaine de Chevalier 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Drank at WWS tasting vs. 2010 Pape Clement--two very different wines right now. Did not decant due to concerns re its age. Pale red in color, pleasant nose of earth, spice and coffee grinds. Decent fruit level still present, notes of forest floor along with mostly resolved tannins. Soft and elegant, with nice length. This wine is likely slightly past its prime, having lost some of its power and freshness, but I still found it very enjoyable and a nice example of a well preserved older Bordeaux. My #2 WOTN.

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Flight 5 (1 Note)

  • 2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul 89 Points

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

    Tasted at final WWS wine tasting of the season. Nose of very sweet cherries. Lots of fruit here, some spice, big and round wine. This wine is very clearly a product of the very hot 2003 vintage. New world style, low acidity, high alcohol, etc. Basically, a fruit bomb. This is a great producer who had to deal with the weather as best he could. I've never had one of these CdPs in this style. Not my cup of tea, to say the least.

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Flight 6 (1 Note)

Flight 7 (2 Notes)

  • 2006 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano 92 Points

    Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

    Drank at WWS tasting event. Dark, almost inky in color, nose of sweet red fruits. Fuller bodied than I expected of this wine, it was very tight and extremely tannic. Notes of dark fruits, earth, some spice, tobacco and tar. A very big Brunello, apparently emblematic of this vintage, and to me somewhat atypical in that I always find these wines to be not-so-bold, more of cherries & red berries, with less grippy tannins. Still, an enjoyable wine that needs lots of time before it settles into its sweet spot. This was voted the #2 WOTN after the Canon Gaffeliere, although it was my third favorite

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  • 1995 Château Mouton Rothschild 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Drank blind at WWS tasting. Medium garnet in color, some bricking so knew it was an older wine on site. Nose of soft dark berries--plums, and feint cedar. Medium bodied, tannins soft and mostly resolved, some muted dark fruit here, a bit of cigar box and tar. I liked this wine, especially as it opened after pouring, though I felt the fruit had faded somewhat leaving a bit of a void in the mid palate. I didn't notice any appreciable change on this aspect of the wine even as it sat in glass for awhile. A pretty, elegant, fairly complex wine but just not of first growth quality, (or at least what 1st growths strive to be). This was voted the #3 WOTN by the crowd, although not by me.

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Flight 8 (2 Notes)

  • 2005 Blank Cabernet Sauvignon 90 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

    Drank at WWS tasting. Dark inky color, medium to full bodied. Bold, rich & concentrated fruit-blackberries and black cherries. Feint notes of leather, some spice. Fairly highly extracted, grippy tannins, new world style. Not my cup of tea but a pleasant enough example of a typical Calif cab.

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  • 2000 Penfolds Grange 92 Points

    Australia, South Australia

    Drank at WWS tasting, and my first experience with this wine. Very dense purplish color. Rich jammy black and red fruits, some spice, some green pepper all in bold powerful package. Lots of complexity with excellent length, a bit on the hot side though not disturbingly so. This wine is definitely on the decadent side of the spectrum and clearly a well-made wine. Not sure it's worth the steep price however. Interesting that this wine didn't come close to finishing within the top 3 wines of the nite.

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