Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Champagne, and some blinds

Chicago, IL
Tasted Sunday, March 22, 2015 by acyso with 461 views

Introduction

A few of us gathered at Phil's (thanks for hosting!) for a fun-filled night of decent champagnes, great fried chicken, and some blinded wines.

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Flight 1 - Honey Butter Fried Chicken (7 Notes)

But before that, some Beausoleil and smoked salmon to work our way in.

Flight 2 - Blinds after 7 Champagnes (9 Notes)

  • 2006 Blue Grove Hill Sauvignon Blanc 83 Points

    South Africa, Coastal Region, Tygerberg, Philadelphia

    Served blind. Advanced golden colour. Slightly oxidized. Smoky, funky, with some beeswax and stone fruit. The fruit on it is a bit stewed. Very funky and weird, and based on my very insufficient previous knowledge, I guessed savagnin.

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  • 2009 Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru Marconnets 85 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru

    Served blind. Red fruited and some black spice on the nose. Moderate acidity, light tannins, and a somewhat short, clipped finish. There's a nice bit of fruitiness to it, as well as some advanced brown spice that I've associated with 2004 red Burgundies (though not the green). For whatever reason, I was thinking touriga (this had a certain ripe port-like quality to it, albeit missing the 18%+ abv). It wasn't jammy nor overoaked, so I figured old world.

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  • 2012 Château de la Bonneliere Chinon Les Cornuelles Vieille Vigne 85 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

    Served blind. Based on the purplish colour, I thought that I wouldn't like this. Well, that teaches you to judge a wine by its colour. The nose had a juicy young-wine smell, with maybe a hint of carbonic, so I figured it was something made in the last 1-2 years (i.e. current release or one before). Despite that high-toned fruit, the palate is very austere: new world fruit, old world restraint. There were some guesses that this was northern Rhone based on the pepper on the nose, but I felt that it was missing more oomph for that.

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  • 2005 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Reserva Finca Ygay 85 Points

    Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

    Served blind. A slight whiff of funk, followed by American oak and menthol cigarettes. There's a very nice floral touch to it. Red fruited, and medium bodied, with some pretty light tannins -- this has definitely got at least five years on it. Vanilla on the palate, and despite all the overt oak, this is not harsh or offensive in anyway. I guessed Rioja, though got the age wrong.

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  • 2003 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir 85 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Served blind. Spinach, arugula, some green vegetable on the nose. Weird, huh. Maybe it's that tobacco thing that people keep talking about. Spicy, with moderate acidity. Quite earthy, and a bit of sur-maturite in the vein of 1997 red Burgundy: think stewed more than jammy. Really weird stuff. Couldn't make heads or tails of it.

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  • 2009 Pagos de Tahola Rioja Flawed

    Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

    Served blind. I correctly identified this as corked.

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  • 2012 William Fèvre Chablis Champs Royaux 90 Points

    France, Burgundy, Chablis

    Served blind. Sulphur for days. Super reductive. I thought it was in the vein of 2004 Leflaive, though others were not so keen on that call. Clearly identifiable as chardonnay. Good racy acidity and mineral led me to chablis. The fat fruit on the palate made me think 2009, as this wasn't old or poxed enough to be 2005 or 2002, and had more acidity than I'd expect for 2003.

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  • 2013 Domaine Vincent Paris St. Joseph Les Cotes 83 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

    Served blind. It tends to be a bad sign when a wine is magenta in colour. Notes of black pepper and lots of young overexcited black fruit. Trouble brewing? The palate was nowhere as bad as what the nose led me to believe. I did think that it could be syrah, but if it was northern Rhone, it definitely was a low-end cuvee. The thin palate, showing some moderate fruit, but mostly acid before turning into water made it clear it was old world. A weird mix of juicy fruit and austerity -- the balance just doesn't work here.

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  • 2001 Ridge Zinfandel Essence 93 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    Served blind from half bottle. Sweet balsamic vinegar on the nose, as well as some juicy black fruit. The palate had dates and figs, and was obviously quite ripe, though the tannins seemed to have decided to hang out by encrusting the bottle rather than stay in the wine itself. Moderately sweet, this brought to mind a thinner version of the red SQN straw wines, but really, I couldn't pick out any more than that. 80% zinfandel, 20% petite syrah.

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