CT blind tasting group at David's

Tasted Thursday, March 26, 2015 by salil with 550 views

Introduction

All wines were poured blind in flights of 3, except for the Littorai (a late night extra cellar pull.)

Flight 1 - Starter (1 Note)

  • 2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope 84 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

    Nicely balanced, but completely uninteresting in terms of its flavours. It's rather one note with fresh citrus fruit and a faint chalky note beneath, but not a whole lot else going on. There's good acidity beneath, but it's one of those wines that's hard to keep coming back to after a couple of sips.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

Flight 2 - Flight 1: Younger Pinot Noirs (3 Notes)

  • 2011 Rhys Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard 80 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

    This has a rather dark fruited character, with lots of blackberry and black cherry notes, but also some roasted and cherry cola like elements that I found offputting. There's no apparent tannin here, and all the structure comes from the acidity, which seems a bit unintegrated with a slightly spritzy sensation on the back end. Not a fan.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2011 Rhys Pinot Noir Home Vineyard 86 Points

    USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County

    The most earthy and savoury aroma of the flight - I guessed this might be a bit older than the other two, and was quite surprised to see this was also an '11. There's a noticeable dried herbal (stemmy?) character here accenting the red and dark fruit, again rather high acidity with low tannin, but overall I liked the balance here much more than the Bearwallow.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2011 Kutch Pinot Noir McDougall Ranch 88 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    Liked this the best of the flight. It's not especially complex right now, but I love the sense of purity to the bright red berried fruit and cherry flavours, and there's a vibrancy and sense of refreshment on the palate that makes it very easy to drink.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

Flight 3 - Flight 2: Slightly older Pinots (3 Notes)

  • 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard 78 Points

    USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County

    Didn't like this at all. There's a core of sappy red fruit, but it's overwhelmed by a strange smoky and roasted, cola-like note on the nose, and feels a bit thin and astringent on the palate.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

  • 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard 88 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    My favourite of the flight, showing a lovely scent of bright red and dark berried fruit accented by fresh herbs, earth, and faint stemmy notes. The palate doesn't deliver what the nose promises though in terms of complexity - it's nicely balanced with better integrated acidity than the other Rhys wines, but feels a touch simple on the palate in contrast to the aromatics.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2006 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaumonts

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    Totally charmless, with some reticent dark fruited flavours showing and not much else. Shocked to see what this was after the reveal, but I did not like this at all. Went back to it later in the night, but it hadn't budged and still seemed closed.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 4 - Flight 3: Syrah (3 Notes)

  • 2007 Rhys Syrah Horseshoe Vineyard 86 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    Not much apparent Syrah character here, though it's a well made wine with plenty of dark fruit, faintly stemmy/herbal accents, and bright acidity underneath. It doesn't have any of the more interesting savoury notes I'd look for in Syrah though, and it's rather one-note.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2008 Rhys Syrah Skyline Vineyard 88 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    Liked but didn't love this - a nice scent of red fruits and green olives with faint stemmy accents, medium weight and graceful on the palate with bright acids and faint tannin, though not particularly complex.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2008 Wind Gap Wines Syrah Armagh Vineyard 90 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    Quite a contrast to the two Rhys Syrahs - poured blind, I thought this might be a Northern Rhone in a more modern style (Guigal?). There's a lot more structure immediately apparent here, with some grainy tannin giving this a bit more spine than the other two Syrahs, and a core of ripe dark fruited flavours framed by more savoury smoky, earthy, and bacon fat notes that get more prominent with air. Really liked the balance and depth here, though I can't imagine buying this at the current price.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 5 - Late night addition (non-blind) (1 Note)

  • 2012 Littorai Pinot Noir Cerise Vineyard 92 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

    My favorite wine of the night, with layers of really pretty, sappy red fruits, spice, and more savoury herbal and earthy notes all coming together. There's a seamlessness here that wasn't apparent in any of the other Pinots poured, bright acidity giving it a sense of freshness and lightness, but also some fine grained tannin on the back end.

    Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

×
×