Hospice du Rhone 2007 "It's Only Natural" Seminar
Paso Robles, California
Tasted Friday, May 4, 2007 by tskrueger with 563 views
Introduction
Second seminar of the day, featuring Andy Smith of DuMol and Stephan Asseo of L'Aventure. This was moderated by John Alban. It was a pleasure to see the L'Aventure wines being featured as these are some of my favorite wines coming out of Paso. While I had heard of DuMol, I was not familiar with their wines...That said, they did not disappoint.
Flight 1 (9 Notes)
Closing
One other wine that Stephan poured was a barrel sample of his 2006 Mourvedre. It was spectacular, showing pretty florals, sweet vanilla and roasted meat. As I often get with mourvedre, there was a cool minty/eucalyptus note floating above the fruit. An amazing wine, regretably this will never be bottled as the remainder had already been bottled into the Cote-a-Cote (I think?).
2006 L'Aventure Roussanne Estate
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Waxy meyer lemon. So much more character than the 05 Paso Robles bottling that I had recently. Nice acidity and minerality balance out the waxy, lanolin character. Excellent wine.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2005 DuMOL Viognier Lia
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Pretty honeysuckle and melon. Flashy and bright viognier, that is balance out nicely by the acidity and minerality. Very nice.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2004 DuMOL Syrah Russian River Valley
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Inky purple color. Interesting notes of eucalyptus, sweet purple fruit and vanilla. From the nose, was expecting an over the top fruit bomb, but the palate, in addition to bright fruit and prety violet tones, carried a nice peppery, meaty quality.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2004 DuMOL Syrah Jack Robert's Run
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Coffee/mocha cahracter. Some meatiness accompanied the lush fruit and chocolate. Tannins are huge on this, but integrated with time in the glass...Needed a steak. "A velvet fist in an iron glove"...Tim Rankin
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2004 DuMOL Syrah Eddie's Patch
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Pretty florals and sweet fruit. Young and intense, but certainly showed more elegance than the "Jack Robert's Run" syrah. Had the 02 of this at the HdR Library tasting and it was showing very well.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2003 DuMOL Syrah Eddie's Patch
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Wow...Nice concentrated fruit and a hint of minit. This has it all...power, balance, elegance. Didn't get any of the heat mentioned in kstoddards note...Agree, must have been a bad bottle as, IMO, this one was really the best of the DuMols poured.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2005 L'Aventure Syrah Estate
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Loads of coffee, some roasted meat and some pretty balsamic from the nose. Great balance of old and new world styles that I love from this winery. Great fruit, meat, mineral and violets. Excellent!
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2005 L'Aventure Côte-à-Côte Estate
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
This is just a baby! Wasn't giving much up on the nose. Great black fruit, coffee, bitter cocoa. This is going to be a spectacular wine in about 5 to 8 years...But right now, I will leave mine in the cellar.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2005 L'Aventure Estate Cuvée
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Somehow my note taking fell off here...This was outstanding, but way too young to be drinking right now.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No