Colonial
Tasted Thursday, May 26, 2016 by Loren Sonkin with 456 views
BBer Randy R. and his business partner Steve K. were in Cleveland on business. The bat signal was sent out and despite a ton of road construction and a home Cavs playoff game, we got 10 people to welcome them and drink some wine. The wines were served blind and we consumed them over the course of 2.5 hours. We drank for a bit and then went thru them one by one, trying to guess what they may be. The theme was California Cab or Bordeaux (perhaps in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris), so that made the guessing a bit easier. Still, we all had plenty of misses as some of the producers, the ages and the vintages made it not as easy as we may have thought. There were plenty of breads, crackers and cheeses served as well. It was a fun night with a lot of laughs and some very good wines.
While perhaps not strictly on theme, it was nice to start with a few whites:
A nice selection of reds
It was great to meet Randy and Steve and see some locals I had not seen in a while. Thanks to all for the contributions. Let's do this again soon. And, go Cavs!
2014 Sandlands Chenin Blanc California 90 Points
USA, California
My first time trying this one. It is very nice albeit nothing that to me resembles chenin from the Loire. Possibly South Africa at its best. Surprisingly to me is the lack of fruit for CA. Light green gold in color. The nose is slightly fleshy (yes, odd but not in a bad way) along with some slight but fresh mint. On the palate, this is very refreshing. Very nice minerality. Its about the rocks. Nothing that I can describe as fruit though. Very nice mouthfeel and good balance. Much better than this note makes it sound I guess, but very unique expression of Chenin.
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2013 Château de Rayne-Vigneau Le Sec de Rayne Vigneau 88 Points
France, Bordeaux
Very pale yellow-green in color. The nose is nice with lemons, clay and minerals. Good attack with some nice grapefruit but that fades and the mid-palate is a bit hollow and the finish a bit clipped. Not completely as there is some fruit all of the way. It has just the slightest perception of sweetness to it. Seems in a good place right now.
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2014 Château de Callac Blanc 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves
Light green gold in color. The nose has a lot of lemons. Nice. On the palate, a tart acidity. Nothing profound here but this is tasty and food friendly.
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2010 Uvaggio (L'Uvaggio di Giacomo) Moscato Secco Flawed
USA, California, Central Valley, Lodi
Tommy opened this for fun to test our blind tasting abilities. We all nailed it - odd, over the hill crap. To be fair, no one named place or varietal. It was fun, but this needed to be drunk up years ago. At its best there is a vanilla cream soda component, at its worse, this is chemical, and lacking anything. I am sure it was better in its youth.
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