Book Club - Magnumfest

Steve's turn to host and it's off to The Winery and the theme? Magnums. Better bring a friend because we'll never finish these on our own. Steve brought his brother, who I had the pleasure of sitting next too, and Mike Officer from Carlisle. Mike has a very good palate and nailed 3 of the wines, one just by the nose. Impressive. Brent was my guest and he fits right in as he can geek out with the best of them. The location is silly, on the patio upstairs overlooking Newport harbor and Thad and James provided amazing service and they basically played along tasting all the wines with us. There was a lot of wine. When we walked upstairs there was a sign "Closed for private party". I asked if it was OK for us to be up here and the hostess laughed and said "it's closed for you." Oh, OK...

Here's Sean, Brent, Brig, and the back of Steve's head. Nice shirt!


Blind, this is the way we always do it. Those are all magnums and the decanters in the back are enormous. They could probably hold a 5 liter.


Brent, Andrew, Mike Officer, and Steve

Tuna starter


Cheese flatbread. This is good, very good.

• 2008 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Champagne Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Fleuron

  France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind from Mag. Guessed a grower champagne but that was about it. I thought it might be pinot muenier, nope. Very light yellow. I really enjoyed this with plenty of brioche and tart red apple aromas. Very intriguing nose. I liked the palate even more, red and green apple with medium/high acidity and a vibrant mouthfeel. Finishes very clean, bright, and edgy with lemon rind.
  
  Note: Mike O. guessed this producer.

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• 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut

  France, Champagne

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind from Mag - no idea on the producer. I enjoy a little bread in my bubbles and this doesn't show any, it's not a bad thing as the wine is very good it just doesn't get "complexity points" without it from me. This comes across as much more delicate than the Gimonnet as it's lighter, less edgy and gentle on the palate. Dominated by lemon flavors.

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• 2011 Gamble Family Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Heart Block

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind - damn, this is a great wine. I ultimately guess french sauvignon blanc but was stuck on white burg for the first 10 minutes because I couldn't get over the complexity of the aromas.
  
  Incredible nose... First, there was some kind of cheesy thing going on which had me locked into a white burgundy. There were oily and a really sappy tree aromas, awesome. The wine was medium plus in weight which caused even more problems for me. Lime peel, lemon curd and a stony quality. What the heck is this stuff? Very complex and tropical fruit dominated finish. This may have been WOTN for me.

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Grill shrimp on Risotto


Rivers Marie Summa and School House

• 2007 School House Pinot Noir

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind from Mag. Guessed Cali pinot noir but was all over the nebbiolo thing for awhile. The nose is what ultimately pulled me back to pinot. As background, Steve has told me stories about this wine, one of his favorite california pinots and it delivered tonight. It's light colored and shows some aging in the form of bricking at the edges. Looks like Neb in the glass but the nose screams cali pinot and cherry fruit. Very fine tannins and light oak throughout. Seems age worthy. I really like this wine.

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• 2007 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind from a mag. Guess RM Summa, yeah for me. Mike O guessed it correctly after just sticking his nose in the glass. Damn. Looking deeply saturated maroon color, much darker than the School House. I'm getting sandelwood here... familiar... musty Rhubarb, moldy strawberries, and a hint of orange in the backend... Summa? Soft rounded out tannins, lovely harmony with the flavors.

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• 2007 Carlisle Syrah Cardiac Hill

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind from a mag. Guessed california syrah. This showed very youthful, never would have said 10 years old, maybe that's the magic of a magnum. Medium opaque, dark fruit, lots of tannins, and charcoal. Good stuff.

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• 2012 Riverain Syrah Cardiac Hill Bennett Valley

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley

  (4/27/2017)

  Blind from a mag. I was 100% confident this was syrah and scribbled down "cornas?" but ultimately went California. There was more than a little debate at the table as to whether or not this was a petite sirah because it looked like it in the glass, it was thick and black yet when swirled coated the glass with a magenta film. For me, the black olive note was a dead ringer yet I agreed that there was some blue fruit mixed in with the big, rough, and tumble tannins and dark blackberry flavors. Man, this settled down a bit with some air but it's really young. This is definitely magic in the bottle for the next 20 years.

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Mike brought a couple of his unreleased 2015 wines including the first vintage of The Integral.

• 2015 Carlisle The Integral

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  (4/25/2017)

  Unicorn alert! Tasting note to follow
  
  Non-blind brought by Mike O, nice surprise as this is the first vintage and sneak preview. Having had other Carlisle red rhone blends I was assuming that drinking a 2015 immediately after pulling the cork would a sin. Surprisingly, this and the 2015 carlisle vineyard zin were extremely approachable. Mike O even commented that the entire vintage runs that way. Nice change for those that want to hit them up immediately. Lots of red berries and very delicious. Can you tell it was getting towards the end of note taking? LOL

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• 2015 Carlisle Zinfandel Carlisle Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  (4/27/2017)

  non-blind - pop n pour after a big line up. Forgive me father...
  
  jeez, ripped the cork and this drank beautifully from the start. I'm getting plenty of bing cherry / red fruit flavors. Soft tannins. Have at it the day it's delivered. Pobega!

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Setting up the docks for this weekends boat show. That view doesn't get old.