Wine Cask Futures Off-line Dinner

To properly cap off a day at the Wine Cask Futures Tasting, 18 (!) wine fanatics (including a professional or two -- and why can't someone ITB be fanatical about wine?) met for dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the European Room of the Wine Cask wine store. Why not? Restaurants have private rooms that look like a wine cellar, why not have a wine "seller" that doubles as a private room?

As we all wandered around introducing ourselves and resisting the temptation to light-finger some of the wines on the shelves we were treated to appetizers of lox on home-made waffle potato chips, raw oysters in a mignette, and prawns with a curry dip. Four champagnes were served: 1990 Charles Heidsieck Brut Champagne Millésimé; 1996 Billecart-Salmon Rose Brut Vintage Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon; Gosset Rose NV; and Bonnaire Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne NV (the Grand Cru version) Veuve Clicquot NV Gold label.

The first course was an excellent Trio of Ceviche - scallop, halibut and skate wing. The wines were:

• 2004 Loring Wine Company Chardonnay Rosella's Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Bottled for family and friends this wine (tasted from barrel sample) was still in malo and is not really in a state to be enjoyed or evaluated right now. It is BIG, though. Why am I not surprised?

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• 2001 Sine Qua Non Albino

  USA, California, Central Coast

  Pale straw color. Very reserved nose - hard to find much to report. Also strangely reticent on the palate. How can something with this much alcohol taste so blah? Not impressive. Perhaps it was served too cold or was an off bottle, or perhaps this isn't my cup of tea.

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• 2001 Kistler Chardonnay Cuvée Cathleen

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  Pure silver/gold color. Medium body, big and mouth-filling but suffers from a lack of focus from low acidity and bitter tannins on the finish. Perhaps time will improve the wine. It doesn't give a lot of pleasure at the moment.

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Next came Pan Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras Pillow with sun dried black mission fig chutney, AND....

• 1996 Château d'Yquem 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Medium yellow-straw color. Mild nose of botrytis and apricots. Pleasantly sweet and moderately viscous with a medium long finish, but seems to lack the acidity and structure necessary for greatness. An early-drinking d'Yquem, not one for the ages.

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The next course saw a wonderfully tasty Whole Italian Bransino served with fingerling potatoes, baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms with caper, tomato and fresh herb fume. Along with the fish was (gasp) some red wine:

• 1990 Armand et Aleth Giridin Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens 82 Points

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

  Unpleasant, funky nose which got a bit better with time. Acidic and thin with stemmy bitter tannins. Ugh. Perhaps "huge, unctuous" pinot noir (see WA #84) doesn't age.

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• 1999 Marcassin Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Nice nose of cherries and minerals. Medium-full body, very dense and chewy but balanced with acid and fairly big tannins. Shows a LOT of chocolate on the mid palate, very unususal for a pinot noir, however mid-palate and finish show noticable alcohol -- the only defect in an otherwise great CA pinot.

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We are getting close to the summit of the dinner now. Next came Roasted Rack of Lamb with pancetta and goat cheese potato puree, grilled baby fennel and asparagus with mint infused sauce moelle. This was excellent, as were the wines:

• 2000 DuMOL Syrah Eddie's Patch 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Big nose of musk and sweet black fruit. Satisfying medium-full body but strangely uninvolving and monolithic. It could be that I was just too palate-fatigued by this point in the Santa Barbara WineCask futures weekend.

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• 2001 Kongsgaard Syrah Hudson Vineyard

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Uninspiring. Didn't have the extraction and elegance I was expecting and didn't have anything really wrong with it either. I was so underwhelmed, I didn't bother to take notes. Others at the table thought it was a bad bottle (both bottles at the dinner?)

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• 1999 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 96 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  An inky, dark wine with no signs of age. It has an impressive nose of bittersweet chocolate, brown sugar, and cassis. The palate shows a full body, rich, thick, chewy and extracted, with layered flavors and a long pleasing finish. It's a wine that won't go away once you let it into your nose or put it in your mouth. I don't know if it is worth the asking price, but it is mighty impressive. Will likely improve with more age.

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The cheese course was served with dried fruit and brioche. Wines piled up in front of me...

• 1991 Ridge Lytton Springs 88 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley

  From a magnum. Still showing good fruit. Palate marred by a touch of heat. Fairly simple and straight-forward. Was expecting secondary aging characteristics and layered tastes, but they weren't there.

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• 1999 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Nice nose of pepper and spice. Medium-full body with excellent balancing acidity, a juicy and dense wine with good tannic structure and a moderately long finish. Drinking extremely well and was a welcome, delicious, and refreshing change from the other monster and super-ripe (Dumol Eddie's Patch / Kongsaard Syrah, & etc.) wines at this dinner.

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• 2000 Siduri Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard 84 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  Dense dark red color. Shy nose of spice and cherries. Medium full body with good texture and balancing acid, but marred by big bitter tannins without enough fruit to balance them out. I believe the problem lies with the fruit and the vintage as the 2000 Ojai Clos Pepe Pinot suffers from the same defect. Wait this one out, or try serious decanting; in either case -- hope for the best.

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• 1996 Dominique Laurent Pommard 1er Cru Les Épenots 91 Points

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

  Clear ruby color. Good nose of sweet fuit with just a touch of Burgundy funk and oak. Smooth mouth-filling palate with an impressive structure; medium long finish.

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The wines kept coming, (2000 Kongsgaard Syrah; 2004 Loring Clos Pepe barrel sample; 2004 Loring Cargasacchi barrel sample; 2004 Loring Rancho Ontiveros barrel sample) but I had tasted enough wines for the day (100? 150? who knows?) At about 11:00 I wandered off towards the hotel, very happy to have been a part of this marvelous dinner.

I have had two meals at the Wine Cask in the last four months as well as several other meals at highly touted places in Santa Barbara. Wine Cask is clearly doing the best food in the city.