Fight Night at J-P's

J-P's place in Yaletown, Vancouver
Tasted Friday, April 1, 2005 by Blair Curtis with 841 views

Introduction

Fight Night is a wine tasting format developed by some local friends where each participant brings a wine ("fighter") and the wines go head-to-head one-on-one until only the winner is left standing. Majority rules voting detemines the winner after each flight/fight of two wines. The wines are not unveiled until the winner is finally determined. The theme tonight was quite open - "Big Reds". This was another great event with these guys.

Flight 1 - White Warm-Up (1 Note)

  • 2003 Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Gobelsburger 89 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal

    This was the only white of the night. On the nose, Alsace-like. On the palate, peaches, passionfruit and flowers. This wine has a good minerality to it, but is fairly fat with medium acids. A wine to drink over the mid-term.

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

Flight 2 - Fight #1 (2 Notes)

The Armagh beat out the Wirra Wirra in this round, but voting was close.

  • 1999 Jim Barry Shiraz The Armagh 93 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

    From the nose this is definitely Syrah. First hit on the palate and it is obviously Oz Shiraz - and a good one. Nice and ripe, but not hot or over the top. Blackberry, blueberries and creosote. The nose is a touch restrained, but this wine is young. A very good wine. This could be my wine - the '99 Armagh...and it was.

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

  • 1998 Wirra Wirra Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard Series Penley Vineyard 91 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    This wine had me thinking Bordeaux or Cabernet-based Tuscan wine. Nice restraint, a medium-bodied, classy wine. A little bit of tree bark/capiscum/vegetal flavour adds complexity. I was thinking '96 Bordeaux, except the wine was drinking almost too well now. Should have considered Australia...

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

Flight 3 - Fight #2 (2 Notes)

The bizarre B&H stood no chance againt the excellent Tua Rita offering.

  • 2001 Behrens & Hitchcock "The Heavyweight" 79 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    This wine was really weird and universally considered the worst wine of the night. Strange nose with some mint but also paint and high VA. A sickly sweet medicinal palate with distinct flavours of blue curacao. WAY too sweet/surmature. Not my style at all. When the contributor suggested a blender might help, I replied that a time-machine might help to go back and pick the fruit before it started to rot. The bottle shape is copied from Haut-Brion...too bad the wine wasn't.

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

  • 2001 Tua Rita Giusto di Notri Toscana IGT 91 Points

    Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

    Right off you know this is a good wine. Beautiful spicy nose with some cassis. Ripe cherry fruit and some pepper on the palate. It finishes a little short, but still in all an excellent wine.

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

Flight 4 - Fight #3 (2 Notes)

The Pesquera fought over its head and the Neo was just disappointing and lacked class.

  • 1995 Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Ribera del Duero Tinto Pesquera 94 Points

    Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

    This wine had me fooled. I thought it was a Burgundy - perhaps a Corton. The weight and color of the wine were right for it. As was the flavour profile. Ruby color. Nice touch of mature decay on the nose, a bit of bottle-sweetness, elegant fruit. My second taste later in the night made me think of mature Southern Rhone as well. Guesses aside, an excellent wine drinking very well now.

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

  • 2001 Bodegas Neo Ribera del Duero Neo 85 Points

    Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

    This strikes me as a wine made in a laboratory. Surmature wine with powder-dry tannins. Raspberry coulis. Noticeable oak. Crude and foursquare.

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

Flight 5 - Fight #4 (2 Notes)

The Caymus was game, but the Centenaire was the better fighter here.

  • 1995 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire 95 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    A fully mature wine. Nice complex nose with smoke and a touch of fly-oil. On the palate, smoke, pepper, leather, and sweet spicy berry fruit. My guess is this wine is an older Rhone wine - say 1980s. I was surprised to learn it was a '95. Super-nice wine to drink right now, but not sure how long this will hold - if you got 'em, drink 'em.

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

  • 1994 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon 90 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Nice Bordeaux-like nose. On the palate, a bit sweet for Bordeaux, but otherwise, nicely structured and complex. Drinking well now. Napa Cabernet crossed my mind, but I was leaning towards a '94 Bordeaux (at least I had the year right). Good show by this wine, which is ageing quite gracefully.

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

Closing

In the second heat, the '99 Armagh was bested by '01 Tua Rita GdN and the '95 Cailloux Centenaire beat out the '95 Pesquera. In the final, the unanimous winner was '95 Cailloux.

×
×