Hyatt, San Francisco
Tasted Tuesday, January 30, 2018 by RajivAyyangar with 449 views
Floorplan: https://www.evernote.com/l/ABbYd907jCBG7aKE8cgqEpNjZlqUBWMqMxM
General Observations:
Some wines were tart, some astringent (tannic).
Brett is common - mostly spiced, well-done brett melded with oak.
Alcohols were medium across the board - around 13-13.5%
Right Banks: thin
St. Estephe: green
Pauillac: tannic
St. Julien: light
Margaux: sour
Sauternes: typical
Thinner and greener than normal. Still softer than the Left Banks.
Brooding mushrooms. Black plum with Brett. Vanilla-cinnamon oak. Aromatic but shows it's oak a bit clumsily. Some development and integration. An austere palate.
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Medium ruby with red at the rim. Aromatic with vanilla/cinnamon (new oak), faint blackberry, light stewed bell peppers (pyrazines). The nose is a bit oak-dominated at the moment. In the mouth it's tarter and more astringent than the Evangile, Lafleur, or Angelus - more cab franc dominant perhaps. Feels floral but at the same time quite austere.
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Thin nose, with green asparagus and slight Brett. More tart than tannic on the palate - watery and soft palate.
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Fresh, floral, black plum and blackberry with some raspberry. Tart and juicy with decent midpalate fruit. It's awake and ready to drink. Elevated structure but the open midpalate balances it out.
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Slightly burnt nose (oak or reduction?). Fishy (Isinglass? pyrazines? something else?) with stewed faded bell pepper and some plum. Light palate. Soft.
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Thinner and tarter than normal.
Reductive black pepper and smoked meat with tart blackberry. Rhone-like. Tart and astringent on the palate. I'd probably blind this as a tannic rhone.
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Faded watery, overripe bell peppers with some cherry. Slight black plum and Brett. Slight vanilla cinnamon (oak). Soft and tart on the palate. Thin finish.
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Aromatic. Some spiced Brett and some Merlot fruit (chocolate-covered blackcurrant) with dark cedar. Astringent and bitter on the palate with tannins, alcohol, and acid all elevated.
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Aromatic but austere on the palate like l'Evangile.
Elevated tannins and acid.
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Slightly fishy(?) pyrazinic nose with a bit of black plum. Softer palate (less tannic and acidic) than the Left Bank wines. Still - this is really austere for a Right Bank.
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Pretty green and variable.
Dark raw green pepper and coffee grounds (pyrazines, oak), Brett, tart black currant. Like Clerc-Milon. Tart on the palate.
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Blackberry and smoked ham (reductive). Mildly Bretty with impressive concentration and elevated structure (alcohol, acid, tannins).
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Thin and pyrazinic. An austere Left Bank style. Some black currant.
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Lighter than the Cos d'Estournel. Soft palate with bretty, pyrazinic blackberry. Light with milder acid and tannins than it's St. Estephe compatriots. Some cedary oak and underripe weedy fruit - reminds me a bit of a lower-end Malbec.
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Green and tannic.
Thin, slightly pyrazinic, with underripe fruit. But identifiably Bordeaux Left Bank. On the palate, more tart than tannic.
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Burnt with a little popcorn (reductive? diacetyl? I noticed this two years ago as well.). Tart and tannic palate with a hint of dark fruit and dark green pepper pyrazines (a hint of coffee grounds as well). Austere.
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Underripe fruit on the nose - like a bad Malbec. Riper palate than I expected, with some cassis and lots of ripe bell pepper. Tannic.
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Pyrazinic but with coffee and some black fruit concentration. Well-done Brett and slight new oak. Balanced palate with good structure. The best of the Pauillacs.
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This is terrible - I tasted both bottles to confirm it wasn't flawed. On the nose, pronounced rotten bell pepper with some plasticky notes (possibly VA). Thin, tart, green palate. The particular form the pyrazines have taken at this stage is uniquely off-putting. Undrinkable.
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Green, softer tannins than the Pauillacs.
Bretty and pyrazinic with some dark fruit that seems dirty or unevenly ripe. Coarse tannin texture on the finish. Austere.
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Muted nose - not very aromatic. The BDX trifecta - slight Brett, slight new oak, slight pyrazines. More balanced than I expected on the palate. Medium bodied with elevated acid and elevated tannins. Bright red cherry note mid-palate.
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Muted nose. Floral with some pyrazines and some Brett. Tart and lively with red cherry. Medium plus tannins - smoother texture than the Pauillacs.
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Tastes like a proper Left Bank, which is no mean feat in this difficult vintage. A little tart but the trifecta is all there: Brett. Pyrazines. Slight cedar from new oak. There's clear (if not pronounced) black currant -
it gives you some love on the midpalate. Barton is so reliable.
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Very green raw bell pepper pyrazines on the nose. On the palate, good depth and flavor concentration with some black fruit but the acid is just too high.
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Austere. Oak sticks out on the nose - vanilla and freshly-sanded wood. Tart and thin on the palate.
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Pyrazinic nose. Underripe and tart on the palate. Juice-like and thin with weedy fruit (like a low-end Malbec).
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Sour. Really sour. Least tannic of the Left Banks.
Aromatic green bell pepper and cherry. Tart as hell. So tart. Lean and austere on the palate. Medium tannins.
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Burnt nose (over-toasted oak? reduction?). Good concentration on the palate. Vibrant acid and elevated tannins with some black cherry and earthy blackberry fruit. Slight Brett.
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Oaky vanilla nose with no fruit to support it. Austere and tart on the palate.
2 years ago, it seems I liked the oak note - it smelled like sandalwood. With a little more development, however, it just seems over-oaked and thin.
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Burnt (over-toasted oak? reduction? - I noticed this two years ago as well). Tart cherry. Austere, sour palate.
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On the nose, slightly fishy (isinglass? pyrazines?), slightly burnt (reduction? heavy-toasted oak?). Stewed peppers. Lean finish. Very sour.
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Pyrazinic and slightly fishy. Stewed and fresh bell peppers (pyrazines). Austere but not as tart as the other Margaux.
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Muted nose. Slight brett and slight underripe blackberry on the palate. Tart and austere. Only medium tannins but the palate is still so lean.
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Green and austere.
Austere. Some blackberry and Brett but the vanilla oak shows the most. Astringent palate.
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Yeasty, funky nose with a little spiced Brett. Fairly austere palate with a little blackberry. Tart and tannic.
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Slightly burnt (heavy toast or reduction?). Thin but has a hint of black cherry, blackberry, and black currant. Lean.
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Seemed about typical in style - mostly too low acid for my taste. The d'Yquem was incredible.
Great nose - toasted rice and saffron (botrytis) with some orange peel. Medium acid - needs more.
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Slight saffron. Toasted rice and wax with some VA (like a hot glue gun). Thin palate with medium plus acid and a much-appreciated bitterness. A successful lighter/fresher style of Sauternes.
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Luminescent gold color. Holy sh** this smells good. Compared to the other Sauternes' at the tasting, the aroma explodes out of the glass with clear and complex flavors of genmaicha (toasted rice and green tea), seaweed (Nori), raw almonds and marzipan, saffron, honey, wax, perfumed orange peel, peach cream, mango sorbet. Wow.
In the mouth, it's sweet even for a Sauternes - maybe 130-140g?, with a finish that goes on for minutes, and strong bright acidity. On the finish there's a crazy shifting landscape of candied orange, toasted rice, saffron, guava, and peach. Stunning.
You can dissect this and it rewards scrutiny with more and more complexity. Or you can just sip it and the world becomes sunnier and brighter. Even though it's a large tasting, it's really, really hard to spit this out.
On a more technical note, this was Semillon-dominant, but it seems there was good tropical fruit and pyrazines from the Sauvignon Blanc. All the classic elements of Sauternes are there, and then some: Pyrazines (green tea, seaweed), thiolic fruit (guava, mango), botrytis (toasted rice, honey, wax, saffron), VA (wax), and new oak (peach cream, toasted rice).
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Nice toasted rice and VA aromatics (moderate botrytis influence with a hint of new oak). Sweet and sluggish palate - only medium acid. Not particularly heavy, but the lower acid makes it seem plodding. This is nowhere in the same league as the d'Yquem.
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Decent waxy saffron botrytis - a one-dimensional nose without much to hold interest. Sweet and flat on the palate - only medium acid.
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2008 Louis Latour Echezeaux 86 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Ripe cherry. Figgy, apply red fruit - pronounced acetaldehyde. Seems a bit tired for '08, but nice texture and red fruit on mid-palate. Soft, satiny tannins. Good length. Very integrated palate - no structural elements stick out.
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2016 Julian Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese 88 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Slight botrytis (saffron, wax, honey) with pronounced tart apricot fruit. Sweet - feels 60g (close - 72g/L) with low alcohol, beautifully tense high+ acid, and a clean finish.
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