2019 New Years Day Tasting

Milton, GA
Tasted Tuesday, January 1, 2019 by Rezy13 with 445 views

Introduction

People obviously came to play today. Some serious wines getting pulled.

Flight 1 - Starters (2 Notes)

Served non-blind

Flight 2 - Main Event (10 Notes)

$150+ suggested. All wines poured in uniform decanters and served double blind.

  • 1989 Dominus Estate 96 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Garnet maroon color, fairly youthful; ash, cedar, green pepper, clearly Left Bank Bordeaux, some compost, currants, spice, fruitcake, strong cigar box, tobacco, loamy earth with gravel; still so mouth filling and intense, liqueured cherry, some development but still young and showing potential for growth, sheer class, a touch of cedary tannin, awesome nobility; good but not great year- called '01 Lafite...wow; 96+.

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  • 1990 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 97 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Softer color, more clarity with almost brick rim; porcini bomb on the nose, leather, a touch of horse, olive, incense, complex Bordeaux quite different from the last wine- seemed older than the '89 Dominus; sexy palate, great mid with lovely earth and mineral, late delicious fruit, no green, lithe and elegant still exhibiting a youthfulness; liked the '89 LMHB call but due to elegance called '89 Palmer; WOTN.

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  • 1996 Château Palmer 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Darker garnet, cloudy with maroon rim; musk, blackcurrant, deeper than previous 2 wines, beefy, a bit more angular, iron shavings, dense loamy earth, more green and seems quite young, compact, dense, great balance for what I assumed was a riper '03 vintage, muscular yet polished, currants, good drive, long lingering finish; delicious but give this 10 more years; called '03 Montrose; 95+.

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  • 2005 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 95 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Holy crap we are off to an amazing start!; deep crimson with little color change, very youthful in appearance, clarity; plush, sweet not dried roses, cherry and strawberry liqueur, great polish, sandalwood, young, medicinal, well measured oak, celery seed, powerful yet lithe on the palate, exotic, beautiful, good balance and polished tannin, holly, kirsch, sweet cherry, super long, sexy and noble; serious producer was keying on what I felt was an oak signature- called '11 Scavino Novantesimo; still room for growth 95+.

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  • 2009 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc 94 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Mine; opened and poured a small taste out and slow-oxed for 3+ hours; brighter amber color; nutty nose, slight Sherry quality, apricot, peach, somewhat preserved, honeyed, mineral, waxy, broad and rich with good penetration, candied orange, powerful, some bitter mineral or some phenolics, honeysuckle, honey, peaches, white flowers, apricot, lanolin, nutty, complex, tart Sherry note on finish, very full bodied; tasting blind only Hermitage Blanc (someone like Chave) would make sense to me but would have guessed possibly '05-'07; honestly this was a great wine but if 100 point Chave is the zenith I have to say N Rhone whites may not fit my taste preference.

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  • 2003 Château Montrose 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

    Very cloudy core with brighter purple rim; youthful-ish, smoke, seemingly bacon fat, violets, smoky mineral, green notes with strong purple fruit, black currants, blackberry and plum; extracted and dense palate, plummy, firm tannin yet there is a rounded fleshiness; a bit bizarre with nose suggesting N Rhone yet the palate was Bordeaux- has to be a large dose of Merlot- I called '01 Pavie.

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  • 2003 E. Guigal Ermitage Ex-Voto 91 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Super dark core with cloudy reddish violet rim; powerful nose, dusty, liqueur, peppery, blueberry, menthol, glycerin, hot, jammy, violets, animal, leather, wild, sauvage, tobacco, heady and a bit alcoholic, creamy, herbs, complex but seems overblown right now, is there hope for development for the better in the future, seems like a really hot year.

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  • 1996 Château Haut-Brion 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Very dark core, cloudy with garnet rim; musk, deep nose, cigar, green edge, wet earth, almost Mexican chocolate, slight jam, deep, serious, tannic, a bit cooked in its fruit profile, holly, black and red currant, dense mid and 1st growth richness; called '99 Mouton.

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  • 2008 Peter Michael Chardonnay Point Rouge 93 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

    Brighter banana yellow in color; butter, dense, poached pear, lemon, bananas foster, vanilla, lots of extraction and richness, subtle green herbs, yogurt; vanilla cream, a bit soft in acid given the huge scale of this; given those qualities this has to be domestic, I liked this more than others.

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  • 2005 Domaine Parent Corton 92 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

    Reddish violet core with lighter rim; a bit cooked on the nose, stewy blueberry, menthol, jammy cassis, good plumpness, green pepper, grainy tannin, dark earth, leather, cherry liqueur, sandalwood, seemed like a warmer Italian- called '01 Brunello; still impressive but nobody in Burg-possibly saw some heat?

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Flight 3 - After the Main Event (12 Notes)

People opened their 2nd and/or 3rd wines and the host's cellar was thoroughly raided which we were all very thankful for.

Closing

Some fantastic wines. My top 3 were the same as the group's:
1- '90 LMHB
2- '89 Dominus
3- '05 B. Mascarello

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