France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet
Slightly oaky note on the nose, but also a bit of ripe fruit and a hint of green herbal minerality. The palate straddles the boundary between the lean, high-acid Lamy early in the decade with the riper, fuller, fruit-forward style of the more recent vintages. Very nice for drinking now.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Served double blind. Will have to do a little research to understand the "B. Mugneret-Gouachon et Fils" on the label as well. The nose is unmistakably a riper-vintage red Burgundy, with plenty of autumnal notes and some sweet fruit. Missing any spice notes here; I definitely missed the Vosne call. I figured it was something like a Charmes-Chambertin with its bit of iron. The state of the fruit and autumnal notes here had me thinking this was an 1985. A wine that would be vastly better with a roast chicken than straight up.
Served double blind. Highly volatile on the nose, with some sweetness and a fair bit of tannin (that had me thinking nebbiolo for a second). I ended up guessing something like a classically-styled, 1980s Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Given the reveal, I don't think this wine was showing correctly. The murkiness of this bottle also lends credence to my assertion that this wasn't correct.
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Served double blind. Unmistakable note of grenachse strawberries on the nose. Relatively clean for what was an easy Châteauneuf-du-Pape guess. A bit sweet but not showing any signs of roastedness to the fruit. Overall lacks the structure that I like in wine -- feels a bit amorphous, and it was pretty shocking on the reveal as to the vintage; I guessed this was something like a late 1980s wine.
Bottle no. 960 of 15927. Served double blind. Definitely a Burgundian sensibility to it, but I was working based on the assumption that this was chardonnay. The nose was somewhat neutral, and despite a slightly waxy palate, this had some pleasant acidity to balance out that waxy texture. The trouble I had was placing the commune -- just couldn't really figure out where this belonged. Maybe recognizing that this was aligoté would have made this easier.
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley
Served double blind. Called this the Pax Sonoma Hillsides right away. It's pretty similar with that clear syrah profile. Plenty of syrah spice here, but lacking the weight, complexity, and depth on the palate that the best syrahs can have. I preferred this to the T'n'S Blocks alongside.
Served double blind. Plenty of syrah-inflected black fruit, with a burlier, chunkier texture on the palate. More black fruit than red, plenty of young tannins. Chewy and very young -- I thought this was a different vintage of the X-Block syrah alongside, even though it was pretty obvious that this was young new world syrah.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
Served double blind. Clearly stemmy red Burgundy here (though in hindsight I'm not sure stems go into this at all). Quite chewy, rustic tannins on the back end, coupled with bright and youthful red fruit had me thinking this was a nice 2014 Pommard or Volnay, perhaps along the lines of Bouley.
Served double blind. Very ripe, modern Napa cab (yes, there were pyrazines here but not enough to make me think cab franc), but made in a way with plush and very ripe black fruit as well as oak that isn't bitter at all. For the style, very, very well made -- this is some seriously impressive stuff -- but it's just too fruit forward and high-octane for my taste.
2017 Hubert Lamy Puligny-Montrachet Les Tremblots Vieilles Vignes 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet
Slightly oaky note on the nose, but also a bit of ripe fruit and a hint of green herbal minerality. The palate straddles the boundary between the lean, high-acid Lamy early in the decade with the riper, fuller, fruit-forward style of the more recent vintages. Very nice for drinking now.
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1989 Domaine des Perdrix Echezeaux 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Served double blind. Will have to do a little research to understand the "B. Mugneret-Gouachon et Fils" on the label as well. The nose is unmistakably a riper-vintage red Burgundy, with plenty of autumnal notes and some sweet fruit. Missing any spice notes here; I definitely missed the Vosne call. I figured it was something like a Charmes-Chambertin with its bit of iron. The state of the fruit and autumnal notes here had me thinking this was an 1985. A wine that would be vastly better with a roast chicken than straight up.
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1998 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux Flawed
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru
Served double blind. Highly volatile on the nose, with some sweetness and a fair bit of tannin (that had me thinking nebbiolo for a second). I ended up guessing something like a classically-styled, 1980s Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Given the reveal, I don't think this wine was showing correctly. The murkiness of this bottle also lends credence to my assertion that this wasn't correct.
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2001 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 85 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Served double blind. Unmistakable note of grenachse strawberries on the nose. Relatively clean for what was an easy Châteauneuf-du-Pape guess. A bit sweet but not showing any signs of roastedness to the fruit. Overall lacks the structure that I like in wine -- feels a bit amorphous, and it was pretty shocking on the reveal as to the vintage; I guessed this was something like a late 1980s wine.
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2014 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne-Aligoté 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Aligoté
Bottle no. 960 of 15927. Served double blind. Definitely a Burgundian sensibility to it, but I was working based on the assumption that this was chardonnay. The nose was somewhat neutral, and despite a slightly waxy palate, this had some pleasant acidity to balance out that waxy texture. The trouble I had was placing the commune -- just couldn't really figure out where this belonged. Maybe recognizing that this was aligoté would have made this easier.
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2018 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah X-Block Bien Nacido Vineyard 88 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley
Served double blind. Called this the Pax Sonoma Hillsides right away. It's pretty similar with that clear syrah profile. Plenty of syrah spice here, but lacking the weight, complexity, and depth on the palate that the best syrahs can have. I preferred this to the T'n'S Blocks alongside.
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2018 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah T 'n' S Blocks Hudson Vineyard South 88 Points
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Served double blind. Plenty of syrah-inflected black fruit, with a burlier, chunkier texture on the palate. More black fruit than red, plenty of young tannins. Chewy and very young -- I thought this was a different vintage of the X-Block syrah alongside, even though it was pretty obvious that this was young new world syrah.
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2008 Domaine du Clos de Tart Morey St. Denis 1er Cru La Forge de Tart 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
Served double blind. Clearly stemmy red Burgundy here (though in hindsight I'm not sure stems go into this at all). Quite chewy, rustic tannins on the back end, coupled with bright and youthful red fruit had me thinking this was a nice 2014 Pommard or Volnay, perhaps along the lines of Bouley.
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2019 Sinegal Cabernet Franc 88 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena
Served double blind. Very ripe, modern Napa cab (yes, there were pyrazines here but not enough to make me think cab franc), but made in a way with plush and very ripe black fruit as well as oak that isn't bitter at all. For the style, very, very well made -- this is some seriously impressive stuff -- but it's just too fruit forward and high-octane for my taste.
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