4th Saturday Uptown Brown Bagger

In honor of M's birthday the October tasting was declared as an uptown, meaning wines should be a notch above the quality of our usual contributions. We taste in double blind flights hopefully arranged somewhat light to heavy. We discuss each flight and unveil the wines before moving on to the next flight.

A nonblind Champagne followed by the usual double blind whites.

• NV Pertois-Lebrun Champagne Grand Cru L’ambitieuse 91 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  This is the 2016 base (50%) with reserve wine from 2013 to 2015, disgorged in Feb 2022 at 1g/L. 100% chardonnay from Chouilly, LMsO and Oiry. Light color with notes of chalk, green apple, honeycomb and something hinting at cherry. Fine bead. Bright and focused, with green apple, almond, citrus, chalk and ginger flavors. (MM)

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• 1999 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

  Double blind. Deep color shows this is an older wine. Orchard fruit, stone, honeycomb and floral notes with a wool-like quality as well which had me thinking Chassagne. (MM)

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• 2017 Ramey Chardonnay Westside Farms 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Double blind. Light yellow color. Aromas of apple and banana. Full-bodied. Apple, lemon and coconut on the palate. Balanced, with a lingering finish. The oak is integrating nicely and it lacks the edges of newly released wines so I assumed this had a few years on it and guessed 2017 Sonoma chard. (MM)

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• 2020 Crocker & Starr Sauvignon Blanc 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Double blind. Light color with notes of slate, stone, citrus and peach. Ripe stone fruit on the palate. (MM)

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• 2008 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Murgers 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru

  Blind, though fairly easy to pick out as our wine in this flight. Light color. Aromas of cherry, mineral and sage. With air this develops a lovely perfumed floral quality. Cherry, clove, mineral and white currant on the palate. Beautiful.

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• 2017 Burgess Cabernet Franc 1880 Estate Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Double blind. Deep crimson red color with notes of sandalwood, red plum and leather. Abundant mixed red and black fruit on the palate, turning just slightly austere through the finish where the tannins stand out just a bit. Lacking the typical franc herbaceous qualities, but very enjoyable nonetheless. As the tannins continue to soften I expect the fruit will flesh out through the finish. (J&L)

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• 2017 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 93 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  Double blind. Aromas of cedar, wood spice, boysenberry and rosemary. Tannic. Loads of dark fruit on the palate, slightly ripe/plummy, and plenty of barrel spice/influence as well, all underneath that tannin. I like what's here, it just needs time to come together. Guessed CA cab sauv.93+ pts. (R&S)

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• 2010 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve 86 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Double blind. Dark youthful color. Aromas of soy and raisin. Full-bodied with fine-grained tannins and flavors of black currant, soy and plum. Better on the palate than the nose suggests it will be, but this is not my cup of tea. No guess, but having tasted this earlier in the year I am all but certain this was not a representative bottle. (R&D)

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• 2000 Château Pontet-Canet 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Double blind. Crimson core with a bit of bricking at the meniscus. Absolutely enchanting- I could have kept my nose in the glass all night. Black fruit is accompanied by leather, florals, tobacco, warm spices and herbs. Medium-bodied with flavors of plum, mixed red and black fruit, leather and cigar tobacco. Lingering finish. Easy to pick out as Bordeaux. Long life ahead of this one too. 94-95 pts. (MM)

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• 2003 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Calistoga

  Blind. Dark color. Bouillon cube, soy and black fruit notes on the nose and palate. Overly acidic and sour on the palate. Undrinkable.
  
  This was our bottle and my I nearly fell off my chair when the bag came off. This was double decanted off its sediment two hours before the flight was poured, at which time there were black fruit and leather notes, and none of the bouillon/soy qualities...in fact I thought it would be in the running for WOTN by the time we got around to the tasting. Not a representative bottle based on other recent tastes.

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• 2002 Domaine Truchot-Martin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Double blind. Light color- looks like a twin of the '08 Hudelot in the first flight. Lovely bouquet of tar, rose petal, cherry and currants. Floral and elegant. Develops a game/meaty quality with air. Balanced, with abundant red berry fruit and cherry, white currant and mineral tones on the palate with terrific supporting acidity that gives this a bit of brightness that carries the finish. There is so much to like here and examples such as this have plenty of life remaining. 94-95 pts.
  
  An absolutely gorgeous testament to the adage that there are no such things as great wines but only great bottles (a bottle from the same cellar/same case tasted nearly two years ago to the day was over-the-hill). A generous contribution from R&D.

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• 2015 Chateau Ste. Michelle Impetus Red Blend 90 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  Double blind. Dark inky crimson color. Aromas of brown sugar and black fruit picking up blue fruit tones with air. Firm tannins with flavors of blue and black fruit and plenty of oak, though there's enough fruit to support it. Has a slight sour quality in the finish that I find a little distracting- something that hints at grapefruit but isn't as obviously citrusy, if that makes any sense. The firm tannin, deep color and blue fruit tones had me leaning towards malbec. (J&L)

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• 2016 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Double blind. Medium purple color. Aromas of cassis, plum, brown butter and chocolate. Full-bodied, with flavors of black fruit and barrel spice dominating the palate. Medium+ tannins with a nice finish. Guessed Napa cab sauv. (SW)

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• 2002 Revana Cabernet Sauvignon 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Double blind. Medium garnet color with notes of plummy dark fruit, cedar and bouillon cube. Flavors of plum, rhubarb and bouillon. The acidity is a bit pronounced, and overall I think this particular example is a touch over-the-hill. Guessed old Napa cab sauv. (MM)

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• 1976 Bodegas Corral Rioja Gran Reserva 93 Points

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  Double blind. Pale garnet color. Mixed berry fruit, earth, cedar and baking spice notes with a pleasant funky/brett overtone. A touch light on the palate, but with nice fruit- cherry and macerated red berries, along with hints of sulfur and something a bit woody/stemmy in a good way. Overall very, very nice, but difficult to pin down. (R&S)

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NOnblind with dinner and dessert following the tasting.

• 2016 Sottimano Barbaresco Pajoré 94 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Flat out gorgeous. Beautiful ruby red color with aromas of cherry, rose petal, currants, mint, licorice and green tobacco. Impeccably balanced, with fine tannins, acid and abundant red fruit, with a satin texture. Cherry, wild strawberry, red plum and rose water flavors with a long, satiny finish. 94+ pts.

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• 1991 Warre Porto Vintage 90 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Cherry, licorice, currants and white raisin qualities. Nicely integrated and balanced at this stage. Lovely red berry fruit and spice on the palate. Drinking very nicely at the moment. (R&D)

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