The Yale Wine Society's First Tasting

New Haven, CT
Tasted Thursday, September 25, 2008 by bpj87 with 1,167 views

Flight 1 - Welcome Champagne (1 Note)

Flight 2 - Whites and Rosé (4 Notes)

Flight 3 - Value Wine Blind Comparison Flight (2 Notes)

Flight 4 - Serious Reds (5 Notes)

  • 1999 Maison Leroy Bourgogne 89 Points

    France, Burgundy, Bourgogne

    Restrained, with great acidity, and a hint of the brooding Leroy style. This is all about balance and Burgundian character. Excellent for a Bourgogne, but, then again, this is Leroy.

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  • 2006 Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir Keefer Ranch Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

    This wine is all about balance. Cali pinot style, but restrained and elegant. The palate is intense, yet the wine is medium bodied and features balanced loam, cola, and red fruit. Wonderful alone or with food.

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  • 1978 Château Haut-Brion 96 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    So this is my first experience with a first growth. I have had a half bottle of poorly performing 1981 LMHB which only hinted at the fully mature Graves profile. Wow... This surely was different. Preceded by a 2006 Keefer Ranch PN and followed by a 2005 Pegau, the 1978 HB beautifully illustrated the contrast between young, great juice and fully aged wine.

    The fill was well into the neck, and the long, sturdy cork was only a third penetrated by the elixer. After a slow oxygenation, the color was suprisingly dark and clear upon pouring. The nose was predominantly shitake and portobello mushrooms, which were joined by a meaty, earthy bouquet with hints of pipe tobacco and smoke. On the palate, the wine was all refinement and class. The tannins were fine and fully mature, with just enough remaining to frame the wine. Full in body, the wine offered a classic earthy Graves midpalate and a lengthy finish. Nothing was out of place, and not a single unwelcome note of advanced age polluted the wine in any sense. Bottles such as these define wine.

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  • 2005 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 92 Points

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

    Way too young. This will certainly be great in twenty years, but now all one encounters is a tannic wall. The extract, fruit, and dark, brooding, gamy, slightly rosy character are certainly detectable, but this is not yet hedonistic to drink. With two days in a corked bottle, this opened a bit, but is still for the most part closed. Great potential.

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  • 2003 Bodegas El Nido Jumilla Clio 92 Points

    Spain, Murcia, Jumilla

    Big wine. Unexpectedly, this was not like drinking oak splinters or jam. Rather, the high level of extract, glycerin, alcohol, and fruit went well when expecting wine as a drink without food. There was ample tannin to frame the fruit. Certainly, this is properly made monster wine; it is not a syrupy mess.

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Flight 5 - Dessert (2 Notes)

  • 2005 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** (Golden Capsule)

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Since last year, this has closed down tightly. These should be put away for a decade or two, at which point they should be spectacular.

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  • 2001 Château Suduiraut 99 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Oh my god! This wine was a truly religious and emotional experience. Nothing else that I have had to date truly defines delineation, length, purity, balance, integration, and complexity. With each sniff, sip, and finish different from the last, I found orange marmalade, bright citrus twang, botrytis spice, creme brulee, honeysuckle, Grand Marnier, white and red fruits... the list goes on. I realize my descriptors are similar to RP's, but it is because they are not only present, but obvious as elements and within the whole of the wine. The acidity, sugar, and concentration just dance together over the palate, leading to some incomprehensible and exotic sensation of pure joy. I can only imagine what this, or any of the other top Sauternes of this vintage, will taste like when fully and properly mature. Thus, I am leaving a point for improvement, if such scores can even apply to wines like this, which are not to be analyzed, but are better reserved to interact with the soul. The 2001 Suduiraut is wine heaven.

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