Tasted Friday, August 5, 2005 by thunk13 with 737 views
I was put in charge of buying wine for a medium sized dinner party with a group of friends. I was by far the biggest geek, and those who were more enthusiastic were generally experienced with the bigger name CA wines (think Opus...) My job was to come up with a list of wines that I would be personally proud to bring and drink as well as would be crowd-pleasers for this group. I also had a budget of $25 per bottle...
With some great help from my local shop, this is what I ended up with. The Darnaud was quite simply stunning. This was my first experience with this producer. I think this wine could have competed with others costing 2-3x as much. The Sandrone and Magnien were my other two favorites, probably in that order. While people were intially drawn to the Stag's Leap, interestingly it was the Mangien that was first to go. The Cornerstone, despite being by far the most $$ didn't get finished.
Overall, both myself and the others had a great night and loved the wine. It was particularly satisfying to see people fighting for the Rhone and Burg, wines they probably would have otherwise never tried.
-Jeff
2004 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese 89 Points
Germany, Rheingau
My first '04 German. Very nice, not quite as round and lush as the '03s, but if this is representative of the vintage, I think I will like these even more.
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2002 Verget Mâcon-Burgy Les Prusettes
France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Burgy
Very lush with powerful aromas of pineapple that follow through on the palate and are backed by some subtle minerality. Good, but I don't really like pineapple...
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2003 Frédéric Magnien Côte de Nuits Villages Croix-Violette 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages
Again, very nice for the price. Moderately full and round, but not out of balanced. I was surprised at the second layer of complexity on the palate coming from black licorice flavors. Probably will do well with 3-5 years of bottle age.
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2003 Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage Les Trois Chênes 91 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage
Amazing wine for the price. Beautifully perfumed and well balanced with aromas of smokey meat and bacon fat, backed by nice dark fruit on the palate.
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2003 Luciano Sandrone Barbera d'Alba 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba
Bam! This is some serious wine. Dark purple, almost black. Dark plum flavors with a little bit of spice. Very good.
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1999 Cornerstone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
Tasted simple and kind of green. No need to re-purchase.
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2002 Stags' Leap Winery Merlot
USA, California, Napa Valley
Brought to dinner for the group, but did not personally taste.
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