Cool vs Warm Climate: Chardonnay, Pinot and Syrah

Smash Wine Bar (Seattle)
Tasted Saturday, February 21, 2009 by tarheel17 with 712 views

Flight 1 (3 Notes)

Chardonnays

  • 1991 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvée LV 93 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County

    My notes are probably far from subjective for this wine: I'd been looking forward to opening this for quite some time.
    nose: sweet butter notes, some smokiness and then after an hour or so open, some mushroom dust came through too.
    palate:beautifully balanced, with a white pepper finish. Definitely slightly burnt caramel flavors on the midpalate. It was full and rich, but not overly so. Not the in-your-face butterbomb from CA. More restrained, but still flaunting it's stuff. Super elegant, this was my WOTN by miles.

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  • 2005 Hay Shed Hill Chardonnay Pitchfork

    Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

    same as previous notes.

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  • 2007 Montevina Chardonnay 81 Points

    USA, California

    A friend shared their wine club selection. I have never heard of this winery, and I don't see much on CT, but this entry looks right...?

    Anyway, the wine I tasted was a 2007 chardonnay.
    the nose was full of starfruit and was quite fun.
    palate was thinnger than I expected, tasting of starburst candies, with an empty midpalate and no finish. Except a faint bitterness that remained. I liked the nose. The palate not so much.

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Flight 2 (3 Notes)

Pinot Noir (Okanagan Vineyards wine is missing - not input to CT and I don't have the label?)

  • 2004 Kahurangi Pinot Noir Flawed

    New Zealand, South Island, Nelson, Moutere

    nose: blacker, darker funk (more peat moss than leather) compared to the WA state pinot tasted along side, and some pine tree elements.
    palate: spritzy attack and overly acidic. I suspect it was flawed. I do not appreciate unintentional carbonation in wine, so I did not like it. But others at the table seemed to enjoy.

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  • 2007 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County

    USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County

    nose: earthy and spciy, but not an intense nose
    palate: a little too forward on the attack. Got some fake cherry and it had a super short finish. Meh.

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  • 2006 Cambria Pinot Noir Benchbreak 87 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

    Given a choice of four $17-$25 pinot noirs, this was my favorite.
    nose: tooty-fruity gum, some cola.
    palate: simple and fruity, with an imbalanced finish and definitely a little alcoholic. And yet, it was still, somehow, able to shine with some very pretty fruit flavors.

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Flight 3 (1 Note)

Bonus wine from OR!

  • 2006 Domaine Serene Coeur Blanc 91 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    nose: I could sense a heaviness to the wine, but the nose was not very pronounced. I caught a whiff of what I could id as faint tropical fruits.
    palate: lovely mouthfeel - dense but not too heavy, and a tropical fruit salad reminder. Well balanced, but an enigma of a wine. Not nearly as acidic as I expected, given it's OR pinot noir pedigree. I feel compelled to rate this to counteract the 50 pt score below, but I'm hard pressed to come up with a number. 91 is pure gut instinct.

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Flight 4 (4 Notes)

Syrahs

  • 2006 Frei Brothers Syrah Reserve

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

    nose: tar, garrigue, pepper...very rhone-like as Amber pointed out.
    palate: sweet blackberry, kind of a flat midpalate, and a finish of...more blackberry. Some stewed flavors in there, too. I'm not a fan of stewed. THough this semlled like a rhone, it had too much sugar to actually impersonate one. It was OK.

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  • 2005 Cline Cellars Syrah Los Carneros Sonoma Estate 76 Points

    USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

    nose: fruit
    palate: no fruit. Tires, and a cardboard aftertaste. Blech.

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  • 2006 Isenhower Cellars Syrah Red Mountain 82 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

    nose: forest floor-ish.
    palate: coffee notes were inescapable, and the mouthfeel was unctuous and rich. However, the alcohol was way out of whack. I could not enjoy it for that. Too bad, it had promise.

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  • 2007 Substance Syrah 88 Points

    USA, Washington

    This is quite a deal at $16.99. With nice fruit, raspberry elements (OK, I stole that descriptor from Beth - but she nailed it!) and super juicy with signature WA acidity....it has near perfect balance with the smooth tannin, exuberant fruit and overall structure. Very impressed. And $16.99! 88-89 pts.

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Flight 5 - Dessert! (1 Note)

A treat from Scott G (the 'real' Scott G)

  • 2006 Domaine de Durban Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise

    This wine smelled exactly like perfume to me.
    And then it tasted like perfume. Well, it tasted how I would have assumed perfume would taste prior to having actually tasting it.
    Very light, flowery, and elegant. Not a heavy wine, by any means, but complete with airy sweetness. A delight.

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