"Classic Values" night

Phil put all of this together with the idea to take 9 wines that have scored 95+ by a critic and cost either 60 or less and do them blind. It certainly made for an interesting tasting and premise. The question going in was, how will some of these wines perform in relation with each other as there was a fairly good cross section of wines and styles. Of course, the other question was, will these wines live up to the "hype" of the big score being bestowed upon them

I provided the Corton Charlemagne as a kick off white. Dave provided the Pinot

• 2001 Rapet Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne 92 Points

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

  nose: beautiful nose filled with glycerin, minerals, bits of tart citrus and stone fruits. Very pretty and balanced aromatics that are melding well right now, though it does take a bit to fully get going
  
  taste: great balance with excellent medium body providing tones of apricots, bits of oils, hints of oak flavors, along with stone and citrus fruits and a touch of minerality
  
  Overall: the acidity is well in check at this point. Its drinking perfectly, but grew a lot as it opened up. Should be able to develop for years to come, but isn't a real long term ager

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• 2002 La Vie Vineyards Pinot Noir Rasta Rita 87 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  nose: very pretty and rounded nose of raspberries, cola, spice tones, red cherries, and spice tones. Elegant with great aromatics right now that are very enticing
  
  taste: a major dissapointment compared to the nose. Nice attack of raspberries, cola and dark cherries, but this is a let down on the mid palate and a bit astringent and acidic on the finish
  
  overall: if only the palate could keep the depth on the nose. The nose is what this wine is all about, but it just fails on the palate sadly

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very interesting. A very wide range here as the Tardieu Laurent really seemed to act like a bordeaux and I was ready to put money on it being bordeaux. The Pax was a lovely wine that needs a bit more time, it isn't as much of a monster as I was expecting for a young Pax, so its probably right on the border of its drinking window. The Kaesler was very non-descript and rather dissapointing. I was looking forward to a good balance of fruit and being very aromatic, it wasn't that

• 2001 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 94 Points

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

  nose: very deep and gorgeous nose filled with black cherries, cassis, red fruits, some leather and cedar tones. With some air a bit of cigar box tones start to creep in. This was confusing in the blind format as it really came more across as a margaux or lighter styled pauillac
  
  taste: extremely well balanced with a medium/full and medium+ tannins. Excellent depth of flavors with black cherries, red fruits, berries, cedar and leather. The fullness is decieving as are the tannins
  
  overall: this acted more like a bordeaux then a CdP in the blind setting. Very interesting with loads of depth and balance. Great feel and aromatics, this can easily be drunk now and still has a good future in front of it

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• 2004 Pax Syrah Castelli-Knight Ranch 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  nose: excellent nose filled with red and black fruits, meaty tones, bits of liqueur and a bowlful of red cherries. Very aromatic and balanced that has a nice laid back but semi-powerful nature to it
  
  taste: really good medium feel with medium acidity. Well balanced tones of dark chocolate, red cherries, red and black fruits and hints of meaty notes. Great texture and polish to go with all of the excellent flavors
  
  overall: This is starting to come into its own. Extremely well balanced with excellent aromatics and flavors right now. Can definitely use some more time to develop further, but a really good wine that can easily be drunk now

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• 2005 Kaesler Shiraz The Bogan 87 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  nose: a wall of over the top fruit that isn't that expressive nor does it have a good amount of depth. Bright cherries, black berries, mixed berries, smoked wood and a bit of heat pervate
  
  taste: medium bodied with low tannins and low acidity. Nice tones of dark cherries, black berries, some mixed berries and a dose of heat comes through. Not very expressive and not as much depth as would be expected from what was at the table
  
  overall: not neccessarily overdone, just not a great wine. This was very ho-hum blind and came very much across as a run of the mill australian shiraz as opposed to a deep and expressive shiraz. A rather dissapointing performance

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A nice cross section here. It took a bit of convincing to get phil to include the pontet canet, but hey, if we're gonna be doing this kind of tasting, its rather ridiculous not to have in a bordeaux

The Clos Apalta is very nice and obviously young. It should be something to really taste in three more years. The Betz was dissapointing, but it won't prevent me from looking for a few to buy as I loved it back in july. The Pontet Canet was very interesting as it didn't perform in a way that I expected in that it was lighter toned then I'm used to from them. What makes it more interesting is that I pulled it from my own collection

• 2005 Clos Apalta 92 Points

  Chile, Rapel Valley, Colchagua Valley, Apalta

  nose: great layered nose filled with fruits along with red and dark cherries, anise, bits of herbs and spice. Good depth, but not really kicking it up another notch at this time. Good fruit seperates it in the tasting with a good lush quality too
  
  taste: very well balanced with good medium+ tannins with a nice lush medium/full feel of red and dark cherries, anise, spice tones and a good amount of mixed berries
  
  overall: an excellent wine. Really good feel with nice firm tannins. Seemed to be holding back a bit at this time, but has a really good lushness to it on both the nose and palate that make it very attractive

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• 2005 Betz Family Cabernet Sauvignon Père de Famille 90 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  nose: fairly forward nose of red cherries, bits of mint and herbs, berries, craberries, and some jammy tones. Good nose with a nice touch of depth, but a bit simplistic in the tones
  
  taste: good medium/full feel with medium+ tannins. Nice tones of blackberries, red cherries, berries, and some jammy tones. Nice depth, but comes across as fairly standard
  
  overall: this was a dissapointment when revealed. Nowhere near as expressive as it was back in July and its taken a turn into being a standard cabernet as opposed to being a great expression of fruit and depth. It may have to do with decant time on this. Still an outstanding bottle, but this didn't show the promise that the last one did

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• 2003 Château Pontet-Canet 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  nose: very expressive nose that almost acts like sangiovese with loads of roasted herbs, tobacco, leather, spice tones, dark red cherries and cranberry tones. Very rich but lifting at the same time, this had me convinced that it was a super tuscan or possibly a classically styled sangiovese. This bottle didn't perform like Pontet Canet had for me in the past
  
  taste: rich and full with excellent medium/high tannins. Impeccably balanced tones of leather tobacco, roasted herbs, dark red cherries, and dark berries
  
  overall: blind tasting can bring about odd things sometimes. Supposedly this had been sent through a vinturi and then bottle aired for 3-4 hours. I handed this off the day before since I wouldn't be able to properly decant it for the tasting on my own. Its a wonderful bottle and certainly I'm happy to have a few more of these, its just surprising how it performed in the tasting

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It was nice to see phil include an italian wine since he doesn't normally drink them.

An interesting set of wines with having two spanish and one italian. The Masperla was really good and on the young side with the Sierra Carche just being odd and most likely off. The Fontodi was the real winner in this flight and is a very worthy cellar canidate

• 2005 Masperla Priorat 91 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  nose: really good and loaded nose of black fruits, red cherries, anise, and black spices. Very black fruit heavy with excellent aromatics at this time. Well balanced with good depth, this has a good purity about it
  
  taste: excellent medium feel with medium+ tannins that provide well defined tones of black fruits, black spices, red cherries, and some red and black currants poke their way through. Not as much depth on the palate as the nose, but what is there is excellent at this time
  
  overall: will obviously need a few years, but is a really good wine. Excellent depth and purity on the nose, the palate needs to catch up and form a bit more depth. A good one to revisit in 4-6 years or so

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• 2005 Bodegas y Viñedos de Murcia Jumilla Sierra Carche Flawed

  Spain, Murcia, Jumilla

  this bottle was a real mess. Highly disjointed on both the palate and nose with some weird black fruits, bad black licorice and a whole lot of burnt plastic tones. There is nothing but tannins and out of whack acidity on the palate. Something just doesn't seem right about this wine and revisiting it later in the evening only made it worse. I'm with holding judgment until possibly trying a bottle in the future

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• 2004 Fontodi Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG

  nose: beautiful and elegant nose that has a chalky base with lovely tones of florals, spices, herbs, bits of pipe tobacco, berries, and hints of earthen tones. Very expressive at this time with a good amount of class and depth
  
  taste: very good and firm tannins with medium+ acidity. Elegant tones of dark red cherries, herbs, floral bits, spice tones and bits of earthen tones meld very well together with the class that good sangiovese brings
  
  overall: lovely and very young. Will need a could of years to fully come together and let the nuances shine. This is easily on par with a lot of brunellos(and costs the same). Excellent aromatics and tones at this young age already, it can only go up from here and really bloom

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A very interesting tasting. I will want to try the Sierra Carche again as it just seemed out of whack. Some slight surprises in the sense that some of the wines performed differently then one would expect considering the region or grape. Overall though, a really fun night and hats off to phil for all of teh work he put in to make it all happen