Kicking back on the rooftop

With the weather being as nice as it was this late in the year, shane, ward, and I kicked back on the rooftop of shane's building

A nice range of younger CdPs. THe Telegraphe and the La Nerthe are starting to drink, but they seem like they can go a ways. The Papet needs a good amount of time and should be a real attractive wine in a few years

• 2000 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau 92 Points

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

  nose: great nose with lots of garrigue, black cherries, black fruits, roast beef, saddle leather and cracked pepper tones. Great depth and extremely well balanced with a real classic nose right now
  
  taste: Excellent medium feel with good tannins and well balanced tones of garrigue, black cherries, roast beef, along with a whole lot of incense and perfume tones that seem to explode on the mid palate. Real good depth along with the feeling being fairly suave makes this fairly drinkable right now
  
  overall: still a young CdP, this was very drinkable with a good decant. This comes off as entering what should be a long window and it should offer even more in another 5 years

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 1998 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Cadettes 93 Points

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

  nose: really good and deep nose of black cherries, liqueur tones, dark red fruits, hoison sauce, various spice tones and bits of pepper. Very well balanced and very aromatic right off the bat, and it gained with air
  
  taste: great medium feel with rich tones of mesquitte, leather, hoison sauce, black cherries, liqueur tones, and some spice tones. Good tannins still show themselves and the wine is very balanced, but seems a bit reserved at this moment
  
  overall: This needs to be decanted for an hour or so. This was showing best after about two hours of air, but the palate still seemed holding back a bit. Comes off as having a long life ahead of it, and it will most likely show even better in another 3-5 years

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2005 Clos du Mont-Olivet Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Cuvée du Papet 92 Points

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

  nose: good and rich nose filled with garrigue, creamed red fruits, red cherries, spices, bits of meaty tones, and some leather. Great depth and balance on the nose and has a more red fruited base to it right now
  
  taste: good tannins and a delicious medium feel with well balanced tones of garrigue, creamed red fruits, red cherries, spices and some leather. Great depth with a real polished feel to it underneath the tannins
  
  overall: this should develop real nicely over the next 5-8 years and seems to have a great spine to have it last a good while. There is a real tasty red fruit style to this and there is a real good purity and depth to the wine already

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

This was single blind. Both shane and I knew the wines we were both bringing for this, and ward served them to us blind. Both shane and I used an oregon pinot glass and a grand cru burgundy glass. This was my first experience with a Oregon pinot glass, and the DDO Laurene came off as very expressive right now in it. I would've liked to have tried the BF in the oregon glass, but it wasn't to happen

• 2000 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir The Beaux Frères Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, Oregon, Yamhill County

  nose: has a real good richness to it with balanced and plush tones of dark red cherries, mushrooms, whisps of smoke tones, plums, violets and a hint of perfumes. Great depth and expression, but also comes off as not giving everything it wants to give right now
  
  taste: rich and smooth medium/full feel with cherries, plums, fresh picked berries, violets and a hint of smoke tones. Good tannins still give this some backbone
  
  overall: This still comes off as fairly young. Its just starting to evolve but seems like it needs another 3 years to really start to hit its stride. Its accessible with a good decant right now

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2000 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène 93 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

  nose: nose: captivating and effusive nose filled with delicious tones of red fruits, mineral rich earth, red florals, plums, red cherries, and some bits of smoke tones. Extremely well balanced on the nose and is really sucks you in
  
  taste: very classy and silky with a lot of polish on the palate and plush tones of red cherries, minerals, earth tones, red fruits, and a touch of red florals. Drinking beautiful right now as this just flowed across the palate
  
  overall: a real beautiful wine. Captivating and elegant, this was extremely balanced and pretty. It just oozed class all around and really seems to be in a great spot and should hold like this for a while as the acidity was still very good too

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

This was drank over the night and was the meal wine. This was paired up with some thin crust pizzas

obviously its very young, but this would be a real nice one to have in the cellar as it ages

• 2004 Ceretto Barolo Zonchera 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  nose: lovely and perfumed nose of roses, tar, red cherries, herbs, bits of juniper spices, and some pretty tones of fresh strawberries. Very well balanced and it took awhile to get going, but had a real class and femininity to it that was very beguiling on the nose
  
  taste: high acidity and big tannins show off the youth of the wine with a real pretty medium feel and tones of strawberries, red cherries, roses, and bits of herbs
  
  overall: a very young barolo as would be expected, but shows off a lot to like for some time down the road. A real attractive and feminine style forms the base for the wine with fresh tones on both the nose and palate. Good depth right now, this should really blossom with another 8 years to let the nuances come out of the wine

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

A real fun and laid back night. It's not often that its in the 60s this late in the year in Chicago, so you always have to take advantage of those chances. Real nice night, with good friends and good wine