Seattle Wine Group - July 2013 Wine Tasting Event - Theme: Old World Whites ABCR
Freelon's house - Kent/Covington Area
Tasted July 19, 2013 by f22nickell with 625 views
Introduction
This month was Freelon's turn to choose the theme - Old World Whites ABCR ("Anything But Chardonnay or Riesling"). Quite the difficult task for most of us this appears to be an area we collectively are lacking. Freelon also wanted to host this event at his house instead of the Amaroso room in Bellevue.
Talk about a gracious host! We arrived to two bottles of Champagne (I didn't catch the labels) with an antipasto plate of cheese, smoked salmon, and olives.
During the Old World White ABCR Tasting, Freelon served Scallops right off the grill.
After the Old World White ABCR Tasting, Freelon sent the group to raid his cellar for reds to go with big, beautiful steaks on the grill. We chose 3 bottles while Freelon and his wife served up the perfect steaks, salad, oven potatos, and french bread.
Finally, as the evening rolled to an end, Freelon brought out some chocolate and a Sauternes.
Flight 1 - Old World Whites - ABCR (7 notes)
Anything but Chardonnay or Riesling
Aroma: lemon, melon, smoke and minerals
Palate: Nice and fresh with medium body and slightly oily and round texture. Decent acidity.
Moderate length
Bottle "A" - 4th place for me, seven entries.
Aroma: oxidized - Nutty, yeasty
Palate: Bitter, caramel, a touch of grapefruit juice
Oxidized
Bottle "B" - 7th place for me, seven entries.
Aroma: musty, band-aid
Palate: citrus, tart, white tea, green apple - not appealing.
Moderate length
Bottle "c" - 5th place for me, seven entries.
Had the 09 and 10 in the line up ... came in 5th and 6th place for me out of 7 entries (last place was a flawed, oxidized bottle.) Pretty clear this is not my style of wine.
Aroma: honey, fig, minerals, white peach, green apple, straw, melon
Palate: honey, minerals, white flowers, faint tropical fruit, fig.
Rich, round & smooth, long, tangy finish seamlessly melts away. Moderate length
Bottle "D" - 1st place for me, seven entries.
Aroma: grapefruit, herbs, minerals, a bit of peach
Palate: Citrus lemon and flint. Medium acidity, medium complexity. Good balance. Moderate length
Bottle "E" - 2nd place for me, seven entries.
Aroma: Diesel and band-aids
Palate: Pineapple juice, white tea, citrus, green apple.
Bottle "F" - 6th place for me, seven entries.
Had the 09 and 10 in the line up ... came in 5th and 6th place for me out of 7 entries (last place was a flawed, oxidized bottle.) Pretty clear this is not my style of wine.
Aroma: musty, crisp, citrus
Palate: citrus fruit on the front end, hops on the back end. Decent flavor, but found the hoppy after taste a bit unpleasant. Left me reaching for the water glass to get the taste out of my mouth.
Bottle "G" - 3rd place for me, seven entries.
Flight 2 - Cellar Raid! (4 notes)
Freelon sent us down to his Cellar to pick out some reds to go with big, beautiful, juicy steaks on the grill.
Not quite as good as the one we opened back on May 20th for our Tuscan wine tasting event. Still had the classic Cayuse funk on the nose, but the palate was muted compared to last time. Could be that we just popped n' poured. Palate improved over time, but the fruit never came up to the level of the last bottle. Still an oustanding bottle of wine, just not quite as good as the last one.
Palate: velvety, dark berry fruit, cassis, swisher sweet cigars, a hint of chocolate
Moderate length
Cellar raid! - Freelon gave us (near) free run of his cellar - this is one of three bottles we dragged up to have with steaks following the white wine tasting - Thank you Freelon!
Aroma: earth, black fruits, anise, medicinal
Palate: silky, rust, earthy-copper notes, touch of leather.
Moderate length
Jason brought this to the tasting. Interesting aroma - an intellectual exercise.
Aroma: dusty red fruit, black tea leaf, and rose petals
Palate: nice acidity with cherry, red fruit flavors, and dried leaves - a bit tart
Moderate length
Cellar raid! - Freelon gave us (near) free run of his cellar - this is one of three bottles we dragged up to have with steaks following the white wine tasting - Thank you Freelon!
Flight 3 - Digestif (1 note)
Dessert wine with chocolates to wind down the night.
Aroma: white peach, pineapple, apricot
Palate: well balanced, good acidity. stone fruits (pears, apricots), a hint of lime. Moderate length
Preferred the flavors of the single berry late harvest riesling we had two months ago, but this was a better, balanced wine.
Freelon brought this out with chocolate as the evening started to wind down. Quite the host Freelon, very generous!
Closing
A wonderful evening Freelon!
We all thank you very much, gracious host!