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PHMG WAG: The Wine Club Tasting
The Lyon Club
Tasted December 8, 2018 by Grinner with 134 views
Introduction
We've been in and out of more than 30 wine clubs in 25 years but we've never done a taste off (of sorts). I picked one bottle from 10 clubs, striving for diversity and rarity (at least for Eugene wine store shelves). I left out all our Oregon Pinot clubs to limit glassware AND leave me a theme for next time!
Flight 1 - The Opener (1 note)
White
2013 Merryvale Chardonnay Silhouette
92 points
This wine is a great spot. Nice depth of Fuji apple, white peach, white citrus with some minerality and salinity in the background. Does NOT scream California, oak is modest. Lovely, now-2023.
Flight 2 - The Reds (9 notes)
Red
2010 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Bancroft Ranch
95 points
My WOTN and a top 3 crowd fave as well. Great depth of cassis, black plum, crushed stone, spice, and oak. Goes on and on with integrated tannins. Now-2025.
Red
2011 Owen Roe Cabernet Franc The Pearl Union Gap Vineyard
89 points
A previous bottle was better a couple years ago. This one was a little thin and tart, but still enjoyable for its blackberry, violet and spice notes. Drink.
Red
2013 Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Coeur
93 points
Wow! Back to a deep bowl of mixed ripe fruit, loam, spice and oak. Nice structure and length. Now-2023.
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Red
2015 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot
92 points
Maybe the "Texture of the Night Award" in this tasting. Black fruit, mocha, and stone notes dominate; more integrated than just 10 months ago. Now-2025.
Red
2015 Envy Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
93 points
Outstanding for its depth of black fruit, mint, wet stone and oak notes, all in balance with significant tannins. Great QPR for the Calistoga neighborhood! Now-2025
Red
2015 Betz Family Cabernet Sauvignon Père de Famille
94 points
A super wine with a noticeable change in terroir as we rolled through these wines. Almost jammy black fruit, subtle oak and earth linger like a teen at the mall (oh wait! What are malls?). Now-2025.
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Red
2015 Huge Bear Petit Verdot
90 points
"And now for something completely different..." Finish that with your favorite Monty Python...this is as dark as their humor could be at times. A bit of a coarse texture with significant tannins dangling spice laden cassis, stone, ripe blackberry liqueur, and some more stone, followed by rocks..... I'd wait a year before trying again. 2020-2025
Red
2016 Cayuse Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard
95 points
My second WOTN and most controversial for this group of tasters. Cayuse "funk" is not for everyone! Savory notes abound here: leather, sangre de toro, forest floor / mushroom, pepper, and the almost barnyardy "funk". Great depth of blackberry, blueberry, currants, and black plum to balance things out. Now is fine but better 2020-2030.
Red
2016 Ridge Zinfandel Guadagni
91 points
A "sort of" dessert in this tasting and the glycerin does give it an almost sweet palate presence. Darker, more structured, and less brambly than many zins out there and I appreciate that! Now-2023.
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Closing
A hedonistic tasting for sure! Can the OPN's next time keep up??