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Artale Wine Company Benefit
Spring Creek Road
Tasted November 13, 2009 by Steve Jones with 1,190 views
Introduction
4 tables of average to great stuff, food from Josef's made for a fun night!
Flight 1 - Table 1 (10 notes)
By far the best of the 4 tables. The cab was spectacular, the SB quite nice, the PN fun, the Stonestreet very well done and Yangarra was a blast.
White
White
2006 Ghost Pines Chardonnay Winemaker's Blend
84 points
Nice and crisp but flavors were on the light side.
Red
2007 Carmel Road Pinot Noir
86 points
Musty earthy nose and flavors. Brambly cherry fruit. Nice inexpensive PN!
Red
2004 Stonestreet Fifth Ridge
88 points
Tannic, medium to full bodied, old world bordeaux flavors. Tight and closed still, nice wine!
Red
2003 Domaine Lignères Corbières Aric
87 points
Big flavors, nice Rhone styled blend. Mineral, dark fruit, rosey, intense.
Red
2006 Yangarra Estate Shiraz McLaren Vale
88 points
Bright rosey flavors. Old world corssover but has new world charm. One of the better offerings.
Red
2004 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard
93 points
Best of the tasting. Beautiful, intense cab with depth and full flavors.
Flight 2 - Table 2 (10 notes)
MCK was the hit here. Good stuff. The cab and malbec were very nice.
White
2006 Tangley Oaks Chardonnay Lot 3 Santa Barbara County
85 points
Big, oaky, bold style. Lots of flavor of butter, oak, spice.
White
2008 Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc
87 points
Big, over the top sauv blanc. Nice flavors, just big and all over the place.
White
Red
2006 K Vintners Syrah Motor City Kitty
90 points
Beautiful fruit forward wine. Intense, flavor packed. verged on fruit bomb but Charles SMith knows when to stop. Excellent.
Red
2005 Brassfield Estate Winery Zinfandel Round Mountain Volcano
84 points
OK zin, nothing really special.
Red
2006 The Seventy Five Wine Company Cabernet Sauvignon Amber Knolls Vineyard
87 points
Nice cab, just opened bottle so hard to tell how good. Med to full bodied, somewhat intense.
Flight 3 - Tbale 3 (8 notes)
The most disappointing table. Give me the Cab and Carmenere, keep the rest
White - Sparkling
White
2007 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis
82 points
I was hoping for a nice flinty French chard but got a flat and dull one. Disappointing.
White
2008 Gauthier Select Vineyards Riesling
75 points
Having had this guy from wheaton Il's Sauv blanc, I was excitied to try this. Very disappointing. The wine had little flavor at all. It really was like water. 75 may be generous, but it did not taste bad, it just did not taste.
Red
2007 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos
83 points
Fair at best. Dull, unexciting red wine. Looking at comments here, bottle may have been flawed.
Red
2007 Concha y Toro Carménère Marqués de Casa Concha
88 points
This has nice bold flavors. Best of this table along wth the cab.
Red
2007 Argiolas Perdera Isola dei Nuraghi IGT
84 points
Steady and ready standard Italian wine. Good, nothing special showed.
Red
2005 Frank Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
89 points
A nice traditional Cali cab. Med+ body, nice mouthfeel. Enjoyable and above average by far.
Flight 4 - Table 4 (8 notes)
The port, cab, syrah blend and perhaps the merlot showed ok.
White - Sparkling
2007 Marenco Moscato d'Asti Strev
86 points
Fresh and tasty, nicely balanced, not too sweet and better that way!
Red
2008 Apaltagua Pinot Noir
84 points
Either my taste buds were shot or I was drinking a lot of dull wine. Meh stuff.
Red
2004 Silverado Vineyards Merlot Mount George Vineyard
87 points
A very good merlot but a bit overpriced. Flavors were med +, not as complex as I would have hoped but nice.
Red
2007 Girard Winery Petite Sirah
85 points
Not the best PS I've had in awhile, certianly not bad. Just a bit duller than most. Still had the varietal character and flavors but not as intense as others at far lower price points.
Red
2006 Michael-David Vineyards Incognito
88 points
Nice Rhone blend. Complex, flavorful. Roses and intense fruit.
Red
2007 Fisticuffs Cabernet Sauvignon
87 points
Another nice cab. All the cabs tonight were fun to drink. This was a bit lighter but had good flavors and enough body to it. VERY young.
Red - Fortified
2004 Dow Porto Late Bottled Vintage
88 points
A lighter styled tradtional port. Very approachable now.
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Comment
Closing
The Louis Martini was the clear star of the night with the MCK also standing out. These two were the really exceptional wines offered out of all of them.