+- WineBoard (https://www.wines.com/wineboard)
+-- Forum: TASTING NOTES & WINE SPECIFIC FORUMS (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-200.html)
+--- Forum: Cabernet Sauvignon (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-19.html)
+--- Thread: notes from ultra-premium tasting of mostly cab blends (/thread-4933.html)
- newsguy - 04-03-2007
here's some TNs from an ultra-premium tasting i attended a few weeks back.
directl link: http://www.examiner.com/a-645159~Terrific_tastings.html
or...
By Keith St. Clair
Examiner Wine Editor
WASHINGTON - A few weekends ago at the huge Washington D.C. International Wine & Food Festival, Friday night’s Grand Cru Lounge event was a smaller tasting aimed at the heavy hitters ($180 per ticket). Here are some notes on a handful of the more than 40 high-end wines being poured. Prices listed are approximate retail in the D.C. area unless otherwise noted.
2003 Opus One ($150) - This Bordeaux blend from Napa is a perennial favorite of expense account drinkers, thanks to the big names behind the winery (a joint venture founded by Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild). The ’03 bottling was very tight on the nose and it was slightly vegetal, which is fairly common from less-than-stellar vintages. The good news: It drinks better than it smells, with nice fruit and lots of fine tannins that need some time to resolve. I’d wait until 2010 to open a bottle. A nice wine, but for the price you can buy four or more bottles of better wine. Rating: Very Good.
1998/99/2000 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($60) - Another oft-collected California red, this one hails from Sonoma County. This three-year vertical tasting was educational — and a bit surprising. The ’98 was better than expected, well-balanced with quite tasty fruit and some tannins to let this one age a while still. The ’99, which is the best vintage of the three, was unexpectedly a little vegetal on the nose. I also found the fruit to be nice, but unremarkable. The 2000 had a nice nose, but seemed thin in the mouth and had a shortish finish. Rating: I like the ‘98 the best of trio, but I’d rate all three Very Good.
2003 Phelps Insignia ($135) - Always mentioned among the top California reds, the ’03 will continue that trend. This newly released Bordeaux blend is 84 percent cabernet sauvignon and it shows with aromas of dark fruits and spice, with notes of cotton candy, licorice and caramel. In the mouth, it starts of strong on the entry, softens in the mid-palate, then finishes very strong with lots of very fine tannins. Rating: Outstanding.
2001 Wolffer Premier Cru ($115) - At this premium tasting, this was the best wine that I’d never heard of. Wolffer Estate Vineyards is located on Long Island, N.Y., and its premier bottling is one of the best merlots I’ve had in a long time. It is absolutely loaded with smoky, spicy dark fruits, plus chocolate notes. It has wonderful balance and a very long finish. The winery does not have a retail distributor in the D.C. area yet, but sells off its Web site (www.wolffer.com/store). The ’01 already is sold out, but the ’02 is available at $125 a bottle. It’s definitely worth shopping online for. Rating: Outstanding.
2001 Penfold’s Grange ($200) - This shiraz is Penfold’s flagship wine, and arguably still is the most coveted bottling coming out of Australia. This vintage has been touted as one of the county’s best of modern times, and rightfully so. Huge aromas of dark red fruits and spice leap from the glass, along with oak nuances. It starts off with a big entry in the mouth, and the flavors keep expanding through the very long finish. Still could use two or three more years to really hit its peak. Rating: Classic.
[This message has been edited by newsguy (edited 04-04-2007).]
- Innkeeper - 04-03-2007
Lucky you.
- Drew - 04-04-2007
"A nice wine, but for the price you can buy four or more bottles of better wine. Rating: Very Good.
The ’99, which is the best vintage of the three, was unexpectedly a little vegetal on the nose. I also found the fruit to be nice, but unremarkable."
Thanks for the notes Keith but I do have a question. With paying $60 to over $100 for a bottle which shows vegetal nose and fruit that was unremarkable, how do you, or anyone, justify a very good rating? I'd be so P...ed off paying retail for that much less 2 times more restaurant. I think that's why I usually put $40 as my retail limit. Just curious, the show did sound like a good time though.
Drew
- winoweenie - 04-04-2007
Sounds like your kinda assignment there Newsie. Have had on several occassions all of the above wines with the exceprion of the Wolffer. Strangely my remembrance of them parallel yours with the exception of the 03 Insignia. After tasting this 3 times I found it not even close IMHO to the previous vintages and for the 1st time in 30 years didn't put any in the cellar. You must've gotten lucky on the bottle. Agree in spades on the Grange, but couldn't pull the trigger on the 429 per clatter here in Phoenix. When are you planning on getting an answering machinie-thingie? WW [img]http://wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
- Kcwhippet - 04-04-2007
Judy and I have been to Wolffer (and the other LI wineries) a few times. It's a very nice Merlot, but the price is just way too stratospheric for our taste. We met the winemaker's (Roman Roth) wife at the winery some years ago and she started talking about red wine headaches. She said the cause was too much sulfite in wines, so her husband had decided to make his wines with a minimum of sulfites. Her claim was that, as a result, there was a much less chance of getting a red wine headache from Wolffer red wines than from any other LI wineries red wines. I tried to argue the point with her, but she was very adamant in her position. She gave me a newsletter from the winery that made the same point and I sent it off to Bucko, who also debunked her theory. The wine was very good, but the price is just too much of a hit - it was $100 when we were last there about five years ago.
- winoweenie - 04-04-2007
Holy-Magilicuty there Red-Rider the price on the Grange looks cheap now. WW
- newsguy - 04-04-2007
i just updated the price on the '01 grange. realized that i had looked up the price of the '98 grange instead (which i am fortunate to have a bottle of, awaiting to open at my brother's 50th birthday dinner on 12/31/07). luckily, that price did not appear in the paper.
drew: the flavors were actually very good, and the bottling was a classy wine, but the fruit was just as what was expected for the wine, not remarkable. i think, numbers-wise, i gave the wine a score of 88, which is pretty good for an opus from a non-stellar vintage.
- newsguy - 04-13-2007
drew: just registered that you were asking about the '99 silver oak and not the opus. answer still is similar though. a very good wine, but things to keep me from rating it outstanding. my numerical score was 89.
WW: maybe i got lucky on the '03 insignia, but this definitely is the lowest-scoring bottling of this i've tried. previous ones were in the 93 to 97 range. this i scored at 90-92, which just put it in the outstanding category. very nice juice, but i wouldn't buy it at $100-plus. now if they decide to discount the heck out of it in six months (which i doubt will be necessary), i'd sure consider pulling the trigger at below $70. you're much better off waiting on the '04.