Had a leisurely dinner at home last night with Traci and cooked up one of my favorite dishes… A simple roast chicken. This has to be one of the most underrated meals out there and you can find an organic bird for a whopping 7 or 8 bucks… add a potato or two, maybe an onion, throw it all in a 450 degree (or hotter if your oven doesn’t smoke.. mine unfortunately does) and in about 35 minutes, you have a meal for 4 (or leftovers for the next day) that comes out to about 3 bucks a head.

A half bottle of 2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape was the perfect match. This isn’t a Beaucastel for the ages and shows a clear, semi-opaque, ruby color along with an upfront, sweet nose of licorice, hot stones, hoisin sauce and roasted herbs. The palate is medium to full bodied with ripe (overripe?) fruit, a light, smooth texture and an enjoyable finish. All in all, an outstanding and seemingly early maturing wine. (92 pts.)

The Fort Collins winos staged a fantastic Bordeaux tasting this past week and Sean O’Leary and I drove up from Denver for a mid-week bash. The line up was serious Bordeaux and it was a treat to get to drink through these wines with and without food.  Due to the small group, it was possible to taste through each bottle at different points through out the evening and really get a feel for the wines.

1986 Château Gruaud Larose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (2/25/2009)
This sports a deep opaque burgundy color to go along with its blockbuster aromatics of earthy dark fruit, spice, cedar and lead pencil. Very rich and with nice complexity, this has plenty of ripe fruit and freshness. The wine explodes on the palate with stunning concentration, solid structure and a long finish. This is a structured, masculine wine with plenty of life ahead of it. (95 pts.)

1982 Château Cos d’Estournel - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (2/25/2009)
Beautiful with sweet fruit, hot asphalt and spice aromas that blend with celery and subtle forest floor notes on the nose. The palate is fantastic with full body, a rich texture and a long finish where fine grained tannins show up. This wine drastically improved with air. (94 pts.)

1982 Château La Lagune - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (2/25/2009)
Completely mature with big, perfumed aromatics of sweet cherry, incense, spice and cedar notes. The palate is integrated with medium to full body paired with impressive sweet fruit, a silky texture and a long finish. This started out with guns blazing but faded over the evening and lacked some of the backend depth of the other wines so I’d drink these sooner rather than later. (92 pts.)

1983 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/25/2009)
Simply stunning with screaming aromatics of smoke, fresh brewed coffee, lead pencil and meaty notes all wrapped around a beautiful dark fruit core. It’s complex, deep and rich with surprising freshness and precision. The palate is medium to full bodied with a layered, structured and yet light texture, gorgeous balance and a long finish. Drinking perfectly. (96 pts.)

1973 Château Mouton Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/25/2009)
The first year of Mouton’s claim to the illustrious league of First Growths… and this bottle wasn’t reinforcing that claim. The nose is decidedly oxidized and the palate was thin and acidic. Certainly serviceable with food… but not much more. NR (flawed)

2000 Château d’Issan - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (2/25/2009)
Youthful, perfumed and intense on the nose, this offers up jammy blackberry and cassis fruit mixed with saddle leather, spice and serious mineral notes. The palate is medium bodied with a core of sweet fruit, lush texture, impressive balance and a long finish. This is darn right precocious and nothing wrong with drinking these now. (94 pts.)

2003 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (2/25/2009)
A monster wine that displays raw power paired with a perfectly balanced, harmonious character. The nose is stacked with massive, clean, pure blackberry and cassis fruit intermixed with loamy earth and classy oak notes and the palate is perfect with stunning concentration, a seamless texture and perfect balance. There’s considerable structure hiding under the fruit and masses of fine grained tannins kick in on the finish. This bottle was double decanted 13 hours prior to drinking and showed brilliantly.  (98+ pts.)

2000 Château Giscours - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (2/25/2009)
This is restrained and down right muted on the nose but with coaxing, yields espresso, pain grille, lead pencil and mineral notes. There’s a nice core of dark fruit that comes out with air and this continued to improve over the evening. In contrast to the nose, the palate is open for business with sweet fruit, a rich, lush texture and low acidity. This has lots of upfront appeal and is drinking beautifully. (92 pts.)

1990 Château Suduiraut - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (2/25/2009)
Along with a dark amber color, this possesses lots of cream brulee, toasted spice and brown sugar aromatics, full body and an enjoyable finish. There’s nice sweetness, low acidity and a full, lush texture but it lacks complexity. (91 pts.)

2003 Château Guiraud - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (2/25/2009)
Wow, a gorgeous Sauternes that has gobs of vanilla, custard and honey mixed with white flowers, baking spices and marmalade notes on the nose. The palate is full throttle with low acidity, a fat, lush texture, beautiful precision, clarity and a long finish. Very young and primary on the nose at the moment but I’m a fan.  (94+ pts.)

My wife Traci was away in the mountains over the weekend,  making for a perfect time to rally the Denver crew for a fun night of eating, drinking and general all around merriment… While this started low key and small, the invite list continued to grow and we ended up with a great group and some stunning wines.

We started out slowly with two champagnes paired with assorted cheeses and the N.V. Laurent-Perrier Champagne Brut L.P. always pleases with its clean, floral bouquet and elegant palate. In contrast, the 1996 Pol Roger Champagne Extra Cuvée de Réserve Brut was a much bigger wine with more richness and depth.

The food portion of the evening started at this point and a 2001 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières paired up nicely with a rosemary risotto pasta course and was down right fruit driven with tropical notes mixed with nut, butterscotch and oak aromas and a fantastically rich, fat palate.

Along with an otherworldly Provencal Cassoulet, the reds started off with a bang with the 1978 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens. Beautifully perfumed, spiced and complex, the palate was pure silk with perfect balance and a long finish. While mature, there’s a sweet core of fruit that keeps this interesting.

We also paired a small vertical of Domaine de la Janasse’s Chaupin bottling with the Cassoulet and while this wine and producer gets flack for being over ripe and alcoholic, I don’t see it in any way and remain a fan. This wine is 100% old vine Grenache from a sandy, single vineyard plot in the northern part of Chateauneuf du Pape and sees large foudres and older barrels for its elevage.
First up was the 1998 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin and it was consistent with a previous bottle last year.  It’s  rich, meaty and ripe with nice complexity on the nose and plenty of sweet fruit on the palate. Mature and right in the middle of its drinking window. The 2001 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin showed similar but had a slightly cleaner profile, gorgeous fruit and solid structure. This bottle had been opened 6 hours prior but wasn’t decanted. The 2003 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin ratcheted things up on the sweetness scale and showed bright, clean aromatics of raspberry liqueur, spice, licorice and meaty aromas, full body and a fantastic, sweet, fruity core. Despite the controversy on these wines, every bottle I’ve opened has shown superbly and a quick poll of the table didn’t yield any detractors.

From here we served up seared leg of lamb with roasted fingerling potatoes and a bottle of 2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select was off the charts. Utterly profound with sweet dark fruit, chocolate and herbs, this is a perfect blend of power and finesse with the palate showing considerable structure paired with an elegant seamlessness that just glides over the tongue. A bottle of 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle was fantastic with earthy aromatics of cassis, smoked meat, bacon and graphite. The palate was structured, tannic and unevolved but showed stunning precision, depth and structure. The 1998 Château Léoville Barton was young and structured with a traditional, concentrated and powerful character but opened up on the second day and has notable purity, balance and precision. An off bottle of 1997 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate showed potential but was unfortunately marred by a chlorine element and possibly subtle TCA. A 1996 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva was perfumed and interesting the first night but blew me away on the next day. Just jam packed with spiced cherry, Turkish coffee, cedar and exotic spice, this is ready to go on the palate with sweet fruit, admirable balance and a smooth, integrated texture. A corked bottle of 1998 Beni di Batasiolo Barolo and a 1998 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano were also opened but I failed to write notes on these.

Prior to the dessert, we paired a 1998 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume with seared foie gras and rosemary apple compote with wild flower honey. Sweet and honeyed on the nose with hints of creamed corn, minerals and citrus; this is bright, clean and pure. The palate is full bodied with a rich, lush texture, gobs of sweetness and a long finish. This bottle seemed much fuller and sweeter on day two.

A 1983 Fonseca Porto Vintage capped the fun evening.

Courses:

1. Assorted Cheeses
2. Rosemary Rissotto Pasta
3. Provencal Cassoulet
4. Grilled leg of Lamb with herbed fingerling potatoes
5. Seared Foie Gras with rosemary apple compote and wild flower honey
6. Chocolate Cake

2005 Alain Jaume & Fils Lirac Clos de Sixte - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Lirac (2/19/2009)
Along the same line as Mordoree’s Lirac Reine Des Bois, this offers up a relatively modern profile with stunning, pure, clean fruit, impeccable balance and a fine grained, sophisticated tannic structure.  On the nose this shows subtle graphite and coffee aromas that blend with blueberry, minerals and roasted herb notes and while it’s fruit driven, it has plenty of depth and is far from a fruit bomb. The palate is medium to full bodied with a core of sweet, dark, glass coating fruit, serious structure and a long finish. This needed a couple hours to really show well and was still beautiful on day two. (92 pts.)

Been in survival mode for the last week due to an operations test at work (http://kepler.nasa.gov/ Launches March 5th… SOB…just typing that scares me)… and have been working on the tasting notes database almost every evening… despite some crazy hours, I was able to open some fun wines and ended doing a 2001 Domaine de la Charbonnière comparison with two of their wines open.

The 2001 Domaine de la Charbonnière Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is a blend of roughly 95% Grenache (80 to 100 years-old vines from La Crau) and 5% Mourvèdre (45 years-old vine) and offers up rich, deep and perfumed aromatics of dark cherry, licorice, mineral, Provencal herbs and baking spices that are pure, clean and precise. In the mouth this shows a beautiful core of sweet fruit, medium body, ripe tannin and stunning balance. The solid structure and overall harmony should have this aging well but it’s certainly enjoyable now with about an hour of air time. (92 pts.)

In comparison, the 2001 Domaine de la Charbonnière Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Mourre des Perdrix (70% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and 15% Mourvedre) was much more open and precocious with spicy black cherry and raspberry, spice, licorice, incense and floral aromas on the nose. Perfumed, spicy and drinking damn well, this in a good spot and possesses medium body, a silky, smooth texture and a lush, easy going character. There’s plenty of length and like the Vieilles Vignes, it’s beautifully balanced, elegant and just a joy to drink. Showed best with an hour or so of air and drink this beauty over the next 10 years or so. (92 pts.)

Until I get a database up with all of my notes (in the works…), I’m going to stick these weekly tasting notes here… These were all purchased recently for under 30 bucks and are simply fantastic, unique bottles of wine.

2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
I had this blend of 44% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 5% Counoise open for two days and it offers up fantastic, meaty and almost exotic aromatics of dark fruit, licorice, asphalt, underbrush and baking spices. It gained complexity with air and is rich, perfumed and interesting. The palate is full bodied and fruit driven with ripe tannic structure, beautiful texture and a solid, concentrated mid-palate that carries into a long finish. This estate is producing amazing wine that blends the ripe, fruit driven character of the central coast with the density, structure and depth that can be achieved from the Southern Rhone. (93 pts.)

2006 Les Obriers de La Pèira Coteaux du Languedoc Les Terrasses du Larzac - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Coteaux du Languedoc Les Terrasses du Larzac
This takes some coaxing but with air, gives up fantastic aromatics of cherry and raspberry fruit mixed with iron, spice and earth nuances. It’s impressive on the palate and shows beautiful purity to go along with medium to full body, solid concentration and a rich, supple texture. Balanced and rich, this shows nice length on the finish and is a beautiful, well made wine. (91 pts.)

2004 Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas
One of the most impressive 2004s I’ve had, this blend of 80% old vine Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, 3% Syrah and 2% Cinsault has stunning aromatics of pepper and licorice infused black cherry fruit, roasted herbs and garrigue, graphite, tar and hot stone notes. There’s almost a meaty, savory quality to the aromas and there’s real depth and complexity paired with rich, sweet fruit and if you love southern rhones, this baby can make your knees weak. The palate is medium to full bodied with considerable structure that’s front and center at the moment. It’s concentrated without being over the top and is beautifully balanced, rich, textured and long with noticeable tannins on the finish. Accessible now but give this 5 to 10 years to flesh out and gain complexity. A stunning wine! (93+ pts.)

Traci and I had some friends over the other night and we served up straight forward bistro fare (my favorite style) that started with a simple, cream heavy Apple & Rutabaga soup that we paired with a N.V. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut. I know this is the whipping boy of overpriced champagne but there was nothing wrong with this bottle and it showed surprisingly rich and toasty aromatics along with a medium bodied, creamy mouth feel. Traci stashes these in the cellar so I’m not sure if this had a year or two on it or if it was just recently purchased. Either way, if the price is right, these are certainly enjoyable (89pts.)

We also paired the champagne with a salad course before moving into the main dish of Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese with crisp Country Ham dish. Simple reduced cream mixed with smoked Gouda, shallots and a pinch of nutmeg gets covered in crisped country ham and it doesn’t get much easier to serve up. We went through a bottle of 2006 Domaine Chante Perdrix Châteauneuf-du-Pape and this blend of 80% Grenache is a gorgeous, upfront and easy drinking wine. The nose shows pure, clean raspberry aromas that blend with subtle spice, licorice and mineral notes and the palate displays the charm of the vintage with a smooth, rich, creamy texture and a harmonious, balanced, drink me now character. This faded slightly over the evening and given the upfront appeal, should be a candidate for drinking over the next 5 to 7 years (91pts.)

The charm and gulp ability of the Perdrix was in sharp contrast to a 2005 Château Pesquié Côtes du Ventoux Terrasses. I’ve been through close to a case of this wine and almost every bottle shows a slight spritz at first and takes a good 3+ hours to show its best and this was no exception. Just packed with peppery dark fruit, leather, spice and mineral notes, this is a traditional, medium bodied, masculine wine. The remaining half bottle showed even better on the next day. I like the 2005 a hair more than the 2006 but this can be found for a ridiculous low prices and is a no brainier case purchase for me (90pts.)

We finished the evening up with some Chocolate Soufflés and called it a night.

Thanks for reading!

Oh yeah, new stemware coming in! Just picked up a 4 pack of the Bottega Super Venetian from www.Primovino.net and couldn’t be happier with them… While I’ll normally grab a Riedel Vinum burg glass for most southern Rhones (I have no problem gulping them down out of Bordeaux, Tempranillo (love this glass!) or even a nice rocks glass if the mood is right), I’ve always pined over these BV glasses when hanging out with Rico or Brad V and felt like quite the mooch when asking to borrow one... Well those days are over and now I just need to find a way to keep from breaking em… unlike the Vinums, I don’t think these would survive the dishwasher.  If you get a chance, these really are fantastic glasses for grenache based wines!

If anyone knows of a good stemware case, please let me know!

Thanks!

Jeb

It’s funny that for a place that gets slammed for having all wines taste the same, it’s surprisingly easy to find wines that taste completely different… The two wines below are case in point and each sees a very different up bringing with the results being, you guessed it, completely different. Which you’ll prefer will depend on your own personal preferences or mood at the time.

The 2006 Graff Family vineyards Grenache is in the same style as the 2005 and sees 20% of the juice spending 10 months in new oak and the remainder in used oak. It’s intense, ripe and sweet on the nose with raspberries, red fruits, spice and vanilla scented aromas and it makes up for its simplicity with sheer exuberance. The palate is upfront with big fruit, medium to full body and a rich, concentrated and lush texture. This picks up some structure on the finish but is a ripe, hedonistic California Grenache (90pts).

In stark contrast, the 2004 Outpost Grenache exhibits a much spicier, interesting and complex bouquet with perfumed vanilla, spice, white chocolate, candied black cherry, coffee and waxy aromas that would have me guessing that this wine sees gobs of new wood… and I’d be wrong. Per the domaine, this sees zero oak but is vinified with whole clusters inclusion. All I can say is that these stems add tremendously to the character of the wine and give it a decidedly oak’esk personality without actually screaming new oak. In the mouth this shows medium to full body with a core of sweet fruit, rich texture and slight hit of alcohol on the tail end of a nice finish. This bottle really took some air time to show well (think second day) but was worth the wait (89pts).

Don’t let anyone tell you that all California wines taste the same!

Salut and thanks for reading!
- Jeb

While I’ve only had the recent releases from this producer, I’m continually impressed by their wines and they show clean, pure fruit while still holding onto their southern rhone roots.  I opened this bottle for a family dinner and after about an hour in the decanter, the bottle was drained in all of 15 minutes.  For the quality, these are also reasonably priced and have good availability.

2006 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Similar to its big brother, this has dark, rich black cherry and raspberry aromatics to go along with its full bodied, balanced palate. There’s nice concentration, plenty of rich fruit and impressive length on the finish. (92 pts.)