Some Recent Pours

[Redwinger]

In no particular order:

1991 Lyiane Saugere, La Colline D’Argent, Cote-Rotie

Decanted off its’ sediment about 45 minutes prior to fist sip. Initially some muted syrah fruit framed by integrated tannins and nice acidity. I revisited this about 90 minutes later and it had turned into something atypical for a Cote-Rotie. Fruit went wherever faded fruit goes and the acidity was fighting with a dill driven oakiness for control. This has been a fairly reliable pour in the past but I’m glad this was my last bottle.

1998 Didier Dagueneau, Pur Sang

The slightly golden hue declares this is a Sauvignon Blanc with a few years under its’ belt. After popping the cork, and taking my first sip I was not terribly impressed. Nice, but nothing special. I revisited this a couple of hours later after tasting a number of “big” reds hoping for a bit of palate cleansing and this had morphed into something very nice. It had picked up weight, become quite plush, crisp minerality, along with refreshing tones of light citrus, pineapple and lemon peel. Quite nice, but I’m not sure it is worth the current tariff.

2001 SQN Ventriloquist

Big, dense, and tightly wound. First taste was interesting but no means profound. A bit over the top for my tastes and I quickly tired of this one. Others enjoyed it more than I did.

1990 Dalla Valle, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa

Through the generosity of others, I’ve had a number of Dalla Valles from the early 90’s and each one of them has been impressive. This was another example of a wonderful mature Cabernet. At peak, but should hold nicely for another couple of years I would suspect.

2004 Dom. De la Pepiere, Muscadet

In certain therapeutic circles on the internet this wine has developed an almost cultish following. Several lemming like months later I finally breakdown and see what all the fuss is about. Initial pour was way to cold and for the first hour or so the wine had an off-putting calcium/almost, but not quite sulphury thing going on. That will teach me for being a lemming!

I put the glass aside and forgot about it until later in the evening when once again my palate needed a cleansing break from the big reds. Oh my, this is very nice. The calcium/sulphur stuff has blown off and this is clean and crisp. A mighty fine $10 bottle. Still tasty the morning after and has me hankering to have some shellfish for dinner.

2004 Duo Grenache, Larner Vineyard, Santa Barbara

This is an angry wine right now. Disjointed and awkward. I’ve never tasted a barrel sample, but this is what I would expect for one. The consensus was that this wine has potential, but needs some time to settle down. In addition to its’ obious youth, I later learned this bootle was only a couple of days off the UPS truck.

2002 Domaine Olivier, Savigny-Les-Beaune, Les Peuillets

Bright, refreshing, cherry/red fruit flavors, no noticeable oak and with a somewhat strange, but not unappealing aroma of orange/lemon peel (this blew off after an hour or so). Great acidity. I liked this more than some of the other attendees and I would not turn down another glass.

2003 Terlato Syrah (Dry Creek or RRV?)

I had this at an in-store tasting and cannot begin to explain how disappointing/awful this was. Little Syrah fruit character, with tannins and acids just plain AWOL. I wouldn’t pay $5 for this let alone the $35 asking price.

Bill