Who would be so crazy as to pass up the opportunity to sample these great wines at one sitting? Well not me!

Last night, a group of us got together to taste the following:

2000 and 1998 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape

1989 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Cadettes

As a group, we were most impressed with the 1998 version, followed by the 1989 and then the 2000. At first we did not feel that the 2000 was anywhere near the quality of the other two, but after sitting open for about an hour, it really opened up and smoothed out. It is indeed worthy.

Here are the comments from the group on each of the wines:

2000 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Light purple in color, a slight barnyard aroma at first but that burns off after a bit. There is a touch of eucalyptus. After sitting, this turns vegetative with a touch of bell pepper. The flavors are hot, earthy, mushroom, plum with a eucalyptus aftertaste. It has a spicy finish. We were trying to find a way to describe an almost clove flavor, but couldn’t come up with a better word. There is some pomegranate or perhaps current flavor there also.

The above description fit the wine after it set for a half an hour. But after sitting open for an hour, it really changed for the better. Our notes state that it becomes much smoother after opening up. The aroma contains raspberry and dark fruit. The flavors include cherry and black pepper. The finish has nice pepper and is now very elegant.

1998 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape
A bit deeper in color than the 2000. At first there is a pleasant yeasty aroma which turns to strawberry with a touch of wintergreen. In the mouth, it is very nice, very smooth. There an almost maple syrup or brown sugar sweetness which caries through the velvety, elegant finish.

1989 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Cadettes
Darker purple than the 1998, starting to show its age just a bit. The aroma is earthy, creamy mocha and black pepper. We tasted black pepper with a distant hint of blueberry. The finish is beautiful. This wine is ready to drink now.

This is a unique white wine. It has beautiful color. The aromas and flavors are slightly sweet ruby red grapefruit with a touch of melon. It has a just a hint of sparkle.

We tasted this one blind…

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50% Shiraz, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. This was purchased on eBay (I’ve had good luck with these recently) as a ‘6-pack’ . Opened one without a rest, and WOW! I think you have to have a hankering for a wine in this somewhat extreme style (I do.) This is an Aussie wine, by the way

The nose is full of big, dark, fruits with a hint of smokey cedar. First taste is of blackberry, again very intense and ominous. Slightly hot and acidic , but then mellows slightly to a simply large longlasting berry (black, with some current.)

If you are in a mood for a huge, ominous bottle, I highly recommend this. Approx $15 per/ bottle. I’ve not seen these locally, but worth a check.

My experience with Cline Cellars has not been on the positive side. So, when we opened this one last evening at a family get together, I really wasn’t expecting a lot. Well, this one was a great surprise!

As the name implies, this one is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Mourvedre, Carignane, and Grenache. If you are saying to yourself that it sounds very Rhone-style, you are correct. At a price point of $8, this one will blow you away. All the typical Rhone descriptors are there; dark fruit, leather, tobacco, and vegetables. From nose to finish, this one is amazing…. absolutely worth a re-purchase.

When I poured this one, I could tell just by looking at it that it was going to be a great wine. It is a very clear, but dark purple in color.

The initial aroma has a touch of blueberry, which burns off to reveal a touch of earthiness, and leather under the fruit, which also includes dark cherry and black current.

In the mouth, it has a nice smooth texture; dark fruit is complemented quite nicely with black pepper. I think this will pair nicely with Mexican food.

The pepper builds on the finish, reaching a peak then falling off quite elegantly.

A friend from Wellington, NZ sent a link to an Ebay auction for a half-case of NZ Pinot Noir he has had and highly recommended. I won the bid for $103 shipped, and received it FedX today. Opened a bottle tonight expecting the worst (hey, could have been poorly stored since ’99.)

The first sniff revealed that it was not damaged in any way – in fact even without resting after its travel it was apparant that this is a high quality Pinot. Very much a classic Pinot nose (unlike many recent offerings from CA and OR, where they have gone ‘overboard’ in one way or another) of damp earth with just a hint of Eucalyptus and over-ripe rasberry.

In the mouth it is velvety-soft, still earthy, and finishes with a leathery fruit. Perfectly balanced, I think, with no one trait standing out too much – like the New England Patriots of Pinot Noir. Not a huge wine, this, as many from CA and OR have become, but beautifully balanced and enjoyable. I wouldn’t have expected it to work with our homemade pesto (homegrown basil) tonight, but it may be capable of providing a complimentary taste with many foods. Martinborough Vineyard is proud of their Pinots, and rightly so judging by this ’99. I think it is near its peak now, but additional cellaring should soften it even more.

Expect to pay $35 or so for a more recent vintage (unless you beat me out for more on Ebay.)

Nice ruby-red color, aromas include red currents, a touch of blueberry and a touch of leather.

In tasting it I can say that you can drink it now or let it sit another year or two. It is quite nice right now, so I say drink it!

It has a nice balance from start to finish, but it has a bit of sour cherry. It would pair well with a grilled steak dusted with freshly ground pepper, as the wine finishes with a bit of heat.

Nice purple color, not as deep in color as I expected, but quite nice. There is a hint of the age when held over a white background. This is better than I expected.

I opened it while it was fresh from the 55° F cellar. I think that I should have let it come to room temperature before opening it, as the aroma was not as pleasant as I had hoped for. It was in the arena of dirty socks. So I let it sit in the glass for about thirty minutes then came back to it. There was still a touch of mustiness, but under that, there was a touch of chocolate, a touch of red cherry, a lot of alcohol, a touch of tobacco, and a little blueberry.

I was disappointed with the flavors. There is no fruit left; it is all wood, alcohol, a lot of tannins. Perhaps I need to decant the thing and let it sit for a while longer. I’ll do that and resume tasting after a bit…

One interesting note on the decanting of this wine – there was no residue in the bottle. Not even a little bit.

Okay, so after being open an hour, I was ready to dump this down the drain, but I think that I read in a Perl manual something about laziness being a virtue. How true!

About an hour later, I decided to make beef tacos. I had the decanter sitting on the kitchen counter top, and as the ground beef was getting close to being ready, I decided that I needed to move the decanter out of the way. I caught a whiff, and said “Wait a minute, what was that?”

There was a lovely aroma cutting through the smell of the cooked meat, and I must say the combination was quite pleasing.

The funky, musty, okay, I’ll say it, the cat-piss aroma was long gone. In its stead is a nice floral, dark cherry, tobacco, chocolate, a touch of blueberry, and an ever so slight presence of pepper. Quite nice I would say.

In the mouth, it has smoothed out to be quite elegant and smooth. The tannin is still there, but it is well balanced. The flavors are chocolate, tobacco, or perhaps it is better described as “cigar box” a touch of smoke, and a bit of earth and minerals.

The finish is nice, with a lot of tobacco right at the end.

This wine is ready to drink now, and as I think back to about mid-2001, when I bought it, I remember these flavors in a much too young wine, but even then worthy of purchase, and I think that storing it until now has really paid off.

Was unfamiliar with this one as it was a gift from a relative. Did some research and found it is from Orfila Vineyards in Escondido, California. What intrigued me was the blend: Mourvedre, Carignane, Syrah, Cinsout, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese. According to their Web site, the price point is/was around $16; no mention of the ’99, but they do say the 2000 is sold out.

Day 1: Not so sure about this one; not much on the nose and weak palate. However, as the glass started to empty, I have to say it started to open a bit. Got some berry and vanilla and a touch of spice on the finish.

Day 2: Have to say this is getting better; opening up well. The nose is a bit more pronounced with berry, plum, and vanilla on both the nose and palate. The finish still comes thru with some spice. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

2001 Witch Creek Le Mirage

Let this one sit open a bit. It will open nicely.

1998 Chateau Le Calilio Pomerol

Very nice, very smokey.

If you let it open up for a while, you will be rewarded with an elegant, beautiful wine.

2002 Ross Estate Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz

This one is not quite ready to drink yet. If you open it now, you will find it is a little harsh on the finish, but I think in a couple of years, this will be awesome!

2000 Per Sempre Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Nice, but nothing to write home about.

This is currently running at about $15 and at that price it is a steal. Get it fast, as I think the brand is about to disappear.

2003 Rosenblum Rockpile Road Vineyard Zinfandel

What can I say that the big-time wine magazine has not?

If you have this one in your cellar, consider yourself lucky, if not, too bad – you’ll probably never see it again on the shelf.

A&D’s mystery wine

Yeah, not quite a 100% Zinfandel says me!

Right, it has a little Petite Syrah to tame that high alcohol!

The majority agree that this is nothing less than a future Gold medal winner.

What can I say, for $240 it ought to taste great, right?

It did!

I started by decanting it, with the candle showing the way of course, an hour or so before consumption.

At the first sip, someone said that it seemed like it took the enamel off of their teeth.

My feelings exactly – this is truly a HUGE wine!

But it is also a sipping wine, to be savored over time with good friends, and good conversation.

As it opened up it smoothed out – a lot!

Andrea Immer says that this is a once in a lifetime wine. It would be a shame to limit it thusly.

I say get some friends together and share the cost. And even though it should sit another five to twenty-five years, I say drink it now. You might die tomorrow!

The host asked what we thought we were drinking.

The first guess was that it was a Merlot.

Not in my mouth it wasn’t, as this was an amazing wine, and definitely not a typical Merlot.

So I dissented, and was asked for my thoughts.

I said, I think this is a classic Rhone varietal blend (of the American style of course), I said that it was probably a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre.

Nailed it – of course!

But I have to admit that I was a bit wrong because there is more Syrah than Grenache. But it is very spicy, with tons of dark fruit. Very smooth, very elegant. Got to get me some more.

If I was stuck on a desert island and only could choose one wine to take with me, this might be the one, as I don’t think that I would ever tire of it.

Where the heck did this come from?

I was looking for something to finish my pizza with and this was on the middle shelf, right under the white wines.

In my system that means that I didn’t pay much for it, and I don’t expect much out of it. In other words, a good pizza wine.

But HOLY COW! It is very much ready to drink right now!

If you like your Zinfandels on the hot side, then this Meritage is for you. It says 13.5% on the bottle, but they lied. It has to be pushing 15%. It is a very nice dark purple with nice vicious legs. (Thus my thinking that it is higher than published on the alcohol!)

I say it is ready to drink now, because in another few months, the dark cherry will turn to raisins.

This one is velvety-smooth and elegant.

The label lists the blend as 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot. From the Alexander Valley. There is just a touch of the Alexander Valley flavor there still, but catch it fast, as it is going to fade on you.

Drink it now with your favorite home-made pizza!

A good pizza wine, but nothing special.

This is a nice $20 (plus or minus) Cabernet Sauvignon. I would buy it again, but I probably like the Stonestreet Cabernet just a little better.

If you are looking for a nice wine to accompany spaghetti or pizza, you could do a lot worse than this one!

$70

I removed the foil from around the top of the bottle so I could check the condition of the cork. I was quite pleased, as the color of the wine had moved up about one quarter of the height of the cork. The bottle and label were in good condition.

I had to use a cheap corkscrew to open this one, and the cork broke at about the half-way point. But the cork was soft, and there was no sign of leakage. The bottom portion of the cork was easily removed.

The color is surprisingly bright considering the age of this wine. I expected a touch of brown to indicate that the wine is fourteen years old, but it looked more like a two-year old wine.

The initial aromas were current and chocolate. Later, a nice cherry aroma was evident.

The wine has a great mouth feel. This is a big wine with nice tannins, and not too soft. It is elegant, with nice current, chocolate, cherry and a touch of leather and wood.

This wine was the perfect choice for a prime-cut steak. The only bad thing about this wine is that it is now gone…

The Barossa Valley comes thru again with another Rhone-style winner. This one is a MSG not a GSM. That’s right, heavier on the Mourvedre and lighter on the Grenache. Does it matter? Absolutely not. If you are into Rhones and Rhone-styles, give this a shot. I know I’m headed back for a repeat.

The first hit is the beautiful raspberry color and a nose that exudes cocoa, leather, cherry, and pepper. Give it a swirl and then give it a taste. More of the same flavors explode on the palate and then finish with a bit of heat and spice. All I can say is WOW !

$50

It’s wines like this one that will ruin Cabernet Franc’s image as being only a blending grape.

Dark purple in color with a clear ring around the outside. This one could probably stand to age a couple of years or twenty. It has lovely dried or dark cherries and tobacco in the nose.

Very nice, well balanced flavors of dark cherry, plum, tobacco, a hint of blueberry. It finishes nicely with perhaps just a touch of pepper at the end.

This wine is quite nice.

EOS wine notes

This wine is ripe, ready to drink right now. There is a bit of cherry and plum in the aroma. The flavors are ripe cherry, and other dark berries. There is a nice spice on the finish.

Quite nice!

http://www.ojaivineyard.com/02/chcp02.htm

I’m tempted to not say anything about this one, as I’d like to keep it to myself. I’ve tried several wines from the Ojai Vineyard over the last year, and each was amongst the best that I’ve tasted.

This one has great balance – mellow butter and vanilla but definitely not over-oaked. There is a nice touch of spice on the finish, which I really like also.

You probably won’t find this one at your local wine store, but that’s okay because that leaves more for me!