Domaine Tempier Bandol 2004

Red/purple

More refined, "modern" nose than the Bastides. Fruit-driven, with earth/clay character as an intriguing undercurrent. Subtle and nuanced. Strange to say about a Bandol, but this is pretty.

Much less extracted than Bastide wines, but also more suave. Definitely structured, but this seems to be more acid-driven. Cranberry and spice palate is quite intense, and in need of years of bottle age to become more complex.
This seems Burgundian while the Bastide wines seem more like Cornas.


$28

Bastide Blanche Cuvee Estagnol 2001 Bandol

Deep red/purple.

Menthol and melted black licorice aromas, no sign of game/salami. Very ripe, very deep.

Extremely concentrated, grainy/salty impression from extract, but not hard at all. Alcohol shows slightly, but that is overwhelmed by sheer flavor (earthy/treebark, menthol, blackberry). Not as long as the '97, but this needs years, as it is still bound up by tannin. I'm buying more of this.

Absolutely loaded

$20

Bastide Blanche Cuvee Estagnol 1997 Bandol

Deep red,

Aged salami, cigar ash, hint of mint - deep, definitely Bretty nose. Better than it sounds.

Intense middle-weight in the mouth. Black fruit backs up smoky (not from oak) notes. Favor drives all the way thru the wine with no let up. Very long, moderately tannic, smoky cigar finish. This needs lamb stew.



$25

Kongsgaard 55% Viognier, 45% Roussanne 2004 Napa

Yellow-gold.

Deep, idiosyncratic nose of dried pineapple/papaya candy. Reminds me a bit of Guigal's 2001 Ex Voto Blanc.

Sweet entry carries all the way thru mid-palate to the very, very long finish. Wildly concentrated and quite dry, actually. Acid/tannin chew cuts through the sweetness, offering a great textural counterpoint. There is an oak contribution here, but you have to dig deep for it. Did I mention this has an absurdly long finish. Singular wine.


$75

Valdinera Nebbiolo d'Alba Sontuoso 1999

Brick/rust.

Frangelico, charcoal,cherry liqueur nose. It is indeed sumptuous (Sontuoso).

Much more open-knit than the Barolos. As good as its going to get, which is pretty damn good. Fat mid-palate for nebbiolo,
acid/tannin kick in lightly in the finish. Just not as packed or complex as the Barolos. Its also less than 1/2 the price of those wines.


$22

Carretta Barolo Cannubi 1996

Brick red.

More forceful nose than the Cordero - more toasty oak influence. Bottle shape conveys real information here - the Cordero is in a Burgundy bottle, Carretta in a Bordeaux bottle. Charred meat and drippings, cherry liqueur and something balsamic - smells like something I should be eating. There's a sauteed veg note here that adds to the "whole meal" theme.

Richer and fuller than the Cordero. In fact, the structure (almost) flies under the radar. This is packed, really concentrated, chewy wine. I see this improving with several, maybe many, more years in bottle.

Both of these wines are killer,though in quite different styles.


Day 2 - Both wines, especially Carretta, shut down in the mouth, totally dominated by structure. So I'd say these 2 wines have another 6-10 years in them. Certainly no rush to consume.

$60?

Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo Monfalletto 1996

Evolved red/rust.

Incredible nose (even w/o decanting). Amaretto, tea, burnished oak spice, light tar, cherry jam, floral perfume, soy sauce.

Nice mid-palate, especially for Barolo, but not as complex in the mouth. Tannin/acid synergy still strong, but this is enjoyable nonetheless. This is really good action. Finely wrought and pure.

Day 3 - Strawberry jam and caramel. Barolo's driving structure in spades. I think I'm vastly under-estimating this wine's longevity.



$50?

Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Shiraz 2002 Barossa

Deep red.

In your face toasty American oak nose, plus a hint of hazelnut.

Sweet palate-impression, simultaneously buffered by powdery/grainy tannin. Blackberry liqueur as a nuance. Hardly refined, but I see more flavor interest here than in the 2001 Struie previously blogged.

Day 2 - Better integration of oak, still toasty, but fruit and mid-palate much better today. Chewy still - I expect this will benefit from a few more years of bottle age.

$15

Torbreck Marsanne (65%) Roussanne (35%) 2005 Barossa

Pale straw. Bass notes of hazelnut and ??. Hint of citrus?

Voluminous mouthfeel and intense, sl. over-ripe, pineapple with subtle rose petal note. Quite long and spicy. No new oak noticeable.

Tasted at 60F approx.


Day 2 - Sauteed apple & pineapple now dominate nose, hazelnut underneath. Utterly moathcoating with great acid/tannin chew providing textural counterpoint. Citrus sneaks in too, and provides the basis for a ridiculously long, chewy finish. This rocks.

Lasts for a chewy minute+ I'd love to see this in 10 years.

$35

Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2005 Marlborough

Pale straw-yellow. Vibrant NZ nose (cat-piss) and melon.

Fullish in the mouth with great citrus/melon fruit and minerally/acid thrust. My wife suggested a tad of RS, and I think she's right. But this (if true) just adds to the fruit impression and mid-palate, with little, really nothing, sacrificed in mineral cut.
Very long, chewy, minerally/mango finish.


Killer and very satisfying.

$12? Great deal. Screwcap.

Massena Moonlight Run Barossa Valley 2003

Upright for a week+ and still quite hazy, red, evolved rim. A stew of a nose - hints of red cherry, strawberry, smoke, meat, even orange zest. Interesting, just lacks (easy) aromatic clarity.


Huge, glyceral, mouth-coating texture - impossible to dislike this. Major bone-fest. Flavors of strawberry jam, meat/game, sl. saline impression. Medium length, acid a bit spiky in the finish.


50% Grenache, 30% Shiraz, 15% Mataro. 5% Cinsaut

$25

Torbreck Struie (Shiraz) 2001 Eden & Barossa Valleys

Deep red. Oak toast/creosote nose. Red cherry/raspberry, grilled meat underneath.


Creamy, then immediately spicy (celery seed) and a bit rustic and bound up in the mouth. Certainly intensely flavored and structured. Not your "typical" Aussie shiraz (are there any?). Long and tannic.

We'll see what a couple of days of air does.

Day 2 - A bit of rust/iron now in the mouth. Seems more tannic today and showing little flavor.

Day 3 - Ditto. Over-rated.



$40

Rosenblum Rockpile Zinfandel 2001

Deep red. Spicy, oak-char, grilled meat aromas. Exotic hint of banana too. Low-toned and saucy.

Quite sweet impression in the mouth - suggests some RS, but I doubt there is much (if any). Doesn't show much in the way of flavor. Has an old-viney fruit creaminess, but then alcohol/acid synergy makes the wine spiky in the mid-palate. Interestingly, this is listed at 14.9% alc. Moderate for this producer.


$24 approx.

Linne Calodo Nemesis 2003

Deep red. Sl. high-toned nose (VA?) shows meat, kirsch and toast nuances.

Finely-grained tannin immediately buffers textural sweetness in the mouth. Or is it "minerality", as many critics seem to call it? Whatever it is, it works very well. Very nice integration of fruit/acid/tannin throughout - no hiccups - seamless. Quite long. This has little in the way of aromatic or flavor complexity, and I doubt it ever will, but it does have a textural depth that is difficult to criticize. 15.9% alcohol barely noticed.

82% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 8% Grenache


$70 approx.

Masia Correras 2001 Costa Brava Spain

Red with some rim evolution. Understated Amaretto, oak-spice nose. Hint of iron. This reminds of new wave Barbaresco.

Suave, sophisticated palate-impression - redwood (similar to Guisto di Notri '01 and Serpico '01), hazelnut, cherry. This is not about fruit. Structure and impact remind me of older Bordeaux. About as great a contrast to the Nemesis as could be imagined.

Reading this, I sound like an imbecile. But it is all there. Really interesting wine.


50% Grenache (listed with the French name on the label)
35% Carignan (ditto)
5% each Tempranillo, Cabernet and Syrah

$30 approx.

Clonakilla Shiraz/Viognier 2004 Canberra, Australia

Red. Distinctly Brett-influenced game and iron aromatics immediately after opening. But as it airs, I get more savory notes of roasted meat, Frangelico, hints of red raspberry liqueur and a floral element.

Round and mouth-filling, harmonious. A great wine for those who think Australia is all about sloppy fruit bombs. Long, subtle finish of orange zest. Remember, though, this is West Coast Australia.


Day 2 - Wonderful, lifted, floral, spice and red fruit aromas. Very nice sweetness in the mouth, medium-bodied with good length. Cranberry and orange. No sign of Brett stink. Nice strucure - should drink well for 5-6 more years at least.



93% Shiraz/7%Viognier

$45 approx.

Thackrey Sirius (Petite Sirah) Eaglepoint Ranch 2004

Deep red/purple. Bright, aromatic nose, particularly for Petite Sirah. Crushed blackberry, sl. mint/eucalyptus and suave oak spice.

Middle-weight in mouth with a linear quality from considerable finely-grained tannin. Intensely flavored and showing a bit of alcohol (15.3%). I think this needs air and time.


Day 2 - Deep, fresh blackberry syrup with a eucalyptus background note. Much fuller today.

Eucalyptus more pronounced in the mouth, with black fruit in the background. Alcohol much better integrated. Chewy, teeth-coating tannin is not abrasive. Not particularly complex, but that's (young?) Petite. I'd love to try a selection of 20-30 year-old bottles.


$50 approx.

Henry's Drive Reserve Shiraz 2002 (Padthaway, Australia)

Nose here is now nicely integrated - meaty, toasted oak, Andes Mint. Previously (1-2 years ago) this had the aromatic clarity of a campfire in a pine forest. No overt sense of the 16% alcohol on the nose.

Alcohol still peeks out at the edges in the mouth, but huge, sweet, mouth-filling flavor lingers. I don't get any meaningful complexity, though, no reason to keep coming back.

I must admit that I want to like this wine, as there is much to admire. But ultimately it is something of a freak show, someone bound to get hurt.



$50 approx.

Clarendon Hills Brookman Syrah 2002 (Clarendon, Australia)

Deep, sl. hazy red. A bit wild on the nose, green at first, then goes to roasted peanut, pepper (green and black), thick red and black fruit comes late. Grilled sausage too. Really deep and packed aromatically.

In the mouth this is huge, dense and confectionary with a saline edge that aids acid/tannin structure. Wow. Shows a bit of alcohol. Long, subtle (believe it or not) finish of earth and Chambord.


Day 2 - Nose is wild again, green and feral. Something tells me this is going to need many more years to sort itself out.
In the mouth this is similar to Day 1, perhaps a bit more constricted in the mouth.

This has been a very controversial bottling, but seems to be getting closer to Parker's vision of it. My previous 2 bottles, 2-3 years ago, were green and obviously Bretty (shit-inflected). But this bottle seems to be getting through that stage. I'm not sure I'd bet cash on it, however.


$60 approx.

Forefather's Shiraz McClaren Vale 2004

Deep red. Nice, sl. confectionary nose - blueberry, raspberry cream, oak toast and an earth/sulfide note that really takes this out of the fruit-bomb camp. Sl. saline. Nice acid-definition, keeps everything in bounds, although maybe a bit more than necessary.
Quite long, lingering pure black and red fruit finish. Very tasty.

This was a gift, but I'd say $30 approx.

L'Ecole 41 Syrah Seven Hills Vyd 2004 (Walla Walla Valley)

Deep red. Earthy/potato skin/Am. oak spice nose. Middle-weight in mouth, taut, acid-enhanced earthy character dominant in mouth too. Tannin is fairly fine, but I don't see how this is going to improve in the bottle.

Better on Day 2 - earthy/peanut character more integrated, better mid-palate and length. Still primarily acid-driven, unfortunately, as there isn't enough fruit density/stuffing to back it up.

$40 approx.

Torbreck Woodcutters Shiraz 2005

Deep red, not opaque.Full nose of spicy fig/date, hint of game. No noticeable oak. Full and relatively sweet in the mouth initially. Then a bit odd - with an acid/VA sharpness that really clamps down on fruit expression. May simply need some air (this was not decanted), bottled under screwcap.

Day 2 - Slightly better in the mouth, but not much. A green note now too, bordering on jalapeno. Glad this is my last bottle.



$15 (Costco)

Hirtzberger Gruner Veltliner Honivogl 2004 (Austria)

Classic Gruner nose of sl. pungent, peppery grapefruit zest. Very pure, a hallmark of Hirtzberger's wines. Takes over the mouth with flavors mirroring nose, seems to have a decent amount of RS, which helps enrich and lengthen fruit component. Mineral character and good acidity really clarify (delicious) flavors. Chewy, almost tannic impression. Great length. Not yet complex.

Tasted at 60F approx.

$45 approx.

Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vyd 1999 (Sonoma Coast)

Pale bright yellow - could easily be a current release. Completely integrated nose of toast, truffle/sulfide, lemon oil and zest. This is changing constantly in glass. A savory meat and mineral character comes into play, plus some stuff that I can't articulate (what the hell is that?).
Nice sweetness in the mouth, with caramel, truffle and lemon repeating. The Marc Vyd always shows more mineral character than the 3 Sisters bottling and a certain tannic streak which takes time to ease up.
Completely fills the mouth with flavor and fine-grained chewiness.

It's time to drink the '99s. The 3 Sisters has been beautiful for at least a couple of years, but this is the first bottle of the '99 Marc Vyd. that has finally digested most of its tannic spine.

Tasted at 60F approx.

$100 approx.