2009 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc

DATE CONSUMED

Friday, March 27, 2013

VINTAGE

2009

WINERY/PRODUCER

Tablas Creek Vineyard

WINE NAME

Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc

TYPE OF WINE

White blend

COMPOSITION

62% Roussanne, 26% Grenache Blanc, 12% Picpoul Blanc

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Estate grown and bottled

REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

13.5%

PRICE PAID

Retail: $40.00

Wine Club Price $30.40

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We received this bottle with our bi-annual Tablas Creek wine club shipment in October, 2010

BOUQUET

We decanted this wine about 15 minutes before drinking/serving with dinner to encourage the wine’s bouquet to blossom because Tablas Creek’s wine’s are famous for greatly benefiting from decanting, cellaring, and savoring over good food.

This wine has an almost Chablis-like nose, exhibiting an earthy chalkiness, along with tropical and Autumn fruits (like pears and apples), along with white flowers. 

 

TASTING NOTES

This is a lovely Southern Rhone-style white blend.  The almost 2/3-worth of Roussanne contributes to the wine’s medium-bodied heft, along with the wine’s creaminess, richness, tropical fruits, and waxiness.  The Grenache Blanc and Picpoul Blanc contribute a zingy zippiness (aka acidity, stoniness, and minerality), along with added depth-of-flavors.

This is a wonderful summer/spring-time white blend.  I enjoy a good Chardonnay, Riesling, and/or Sauvignon Blanc (to name just a few) as much as the next guy, but I absolutely LOVE a good, quality, well-made blend (bubbly, rose, white, and/or red).  This is one of the best white blends I’ve had all year; it has a nice, floral, fruity nose, along with a creamy, stony, minerally, tropical and citrusy flavor profile.  This wine would be very nice as an aperitif but it is SO food-friendly that I would stick to serving this wine with quality food.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with my world-famous salmon steaks spiced with freshly-cracked sea salt, black pepper, and Herbs de Provence.  This wine paired beautifully with the salmon; the rich/creamy components of the Roussanne complemented the fish’s rich, creamy, fattiness while the Grenache and Picpoul Blancs’ zippy acidity complemented/counter-balanced the exact same qualities of the salmon (rich, creamy, fattiness). 

This is a very food-friendly/versatile white blend.  It paired perfectly with the salmon and would also pair equally well with other rich and/or lean seafoods like scallops, lobster, clams, oysters, crab, etc.  I believe it would also pair well with linguine in clam sauce, as well as most chicken dishes (roast, fried, and/or broiled).  Quite frankly, this wine is so versatile it would pair well with just about anything other than red meats and pastas with cream and/or tomato sauces.

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking beautifully right now though I’m not sure it has the “legs” to last much longer.  According to Tablas Creek’s vintage chart, this wine is in an “early maturity” stage, meaning it has years to go before reaching peak maturity.  Frankly and honestly (do I speak/think/write any other way?!?!), I believe Tablas Creek is a bit optimistic about their white wine’s aging potential.  We’ve had other white wines that they classified as “early maturity” that I felt were VERY near their peak maturity (and perhaps even a bit past).  If you have this wine in your cellar, I would drink it before the end of the year.  According to Tablas Creek, this wine should last another four or five years (or more).  Since we all could die within the next moment or two, I would drink this wine quite soon.  How tragic would it be to die with cases of fantastic, well-aged, ready-to-drink wines in your cellar that haven’t been drunk yet?!?!  Exactly………..

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

91 Points

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.tablascreek.com/

2008 Windward Barrel Select Monopole Pinot Noir

DATE CONSUMED

Monday, March 11, 2013

VINTAGE

2008

WINERY/PRODUCER

Windward Vineyard

WINE NAME

Monopole Barrel Select

TYPE OF WINE

Red

COMPOSITION

100% Pinot Noir

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

See above

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Estate grown and bottled

REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.3%

PRICE PAID

$49.60 ($53.20 including sales tax and shipping) (full retail price is $62)

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We received this bottle from Windward’s wine club in November 2012

BOUQUET

This wine has a very earthy and slightly oaky/fruity/spicy nose.  There are suggestions of savory herbs and black pepper, as well as red and black fruits and hints of floral elements (like violets).  We’ve belonged to Windward’s wine club for years and know that this wine is going to be delicious.  The bouquet doesn’t quite foretell the quality of this wine; most quality California Pinots have big, beautiful, floral qualities in addition to the classic earth, fruit, spice, and (to varying degrees) oaky elements.  This wine falls a bit short on the bouquet front (though it IS there).  We’ll see how it performs on the taste front.

Side note: after this wine had a chance to breathe for about an hour or so, the floral elements really rose to the occasion.  So if you have this wine in your cellar, cool it down for a bit and decant it for at least an hour; you’ll clearly be rewarded.

TASTING NOTES

Oh yeah, I just KNEW this wine would be fabulous!

Windward sets aside their very best barrels for their Barrel Select program (similar to the “Private Reserve” system that a lot of wineries employ).  I don’t know what percentage of Windward’s production becomes part of their elite barrel selection, but imagine Marc (Goldberg, winemaker and co-owner of Paso Robles’ best Pinot Noir producer, by FAR) barrel sampling their (for example) 100 barrels of the 2008 vintage and coming across ten barrels that are superior to the other 90 barrels from that same vintage.  As we all know, every bottle, every barrel, and even every glass of the 2008 Windward Pinot Noir will be different from every other bottle, barrel, and glass because every single berry is slightly different from every other berry that is grown on Windward’s fifteen-acre estate.  If a particular Windward vintage produces 15,000,000,000 Pinot Noir berries, the combination of those 15,000,000,000 different berries will produce similar but different-tasting barrels (as well as bottles and glasses).  Marc goes through each barrel in the winery and picks the best of the best to bottle as their Monopole Barrel Select. 

This is a spectacular Paso Robles Pinot Noir, a region that is not known for Pinot at all.  Paso, generally speaking, does Zinfandel and Southern Rhone varietals very well.  But Pinot Noir is generally done much better in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, Napa Valley, and the Santa Barbara area (in general).  Somehow/someway, due to Paso’s many varied microclimates, Marc and Maggie have come across the absolutely PERFECT spot to produce world-class Pinot Noir.

This is a rich, dark, spicy, beautifully well-balanced Pinot Noir.  The usual red and black fruits are present (black berries, raspberries, sour/black cherries, plums, etc.), along with a significant amount of savory herbs and black pepper.  There is touch of oak and a dollop of cream and vanilla as an undercurrent.  The flavor profile for this wine goes long and deep, exhibiting complexity, subtlety, grace, balance, and refinement.   This wine tastes like it came from the Northern Coast of Sonoma County, whose Pinots can be extraordinarily rich and complex due to the severe weather and complex terrior.  As I’ve written several times before in reviewing Windward Pinot Noirs, it is absolutely amazing how Marc and Maggie can produce such extraordinary Pinot Noirs in Paso Robles.  Their Pinots are BY FAR the best Pinots out of the Paso AVA.  Quite frankly, their Pinots compare (and beat) the vast majority of Pinots that come out of Napa and the Russian River Valley.  They truly are that good!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We opened this wine on a Monday because today is Arthur’s birthday.  We only open Windward Barrel Select Pinots on special occasions because they truly are special.

We paired this wine with a simply-spiced rack of lamb (Kosher salt, black pepper, and Herbs de Provence, my favorite/go-to savory herb blend).  To say that this wine was a PERFECT match with the rack of lamb would be the understatement of the century!  Due to it’s spiciness, richness, and creaminess, this wine would also pair well with just about any other red meat, especially grilled steaks, lamb chops, and lamb shanks. 

Pinot Noir generally pairs well with duck, but you really have to be careful when pairing Pinot with duck.  Only light-bodied, feminine, elegant Pinot Noirs should be paired with duck (like Windward’s 2006 Pinot, my favorite Windward Pinot of all time!).  A dark, rich, spicy, heavily-structured Pinot like Windward’s 2008 Pinot should be paired with beef.  Just a suggestion……….

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking beautifully right now and due to its structure should continue to age and mature gracefully for another ten-plus years.  If we had the patience, I would have loved to open this bottle in another five years or so.  Sadly, we simply don’t have that kind of patience or the number of bottles in our inventory to last that long.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

93

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD  -  EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.windwardvineyard.com/

2006 Brian Carter Cellars Byzance

DATE CONSUMED

Sunday, March 3, 2013

VINTAGE

2006

WINERY/PRODUCER

Brian Carter Cellars

WINE NAME

Byzance

TYPE OF WINE

Red blend

COMPOSITION

61% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 18% Mourvedre

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

N/A

REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)

Columbia Valley, Washington

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.2%

PRICE PAID

$29.99

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We bought this bottle at Total Wine & More earlier this month after falling in love with the 2007 Byzance (also bought at TW&M).  We buy very little wine from wine stores (except daily drinking affordable bubbles, whites, and reds from BevMo during their 5Cent Sale), but after being “wow’d” by the 2007 Byzance, we just HAD to try another Byzance (not sure why TW&M had the 2007 before offering the 2006, but that’s an irrelevant point).

BOUQUET

This is my kind of wine, based on the bouquet.  I love earthy, “dirty” wines (my own term for earthy wines), and while most wines exhibit fruity and/or spicy bouquet elements, the most prevalent characteristic for this wine is its earthiness.  The red/black fruit and spices reveal themselves as a subtle undercurrent on the nose, but this wine’s “dirtiness” is its most compelling bouquet factor.

TASTING NOTES

This is a delicious, rich, creamy Southern-Rhone blend.  As previously-mentioned, I absolutely LOVED the 2007 Byzance, and though I really like this wine, I do indeed prefer the 2007.  As best I can remember, the 2007 was a bit more spicy and fruity, whereas this wine is much creamier.  Either way, this is a wonderful red blend.

The most noticeable trait of this wine is its rich, creamy, slightly oaky essence.  Showing classic GSM traits, there’s also beautiful red and black fruits (plums, blackberries, and raspberries), in addition to savory herbs and black pepper.  I believe a lot of the creaminess comes from the undercurrent of oak, which also lends the wine a slightly vanilla sub-current.  I HATE comparing wines and/or vintages to others (which is usually very unfair and just not quite right, because the weather has a MAJOR influence/impact upon a wines essence), but because I absolutely loved the 2007 Byzance, I just had to go back to Total Wine & More and try another Brian Carter Cellars wine.  When we bought this wine, we also bought a bottle of Brian’s 2008 Abracadabra, which we will probably try later this year, if not next.

No matter how you slice it, this is a very nice, creamy, spicy, earthy (“dirty”), delicious GSM.  It’s possible I prefer the 2007 because that blend included Counoise and Cinsault, which, like any/all blends, every varietal brings something interesting and different to the party.  I’ve been a HUGE fan of GSM blends for years.  But in my humble opinion, “the more, the merrier.”  Again, this wine is fabulous.  If you enjoy rich, creamy, spicy, “dirty” Southern Rhone blends, this one’s difficult to beat.  I cannot WAIT to try the 2008 Abracadabra. 

In case you missed my musings about the 2007 Byzance, I had never even heard of Brian Carter Cellars before we exchanged a couple of over-priced/under-performing Napa Valley Cabernets for several highly-rated and nicely-priced alternate wines about six months ago.  I am SO glad that we returned those over-priced Cabernets because that’s how we discovered the fabulous red wines of Brian Carter Cellars.  Looking VERY forward to opening that 2008 Abrcadabra!

By the way, Byzance is French for “luxurious.”  To quote Dumber-than-Dubya John McCain, “call it a banana if you want.”  Call this luxurious, call it a banana, call it “rich, creamy, silky, “dirty,” delicious, yummy, and/or fabulous,” this is one fantastic GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre).  Once again, Brian Carter Cellars steps up to the plate and hits one out of the park!

Arthur and I belong to five wine clubs.  Living in California, there are obviously hundreds/thousands of wonderful wineries that we would love to belong to their wine clubs.  Because The Golden State offers so many wonderful wines, we’ve never considered belonging to a non-California wine club (we prefer to eat and drink locally whenever possible).  But Brian Carter Cellars is now at the top of our list of non-California wineries that we would very seriously consider joining.  The 2008 Abracadabra just might be the deciding factor.  Stay tuned……

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this beauty with simply-spiced lamb chops (Kosher salt and black pepper) and like most/any other GSM blend, this wine would just about pair beautifully with any red meat dish (meat loaf, pot roast, any/all steaks, lamb shanks/chops/racks, etc.).

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking beautifully right now and will probably continue to age, mature, and develop nicely for another 10 to 20 years.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

92

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD – EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.briancartercellars.com/

2003 Eden Hall Shiraz-Viognier

DATE CONSUMED

Saturday, March 2, 2013

VINTAGE

2003

WINERY/PRODUCER

Eden Hall

WINE NAME

Shiraz-Viognier

TYPE OF WINE

Red blend

COMPOSITION

95% Shiraz, 5% Viognier

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

N/A

REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)

Eden Valley (a sub-appellation of the Barossa Valley), Australia

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.5%

PRICE PAID

$19.99

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

I got four bottles from winestilsoldout.com (wtso.com) in February 2013 for $19.99 a bottle with free shipping.

BOUQUET

This wine has a gorgeous, chalky/earthy, herbal/spicy, dark-fruited nose.  Based on how dark this wine pours and the nice bouquet, I can’t WAIT to taste this beauty!

TASTING NOTES

Wow, this is a FANTASTIC Australian Shiraz (with 5% Viognier added to make things even more interesting; the Aussies are famous for adding a bit of Viognier to their Shiraz; based on how successful that can be, I wonder why other countries don’t do that?!?!).  First thing I noticed: this wine doesn’t just pour dark; this wine is practically black (and that is NOT an exaggeration).  If you like dark, rich, creamy, smoky, spicy, fruity, inky Australian Shiraz, this is YOUR wine!

There is an abundance of dark/black/blue fruits up front (plums, black berries, blueberries), along with a basketful of savory herbs like sage, rosemary, and a truckload of black pepper.  Being 10-years-old-ish, this wine is beautifully well-aged, with smooth, silky tannins, mellow, perfectly-structured acidity, with a smoky and slightly oaky undercurrent.  Eden Hall managed to extract every last nuance of flavor, color, and aroma from their grapes when making this fantastic wine.  This is one of the best Australian Shiraz I’ve EVER had.  Quite frankly, this is one of the best Syrahs I’ve ever had.

This wine is a perfect example why people should properly age/cellar their red wines.  One of my biggest pet peeves in the world: restaurants that are selling 2011 red wines, which, no matter the varietal and no mater what region they come from, are WAY too young to be drunk in March, 2013.  In a perfect world, most (practically all?) red wines should be aged/cellared for at least five to ten years.  Most wines that have had time to mature and mellow-out (like the wine under review here) exhibit creamy, silken tannins that aren’t as exuberant and obnoxious as they were when they were only two or three-years-old.  Young wines can be fruitier, more acidic, and more astringent.  In my humble opinion, that’s NOT an ideal situation.  I prefer the more mellow and creamy reds that show maturity and depth-of-flavors (like this shinning example). 

This wine is THEE perfect reason why any/everybody should be a member of winestilsoldout.com (wtso.com, and no, I have no affiliation with the organization).  They send out e-mails with offers on wines where wineries are blowing-out their inventories they need to sell/get rid of.  Sometimes the wines are new, but (as is the case with this wine) sometimes the wineries need room (or the money?) to make room for their new vintages.  This is one of the best wines I’ve ever bought on wtso.com.  This is a phenomenal wine for $20 a bottle.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this fabulous red with an old stand-by: thick rib eyes spiced with Kosher salt, black pepper, and Herbs de Provence, smothered in Arthur’s world-famous mushrooms.    As one would expect, this wine paired PERFECTLY with the steaks.  Because of the rich, creamy, spicy elements of this wine, this wine would also pair well with curried lamb shanks and just about any/every other red meat dish (lamb chops, meat loaf, prime rib, etc.).

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking unbelievably/gorgeously right now and thanks to its “legs” (structure), I would imagine it would continue to mature and age beautifully well for another five to ten years.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

94

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

EXCELLENT (based on the wtso.com price of $19.99 a bottle)

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.edenhall.com.au/

Wines til sold out: http://wtso.com/