2005 Caparone Zinfandel

DATE CONSUMED

Sunday, June 30, 2013

VINTAGE

2005

WINERY/PRODUCER

Caparone

WINE NAME

N/A

TYPE OF WINE

Red

COMPOSITION

100% Zinfandel

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Estate grown and bottled

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

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

13.3%

PRICE PAID

Retail price: $14; Price paid because I buy this wine by the case(s): $12.01

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We bought a case of this wine (I ALWAYS buy cases of Caparone wine whenever we’re in or driving by Paso) in November 2012

BOUQUET

This wine has a very earthy, acidic, spicy, red-fruited bouquet.  This wine smells like it’s going to be a rustic, classic, austere Italian-styled red wine.  And based on the fact that I’ve had several vintages of Caparone’s Zin, I would just about guarantee that that’s exactly what it’s going to taste like!

 

TASTING NOTES

We discovered Caparone in October 2007 when we went on a wine trip to the Paso and Santa Barbara wine countries with friends (we rented a beach house in Cambria for a week and went all OVER Paso Robles for 3 or 4 days). 

Caparone is not your typical Paso winery.  It is a father and son operation, very unassuming/not pretentious, and in addition to their fabulous Zin, they also make FANTASTC bottlings of three noble Italian varietals (Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Aglianico).  Their wines are unfined and unfiltered (which I REALLY like/prefer) and all their wines are the same price ($14).  In case you hadn’t noticed, their Zin is not your typical Paso Fruit Bomb; Caparone’s Zin has only 13.3% alcohol, is unbelievably well-balanced, and has a depth-of-flavor that most Cali Zins would envy.  The tasting profile is also atypical of most Paso Zins.

Whereas most Cali Zins have a black fruit profile, Caparone’s Zin has mostly, if not all, red fruit in its flavor profile; there’s sour cherry, raspberry, and currant fruit, along with a MOUNTAIN of savory herbs (rosemary especially) and a universe-worth of black pepper as well on the palate.  This wine is rich and viscous, exhibiting more terrior than 99.9% of any/all wines I’ve ever tasted.  Also contributing to its fabulous earthy/terrior essence, Caparone’s wines are unfined and unfiltered, which, in my opinion, allows the vineyard’s soil and essence to shine brightly.  I’ve always felt that fining and filtering wine extracts critical elements (both flavor-wise and terrior-wise) from its profile, and this Zin SCREAMS depth-of-flavor and terrior.  I’ve used the term “dirty” wine many times before (wines that parlay their sense-of-place (terrior) as well as earthiness) and this is one dirty wine (in only the best of ways)!!

Once again, this is NOT your typical Paso Zin.  Whereas most Paso Zins are high-octane fruit bombs with limited depth and soft, silky tannins, this wine is rich, creamy, earthy (“dirty”), spicy-beyond-belief, delicious-beyond-belief, viscous, slightly oaky, with a depth-of-flavor that never seems to cease and a finish that goes on for light years.  It is also tannic and acidic, but in only the best of ways; this wine begs to be paired with good food, whereas a typical Cali Zin can be drunk on its own.  If you’re adventurous and well-versed on what a good, interesting, not-your-father’s Zin should be like, you really owe it to yourself to give this Zin a try.  If you prefer safe, fruity, high-alcohol Zins, look elsewhere.  If you like to challenge your preconceptions of what a Zin can/should be, and you’ve had it up to HERE with typical Zins, you truly must give this Zin a spin.  It’s fabulous.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with Arthur’s fantastic baked beans and BBQ’d pork ribs (baby backs) and this Zin could NOT have gone any better with this meal.  Because this Zin is big, bold, and brash (yet well-balanced, different, and elegant in its own way), I would pair it with dishes that can handle that kind of character, such as a heavily-spiced grilled steak, curry dishes, just about any kind of red beef dish, and something as traditional as BBQ’d ribs or hamburgers (especially on the 4^th of July!!!).

AGING POTENTIAL

Most Zins are not known for their age-worthiness, but due to this beauty’s structure (acidity and tannins especially), I would imagine this wine would continue to evolve and mature beautifully for another 10 to 25 years.  At close to eight years post-harvest, this wine is drinking fantastically right now.  And like all of Caparone’s wines (especially their wonderful Italian reds), this wine will probably age perfectly for 20 to 30 years after bottling.

One side note: the 2005 Zin is Caparone’s current Zin release (this is not a wine I bought YEARS ago).  I don’t know if Caparone makes a TON of Zin and it takes years to sell through their vintage(s) or if they purposely and slowly bottle-age their wine and slowly release it to the public.  Either way, if you’re looking to pick-up a well-aged and unique  Paso Zin for an incredible price, you only have one winery to visit: Caparone!

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

92

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

EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.caparone.com/

N.V. Domaine Chandon etoile Rose

DATE CONSUMED

Sunday, June 30, 2013

VINTAGE

N.V. (non-vintage)

WINERY/PRODUCER

Domaine Chandon

WINE NAME

Etoile Rose

TYPE OF WINE

Sparkling wine (rose)

COMPOSITION

49% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir, 6% Pinot Meunier

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

N/A

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

59% of the fruit sourced from Sonoma County

41% of the fruit sourced from Napa County

ALCOHOL CONTENT

13.0%

PRICE PAID

Retail price: $50; Wine Club price: $35, final price with sales tax and shipping: $42.77

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We received this wine with our usual wine club shipment in April, 2012

BOUQUET

It’s very difficult to properly/accurately judge the bouquet of bubbly because one can’t/shouldn’t swirl the hell out of their bubbly in a Champagne flute in order to oxygenate the wine.  I did my best to put my big, fat, ugly Italian nose into the flute to gather some sort of impression upon this bubbly’s bouquet but just came-up with almost nothing worth mentioning.  We’ll see how it tastes………

 

TASTING NOTES

This is a typically wonderful Chandon bubbly.  We joined their wine club in September 2009 and have never regretted a single bottle from them (Domaine Chandon makes both still and sparkling wines, but we joined their “sparkling wine club” because any/every bubbly we’ve ever had of theirs has been fabulous).

You may have heard of both Dom Perignon and/or Moet & Chandon; Domaine Chandon is the American outpost of this world-class sparkling wine producer.  In fact, several of France’s best Champagne houses have American outposts in the Napa Valley (Taittinger and Piper Heidsieck to name just a couple).

This bubbly has a gorgeous salmon-pink hue and being almost 50/50 Pinot/Chardonnay, it has a flavor profile that is complex, deep, and varied.  There’s an abundance of creamy strawberry notes, yeasty brioche-like suggestions, along with plenty of minerally earthiness and crisp, clean, sharp acidity that allows this wine to pair PERFECTLY with rich, fatty foods (see below for paring suggestions). 

In addition to the previously-mentioned strawberry notes, there’s also yummy cherry elements, along with savory herbs and spices (especially white pepper) running through the wine’s flavor profile/core.  It’s tough to beat the depth-of-flavors that come with quality Pinot-based wines (both still and sparkling) and this bubbly is a great example of how Pinot can contribute to a wine’s complexity, depth, and even bouquet and color.  The peppery/herbal undercurrent, creamy cherry/strawberry fruit, mountains of granite stoniness/minerality, and well-balanced acidity/alcohol/structure all add-up to this being a fantastic American rose bubbly. 

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this bubbly with a pork and chicken liver mousse with truffles that we picked-up at Sprouts.  As previously mentioned above, this bubbly’s crisp acidity matched perfectly with the mousse’s creamy fattiness.  We also like to pair bubbly with a chicken liver pate that we buy from Trader Joe’s often.  And because this is a delicious, lively, well-balanced bubbly it would also pair well with just about any seafood (especially salmon!!), crackers with humus, Arthur’s world-famous smoked salmon deviled eggs, and practically any other appetizer that I can think of.  This bubbly would make just about any dish better than it would have been if eaten on its own!

AGING POTENTIAL

Most bubbly will/can age for (practically) EVER if stored properly.  Domaine Chandon ages this bubbly for at last five years on the lees (yeast) in bottle before releasing it to the public.  That extended lees aging before disgorgement contributes to the wine’s depth, complexity, balance, elegance, and age-worthiness.  This bubbly is fabulous right now and will continue to age gracefully and beautifully for another 10 to 10,000,000,000,000 years (especially if aged at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean).

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

92

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

GOOD

WINERY WEBSITE

http://chandon.com/

2007 Bodega del Abad Carracedo Tinto Mencia

DATE CONSUMED

Sunday, June 23, 2013

VINTAGE

2007

WINERY/PRODUCER

Bodega del Abad

WINE NAME

Carracedo

TYPE OF WINE

Red

COMPOSITION

100% Tinto Mencia

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

N/A

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

Bierzo, Spain

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.0%

PRICE PAID

$22.49

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We got this wine from winestilsoldout.com, a fantastic clearinghouse that includes free shipping when a minimum number of bottles are purchased (four bottles in this instance).  The original price for this wine at release was $90 (confirmed by Wine Spectator and Robert Parker).

BOUQUET

This wine has a fantastic, fruity, spicy bouquet, with subtle elements of earth and oak.  There’s an abundance of dark fruit and savory herbs on the nose, along with an earthy oakiness.

 

TASTING NOTES

Holy Cow!!  This is a fabulous Spanish red and, as far as I know/can remember, our first experience with a 100% Mencia wine.

The first impression this wine made upon my palate: this wine is very Chateauneuf-du-Pape-like.  It shares many characteristics with the world’s greatest red blend (in my humble opinion; I’m sure Bordeaux lovers are rolling their eyes like crazy right now!), including gorgeous black and red fruit, tons of spices, and that lovely earth/terrior from the Southern Rhone.

This wine is fantastically rich and creamy, with mostly black fruit (plum, boysenberry, and blackberry) along with some red fruit (cherry and raspberry).  There’s also a truckload of savory spices that compliment the MOUNTAIN of black pepper.  The saline earthiness and creamy, sweet tannins from the oakiness contribute to the rich, smooth, elegant, lingering finish.  This wine is fantastically well-balanced, deeply-flavored, smooth, rich, and creamy, and at $22.49 a bottle, one of the best reds we’ve drunk all year.

Once again, this wine shares almost EVERY aspect with a quality Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  If tasted blind, I imagine that I would have guessed that this wine was indeed a CdP.  At $22.49 a bottle, if I knew just how good this wine was going to be, I would have ordered at least a case of this Spanish beauty.  Sadly, this bottle is the last one of the original four that I ordered from wtso.com.  Looking forward to the 2008 vintage!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with a rack of lamb and the wine could NOT have paired better with any other protein!  Arthur spices the lamb and sears it in a cast iron pan and then spreads a thin layer of Dijon mustard and panko breadcrumbs on the fatty side and finishes the rack in the oven.  This big, bold, gorgeous wine begs to be paired with a big, bold, gorgeous main course.  It paired perfectly with Arthur’s rack of lamb and would also pair well with curried lamb shanks, a ribeye smothered in Kosher salt and a ton of freshly-cracked black pepper, along with just about any red meat dish (prime rib, meatloaf, etc.)

AGING POTENTIAL

Based on a little bit of research regarding the Mencia grape, it is generally made to be drunk fairly young.  At almost six years post-harvest, this wine is drinking beautifully right now and based on its structure (it’s still slightly tannic) I would imagine this wine would continue to develop and evolve gorgeously for another ten years or so.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

93 (after I tasted this wine and wrote all of these tasting notes, I checked to see what Wine Spectator and Robert Parker gave this wine (who tasted and scored this wine YEARS ago).  WS gave this wine a 93 in November 2011 and Parker gave this wine a 90+ in April 2010).

I’m 100% confident that this wine does indeed deserve a 93-point rating.  Wine Spectator scores/tastes/judges all of their wines blind, meaning that when they’re tasting a wine they don’t know who produced it and how much it cost.  That’s why I consider Wine Spectator THEE most reliable source for wine ratings (after me, of course!).  I love it when they give a grotesquely over-priced French wine (like $1,500 a bottle) 80 to 90 points.  Either way, I feel pretty good about giving this fantastic wine 93 points.

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

Original release price of $90: FAIR

Wtso.com price of $22.49: EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.bodegadelabad.com/

2008 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel

DATE CONSUMED

Sunday, June 9, 2013

VINTAGE

2008

WINERY/PRODUCER

Tablas Creek Vineyard

WINE NAME

Esprit de Beaucastel

TYPE OF WINE

Red blend

COMPOSITION

38% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache, 26% Syrah, 6% Counoise

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Estate grown and bottled

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

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.5%

PRICE PAID

$38 (excluding tax and shipping) ($50 full retail)

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We received this bottle directly from the winery with our regular wine club shipment in October, 2010

BOUQUET

This wine has a very nice, fruity, floral, spicy, earthy, ever-so-slightly oaky bouquet, with an emphasis on herbs and spices, dark fruit, violets, and that lovely Paso Robles earthiness/terrior.

TASTING NOTES

This is a fantastic Rhone-style G-S-M/Chateauneuf-du-Pape red blend.  The first thing that impresses me the most about this wine is its chalky/clay/limestone earthiness that practically jumps out of the glass.  After the fabulous soil/”dirty” characteristics, wonderful red and dark fruit elements shine brightly, especially the plum, blackberry, black cherry, and raspberry flavors, followed closely by gorgeous herbs and spices (TONS of black pepper and acres of savory herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage, and lavender).

This is a wonderfully well-balanced red blend, with smooth, sweet, silky tannins, the perfect amount of oak, acidity, and alcohol, along with a gorgeous, long, lingering finish.  We actually drank a half bottle (375 ml.) of 2009 Domaine du Pere Caboche Chateauneuf du Pape before we drank this Tablas Creek bottle with dinner and it was VERY interesting how closely the earthiness, fruitiness, and spiciness paralleled each other.  Paso Robles shares quite a few characteristics/elements with Chateauneuf du Pape, which is exactly why Robert Haas and the Perrin family founded Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, assuming/knowing/betting-on that Paso could produce world-class “New World” versions of Chateauneuf du Pape blends along with single-varietal bottlings.  Boy-oh-boy, did their homework/assumptions/research pay dividends!!!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with Arthur’s fabulous rack-of-lamb, encrusted with panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, mustard, and spices.  This wine paired PERFECTLY with the lamb and would also pair well with a well-seasoned ribeye, lamb chops, prime rib, and just about any red meat dish.

AGING POTENTIAL

Tablas Creek’s vintage chart on their website (where every wine they’ve EVER made is categorized by the wine’s drinkability (too young, early maturity, peak maturity, late maturity, closed phase (hold), and past its prime)) lists this wine as “early maturity,” meaning this wine is drinking well right now but will continue to age and mature beautifully for another 10 to 20 years (TC’s Esprit de Beaucastel and their flagship blend “Panoplie” are famous for drinking well for the first few years after bottling and then during the (in bottle) maturing process goes though a closed/shut-down  phase about 3 or 4 (or more) years after bottling).  This wine does indeed have the structure/backbone to age for decades, but at 5-years-old, it’s about to enter it’s “closed/hold” phase, so either drink this wine now or assume it will be in a “closed/hold” phase for a few years and won’t be ideally “drinkable” until 2016 or so.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

92

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

GOOD – EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.tablascreek.com/

2008 Windward Vineyard Monopole Pinot Noir

DATE CONSUMED

Sunday, June 2, 2013

VINTAGE

2008

WINERY/PRODUCER

Windward Vineyard

WINE NAME

N/A

TYPE OF WINE

Red

COMPOSITION

100% Pinot Noir

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

Monopole

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Estate grown and bottled

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

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.3%

PRICE PAID

$30.40 ($36.52 with sales tax and shipping; $38 full retail price)

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We got this bottle from the winery’s wine club in March, 2013.  Windward occasionally ships older, “library” wines to their wine club members, such as this bottle.

BOUQUET

Windward, by FAR the best Pinot maker in Paso Robles (not a typically ideal appellation for world-class Pinot Noir), makes consistently fantastic Pinots. 

This wine has an earthy, mostly red-fruited bouquet that also exhibits spicy (black pepper and savory herbs), slightly oaky, and a couple of dark-fruited elements. 

The 2006 Windward Pinot was a classic Burgundian, light-bodied, gorgeous Pinot.  The 2007 Windward Pinot had an almost Northern Sonoma Coast, dark, rich, spicy profile that could not have been more different from the 2006 (2007 was an extremely dry year, resulting in wines that were uncommonly dark, rich, and spicy).  This 2008 appears to be somewhere between the 2006 and the 2007 vintages.  Let’s see how it tastes………

 

TASTING NOTES

Once again, Marc and Maggie (Windward’s proprietors) have made another delicious, elegant, deeply-flavored, complex, fantastic Pinot. 

As the color and bouquet suggested, this wine is indeed somewhat of a cross between the 2006 and 2007 vintages, though much closer to the 2007 than the 2006 (the 2006 was opaquely red, whereas the 2007 (and the 2008) are much darker, bordering on VERY dark red, if not almost purple/black).  This wine does have some red fruits in its flavor profile (sour cherries and raspberries), along with some dark/black fruits as well (plums and blackberries), in addition to a TON of savory herbs and a healthy dose of Paso earthiness.  The barrels used in the winemaking process have added a bit of oak with just a hint of a rumor of a suggestion of some vanilla as an undercurrent.

This is a very well-balanced, smooth, delicious Pinot with the right amount of acidity and alcohol, along with a flavor profile that runs deep and complex.  Again, this is a dark, rich, spicy, almost North Coast-esque Pinot Noir.  And that is NOT a bad thing when it’s done properly/correctly.  Not exactly Burgundian, but delicious and yummy in so many wonderful ways!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with Arthur’s homemade Duck Confit, along with a potato and mushroom stirfry utilizing some of the duck fat from the Duck Confit.  As any/everybody knows, Pinot pairs beautifully with duck and mushrooms.  The 2008 Windward Pinot was no exception.

Because this is a dark, rich, spicy Pinot, it would also pair well with grilled steaks smothered in a peppery mushroom medley, a beautifully-spiced rib roast, pot roast, and just about any other red meat dish.  Because this Pinot is rich, dark, and spicy, do NOT pair this wine with salmon or other seafoods, which pair beautifully with truly light-bodied Burgundian Pinots (as in the 2006 Windward Pinot).

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking fantastically right now and thanks to it’s soft, elegant tannins and well-balanced acidity, it should continue to drink well for another 10+ years.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

90

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

GOOD

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.windwardvineyard.com/