Another blind tasting dinner.

1992 Mission Hill Riesling Grand Reserve – this elderly BC wine,
teetering on the brink of extinction, was interesting more for the
fact that it showed anything at all. Medium dark colour, a shot of
fruit in the nose, then bland in the mouth, with nothing but acidity
tailing off precipitously.

1993 Mission Hill Riesling Private Reserve – lots of colour, slight
maderisation, off dry, another experience in forensic oenology.
Curiosities I could have done without.

1990 Mondavi Cabernet – I hadn’t had one of these for awhile, so
wasn’t sure how they had been doing. Nice nose with vanilla, cigar box
and mature notes, quite decent levels of fruit on palate, smooth, long
and totally ready although there is a small amount of remaining
tannin. One of the best regular bottlings I can recall Mondavi doing,
and brought out by me to mark his passing.

1996 Finca Valpiedra Rioja Riserva – woody nose, and a big ripe dark
wine that is smoothing out and starting to drink well. Absolutely no
rush on this one.

1999 Iniskillin Cabernet Franc Reserve (Niagara) – this company has a
presence in its original home in Ontario, as well as more recently in
BC. The dark wine was showing a little coconut (sign of maturity?) and
vanilla in the nose, medium body, ready to drink, a creditable effort.

2005 Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands – this wine was a bit
disappointing after the quite interesting blood/iron and strawberry
nose, because the fruit it had was slightly candied, and it was light
weight and fruity but lacked substance, with almost no perceptible
tannin. Am I expecting too much – shouldn’t this wine be more
interesting than that?

2001 Hartford Court Seven Bench Pinot noir – another Niagara offering
and a travesty of a wine. A fairly pleasant but completely non-
varietal nose, followed by a light to medium bodied wine of no
distinction whatsoever that tailed off quickly into well deserved
oblivion.

2005 Intriga Cabernet (Chile) – this Maipo cab showed much more mature
than it was. A primary mint nose gave no clues as to age (and misled
some of us as to origin) but on palate it was showing medium bodied,
fairly dry, with resolved flavours and a little tannin. We were
figuring it was 5 -6 years older than it was. Intentionally produced
ready to go, I suppose, but one wonders about longevity. There was a
slight astringency in the finish I didn’t like.

2001 Canet Valette (St. Chinian) – this never fails to show better
than one would predict. Dark wine with a mellow nose, and good
stuffing, it seemed to build toward the end. Very nice.

1997 Jackson Triggs Proprietors Grand Reserve Riesling – one of those
heavy special half bottles with sugar water within. How can anyone
that has ever tasted a QMP Riesling give this sort of crap the time of
day?

2000 Mendelson Muscat Canelli – this Californian wine (from a maker I
do not know) showed a bit of varietal character (sweet wines are
often hard to peg as they often fail t be varietally clear when tasted
blind), light colour, very sweet raisiny nose and it was simple. Not
my cup of syrup, but much better than the Canadian attempt.

Rather disappointing wines with a few exceptions.

"Bill S." wrote in news:5f848bf0-f1da-4b9b-86a3-
:

1996 Finca Valpiedra Rioja Riserva – woody nose, and a big ripe dark
wine that is smoothing out and starting to drink well. Absolutely no
rush on this one.

Surprising!!!

Three years ago, I found that a local chain of hypermarkets (if you have
ever been to Spain, that's Hipercor, the hypermarket of El Corte Inglés)
had bottles of this Valpiedra 96 discounted at 12 euros or so (the regular
price being 15-17).

I purchased one and it was really great. So I came back and purchase all
that were available (about six more bottles). I started drinking them and
each bottle has been a bit more over the hill than the precedent.

I think that speaks more for a bad provenance that for the wine, which
surprisingly has a percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon giving more structure
to the typical Rioja blend.

I think I have one remaining bottle. I'll pop the cork soon and will
report.

Best,

santiago

That does sound like abuse somewhwre along the supply line. We get our
wines shipped in refrigerated containers to BC (of course they may
have sat on the dock in the sun beforehand.....)

In 1996 or 1997 Tim Mondavi was here in Charlotte, NC for a wine event. We
hosted some in our house. His father many years back used to be quite the
host back when Napa was not as commercialized.

Tim signed the 1993 and 1994 resevere Cab Bottlings and left here for me.
We already had the regular 1993 and 1994 Cabs in the cellar. We just drank
a couple and they were still very good. Plan to drink the 93/94 reserves
probably for New Years.

I have not spoke with him for a while but understand he and his brother have
been doing a wine called Oberon. I have tried and it was pretty good PQR.
That was about 2-3 years back my last taste.

Obviously Roberts was the major influence in the valley. Sadely, the
corporate environment in my opionion hurt the perceived and maybe the real
quality after they went Public long before the buyout.



"Bill S." wrote in message
...
..

1990 Mondavi Cabernet – I hadn’t had one of these for awhile, so
wasn’t sure how they had been doing. Nice nose with vanilla, cigar box
and mature notes, quite decent levels of fruit on palate, smooth, long
and totally ready although there is a small amount of remaining
tannin. One of the best regular bottlings I can recall Mondavi doing,
and brought out by me to mark his passing.

BTW - brain fade typing the notes - Hartford is Carneros, not
Niagara......