Solihull Fine Wine Society, February meeting.

Down to earth after our anniversary dinner.
Mark put on 4 flights, 2:3:3:2, in each a French wine and one from
elsewhere.

Blind as usual. my embarrasing notes.

..Gewurtztraminer, Somomtano DO, Vinas del Vero 2002...£7.95. Spain,
foothills of Pyrenees
Very pale, restrained petrol grease nose, very light simple, Mosel.
Riesling. Picnic wine

Gewurtzaminer, Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg de Turckheim, 2000, £16.99
Deep bright gold, almost botrytic nose, spicy. Fat entry, unctous, spice,
finishes long, superb. So much weight, must be a Vendage Tardive Riesling.

Chardonnay, Wither Hills, 2001, Marlborough, NZ £8.95
Pale bright straw, strange wet towel nose, buttery, Suprising fat entry,
good balance long, almost demi-sec. Colonial chardonnay.

Puligny-Montrachet, Les Enseigneres, 2000, Vincent Giardin £15
Pale straw, an aniseed nose and oil of wintergreen, not unpleasant. Mirror
image to the previous wine. Very acidic, with some fruit, but out of
balance. OK ish.
Could be Italian Chard.

Chardonnay, Catena agrelo 2001, Mendoza, Argentine. £9.95
Pale straw, big legs, wonderful buttery nose, spice. Wonderful balance of
fruit and acidity, fresh as a daisy, long. Definite Chablis or Mersault.

Ch. La Lagune, 1996 £23.50
A dull wine with a ? corked nose, opened up after 30mins to vegetal and
spice, cigarbox. Mean and austere wine, out of balance. ? duff bottle.
A second bottle, was produced, cellar temp. Better, but still raw on the
nose and finished mean. Spanish Cab.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Vasse Felix, Western Oz, 1996, £13.50
Bright deep, no browning, wonderful in your face raw claret nose, spice and
pencil shavings, super soft entry with big tannins and fruit Long, some
bitterness. Good colonial cabernet.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Ridge, Santa Cruz Mountains 1997. £19
Incredible extract, a dumb stewed plum nose, complex. Huge soft entry with
big tannins, full fruit, Too young, leave and try again. Almost merlotic. Is
it French?If it is then where from.....Pomerol, no it is
cabernet............I'm stuck.

R.B.J. Theologicum,1999, Western Oz, £14.10, deep with hint of brown, a
tarry vegetal nose, molassses spice. Light entry with little tanninn. Very
pleasant luncheon wine. A Southern rhone-like colonial.

C-de-P, La Crau, Dom du Vieux Telegraphe, 1998, £13.
Bright and young, good extract, Classic S Rhone with a lot of Cab! on the
nose, Full fat and tannic, great spicy fruit, long++ Try again 5 years,.
HOORAY, I got one right.

These were confidence destroying wines. I was not the only one to make a
real balls up of this lot.
Bill, Mark, Dale etc have you ever had a nightmare tasting like this?

Best wines were the Catena and the Ridge, no wonder the French are worried.

JT

>Bill, Mark, Dale etc have you ever had a nightmare tasting like this?

At least once a month......

John Taverner wrote:

>
> Chardonnay, Catena agrelo 2001, Mendoza, Argentine. £9.95
> Pale straw, big legs, wonderful buttery nose, spice. Wonderful balance of
> fruit and acidity, fresh as a daisy, long. Definite Chablis or Mersault.

Ack! I had the opportunity to taste this last weekend, but ran out of time.
My loss!

> Cabernet Sauvignon, Ridge, Santa Cruz Mountains 1997. £19
> Incredible extract, a dumb stewed plum nose, complex. Huge soft entry with
> big tannins, full fruit, Too young, leave and try again. Almost merlotic. Is
> it French?If it is then where from.....Pomerol, no it is
> cabernet............I'm stuck.

Great notes, John. I've been dithering over whether to open my lone bottle of
this (gift from friend). I think that I'll wait a few more years on the basis
of these notes.

> C-de-P, La Crau, Dom du Vieux Telegraphe, 1998, £13.
> Bright and young, good extract, Classic S Rhone with a lot of Cab! on the
> nose, Full fat and tannic, great spicy fruit, long++ Try again 5 years,.
> HOORAY, I got one right.

£13 for '98 Vieux Telegraphe??? Where do I sign up? It retailed in the US
for typically $40-45! Triple ack!!!

>
>
> These were confidence destroying wines. I was not the only one to make a
> real balls up of this lot.
> Bill, Mark, Dale etc have you ever had a nightmare tasting like this?

Constantly, John. Much of my blind tasting these days is done on cheaper
wines that display little varietal character. After mistaking a Cabernet for
a Sangiovese, one begins to doubt one's sanity, let alone one's ability as a
taster...

>
>
> Best wines were the Catena and the Ridge, no wonder the French are worried.
>

Well, the VT didn't sound too bad, either! ;-)

Mark Lipton

> > C-de-P, La Crau, Dom du Vieux Telegraphe, 1998, £13.
> > Bright and young, good extract, Classic S Rhone with a lot of Cab! on
the
> > nose, Full fat and tannic, great spicy fruit, long++ Try again 5 years,.
> > HOORAY, I got one right.
>
> £13 for '98 Vieux Telegraphe??? Where do I sign up? It retailed in the
US
> for typically $40-45! Triple ack!!!
>
I thought that as well, but Mark said that was the en primeur price. ( I am
not arguing)!!
JT

In article >, "John Taverner"
> writes:

>Bill, Mark, Dale etc have you ever had a nightmare tasting like this?
>

Well, I'm not sure I would have done as well as you at this one! You actually
nailed the main grape in everything but the Gewurzs (which did surprise me, as
the ZH gewurzs seem to be very distinctively Gew. to me, but its not surprise
you thought a ZH regular wine might be VT). That's not so bad. Some of the
other "mistakes" are pretty reasonable- Ridge has a very European style,
Girardin wines (which I often like) are really not in a classic Burgundian
style, etc. Personally, I think you did quite well, better than I usually do at
doubleblind. I do fairly well at single blind usually (I mean if we know what
the wines are, just not which is which, then I'm a good guesser).

Sounds like the Catena is worth looking for. Actually the ZH too (though I
swore I wasn't buying anymore).

Best,

Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

indeed you did do well...Farr Vintners has this wine en magnum for £330 in
bond (= about £35 per 75cl bottle)
I have some of the 1998 of their lesser wine CDP Domaine de la Roquette 1998
which I have not tried yet - you may encourage me to do so..

Johnners

>
> > C-de-P, La Crau, Dom du Vieux Telegraphe, 1998, £13.
> > Bright and young, good extract, Classic S Rhone with a lot of Cab! on
the
> > nose, Full fat and tannic, great spicy fruit, long++ Try again 5 years,.
> > HOORAY, I got one right.
>
> £13 for '98 Vieux Telegraphe??? Where do I sign up? It retailed in the
US
> for typically $40-45! Triple ack!!!

John Taverner > wrote:
: Solihull Fine Wine Society, February meeting.


: R.B.J. Theologicum,1999, Western Oz, =A314.10, deep with hint of brown,
: a tarry vegetal nose, molassses spice. Light entry with little tanninn.
: Very pleasant luncheon wine. A Southern rhone-like colonial.

With a name like this, you'd think the wine would be ponderous and=20
intellectually challenging...

Mark S