Clos Des Lambrays, 1996 Grand Cru, Domaine Des Lambrays, Morey St. Denis

As with most good red burgundy, the name is excruciatingly long. However, the wine was surpisngly good. We found this on a wine list at a 5* restaurant in town, Nana and it seemed a fair deal. While it had a three figure price, grand cru burgundy is rarely cheap. It was decanted for us, even though it had very little sediment.

The wine itself was marvelous. It smelled of truffles, cinnamon, candied cherries, and ginger. It was well balanced, with slightly reserved acids, and still had some velvety tannins left after nearly a decade. The finish was quite long and went through layers of cedar, leather, and roses. It maintained a core of red fruit and earth.

Paired with a foie gras appetizer with an aged balsamic vinegar it worked quite well.

However, the wine changed during the dinner, in most cases for the better. By the main course it had opened up even more, with some more red fruit becoming apparent, as well as some dried fig and maple syrup. The heady truffle aroma, however was lost. This was paired with a duck breast and pistacios. A marvelous pairing.

By the end of the meal, the wine was starting to fade, but still quite tasty. More of the earth became apparent, as did some of the dried fruit. On the finish I started to note some almond...

Generally, this wine was exactly what it was supposed to be. A wine from a great region in an OK year, that had been aged the appropriate amount of time. If you see this one for under $175, and have a special meal to celbrate, I recommend it.

Platinum

Bogle Phantom 2003

Back to tasting again. It feels really nice to be opening bottles again, and I'll begin having some comparison tasting very soon.

However, one recent opening is this surprisingly good bottle. This is a blend of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Mouvedre. The wine is just huge, as you would expect it to be. It has a very good tannic backbone, and huge fruit in the palate. It has a rich nose of jammy blackberry, currant and tobacco. The wine is a bit lite in acidity, but overall the balance is good. This leads to a very long finish with layers of woody flavors holding up the persistent black fruit.

The wine paried well with a rich steak tartare and worked with a buffalo dish. Recommended with meat and game, particulaly those with rich, sweet sauces.

Gold

Finding Budget Wines

I'm always on the lookout for wines that are low priced, but tasty. I've been finding that increasingly difficult to do lately. I don't think that my tasts have changed signifignatnly, but I'm finding little complexity any any budget wine anymore. Last night I tried one. The first was a Broquel Malbec. Priced on a list at about $24, it was marginal. Flat, simple, but drinkable. Oh well I guess I need to keep looking

Far too little wine consumption

There are times in your life when it gets harder to sample wines. I am in one of those times right now. My wife is pregnant, and it gets harder to justify the expenditure when I'm the only one drinking.

That said I did have a nice half bottle the other night. Saintsbury and their consistently good Pinot noir. Had a nice edge of mushroom to hold up the dried cherry primary notes. The balance was good, even if the finish wasn't particularly long. Even on a wine list, the split was only $16. Silver

Happiness to Despair

A few weeks ago I was particularly excited about getting added to the Kistler mailing list, after waiting several months. It turns out that it wasn't as great as I hoped, due to no fault of the mailing. It turns out that I am not rich, and this can be a bit of an issue. Where I would likely buy two or three bottles of Kistler's wonderful ambrosia of a wine, their minimum purchase is a 12 bottle case. When you add shipping and tax, the total is around $1000. Oh, and they don't take credit cards. Not that I would condone overspending through the use of credit. Oh well...

Good Winery / Bad Winery

Part of this is subjective, but I have had some very important wine experiences over the past couple of days. I have often had the philosophy of buying a lower wine from the best producer possible. The past couple of days have reminded me why.

The first experience is with the Australian vintner Two Hands. They make some great shiraz, and one of them was a favorite from a tasting that I had a with a former wine club. Their prestige (ARES) wine runs around $130, and the "standard" stuff is between $35-$50. I haven't tried the big dog yet, but the others have been consistently good. It turns out that they have started producing a reasonably priced wine under the brand "A Lucky Country" They have two reds at our local market, one a GSM (Grenache/Shiraz/Mouvadre) and the other a cab/shiraz blend. Both are outstanding and priced well under $20. Good intensity of flavor, excellent balance, and easy to drink right now. They are everything that they should be, and I have been converted.

The bad experience comes from a new producer. They are known as Margerum, and the wines would appear to be classy, high end productions. Each bottle is individually numbered and the labels are very uncluttered. The bottles are thick, and the wine is priced at a reasonable premium. As far as the merchandising and marketing would go, this is very well done. What isn't well done is the wine inside. Both versions that I have tried were flabby, low quality affairs. They were quite out of balance, with very little backbone, and lots of alcohol. In many ways they tasted like the premium boxed wine that is growing in popularity, but without the bottom barrel pricing. Just a reminder that the answers to the quality of the wine are IN the bottle, not anywhere on the outside. Maybe they will get better, but as of right now I was highly disappointed.

2002 Banfi Cum Laude

This was a generally excellent wine. The wine was a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese. While the blend had the possiblity of being either overbearing, or thin and acidic it was neither. The balance was right in the middle, with good concentration and balanced acids. The tannins of the wine were moderate to low, making the wine well suited to drinking young, and the italian food that we drank with it. We drank it off a wine list at Riccarrdi's (an excellent restaurant here in Dallas), and it paired with nearly all of our foods. It was a bit difficult with a cream sauce, but with Osso Bucco and a truffle sauced tenderloin it was masterful. Silver, but pushing gold.

We actually walked to a nearby store and picked up a bottle for posterity.

Strange and Happy Moments -

I just got an e-mail from Kistler vineyards notifing me that I have been added to their mailing list. While it took quite a while, I have to admit it is surprisingly gratifing to be part of the "club" that can purchase these gems directly. Now if I can only get on Turley's list, which has a waiting list for the mailing list. How's that for popularity.

Cafaro - 2001 Cafaro Family Vineyards Syrah

This was tasted out of a half bottle. Generally speaking a fairly average wine, with less than anticipated concentration, and higher than ideal alchohol level. The wine had some interesting flavors, particulalry of dried tomato and mint. However, it could have used a bit more thickness, as it seemed to drop fairly quickly.

I would say that the wine was a pretty decent food wine, and would pair with some difficult foods like artichoke, creamy sauces, and ham. Most of the foods wouldn't be what I would place it with based on the label, which would make me expect to pair it with heartier, richer fare. Overall, the wine was a bit of a puzzle but a bit interesting. Bronze.

More Tips... A fun way to taste wine.

The best way to learn about wine is to sample a bunch of wines in a single evening. All of the differences in them become more pronounced when tasted in rapid succession. Here is one of my favorite ways to do this:

It's a wine competition. That is a competition on who brings the best wine. Everyone brings a bottle of wine within a single theme (Chardonnay, etc.), and a fee ($10). All of the bottles are put into a bag and randomly numbered.

Everyone then gets the chance to taste all of the wines and vote for a couple of favortites. The winner pockets the cash, and the wines are unveiled. Surprises are discussed, as is why this particular wine was the best. I have found that there is always a surprise (The Silver Oak didn't win?), or other great conversation starter. Even more interesting, it works no matter your experience level with wine.

* check with your local athorities on if this constitues gambling or other violation of the law. This author does not advocate breaking any laws just to learn more about wine or have fun with your friends. Or just don't brag too loudly about how cool this is.

Not a review per se...

Just some advice. It's pretty easy to get wrapped up in playing the parlor game of "What do you smell in this wine" That is not the point of tasting. The only reason the game matters is so that you can tell others in the wine world what you like and don't like in various wines. What matters is what you like. If you can find a way to express that and others understand more power to you.

I have found that another way to relate is to call out a very well known wine as a "gold standard" If some one says: "I really like the way that Archery Summit tastes, but I want something a bit less expensive" they have given a lot of information to someone who has tasted Archery Summit. No descriptions of exotic mushrooms, cherries picked at the stroke of midnight on a summers eve, or even sweaty leather. But the result is the same.

Don't be afraid to try and communicate with a wine steward or retailer. They can often guide you to excellent values and exotic wines that are easy to ignore.

KISTLER 2003 Sonoma Chardonnay - "Les Noisetiers"

While it wouldn't have been hard to predict that this would be a good wine, the surprise was how good it was. The balance of the wine was excellent, with a firm rich full body, good acids and an eternal finish. The wine was very complex, with loads of fruit and just enough earth and oak to balance it. Some of the key notes were banana, pear, fig, and white mushrooms. Not over oaked, nor overly buttery. The finish was the best part of it, and it seemed to last for a good minute while going through waves of rich flavors.

Also the pairing was interesting. I bought it to go with my friends meal, which was a halibut and scallop combo in a butter sauce. However, it worked with my beef wellington, as long as I didn't use too much of the red wine sauce. I have often known that it could be done, but to see how it worked out, I was amazed. The truffles and meat made some of the more earthy elements come out, and the puff pastry awoke the fruit. Only the red wine sauce was enough to overpower it, but everything else just worked.

This is typically a restaurant only wine, and it is worth the price. If you are looking for a rich, well balanced chardonnay with complexity to the nines, this is your wine. Platinum Hammer.