[wine] TN Pinots 2-17-2005 and Bubblies 2-21-2005

Herewith notes from dinner Thursday night of last week, apparently our last dinner at 510 (alas), and from a very good sparkling wine tasting at Solo Vino this past Monday night. Pinots at 510 - 2/17/2005 W1 - fresh fruit, floral notes, and plenty of oak on an attractive nose; full, round and fruity chardonnay midpalate; clean mineral finish, excellent quality. 1999 Rully (blanc), Bouchard Pere & Fils. W2 - fresh citric acid nose suggests NZ; full, clean and acidic midpalate, focused flavor continues right thru the finish, is there an extremely faint off odor or is that my imagination, very good though. 2003 Pinot Gris, Adelsheim. (Oregon; I failed to note the specific appellation, if any.) W3 - oak and mineral spirits on nose; soft, flavorful, chardonnay taste strongly suggests wine #1 but lacks that wine's structure and minerality, alcohol showing on finish. 2002 Bourgogne (blanc), Roulot. W4 - deep brownish gold; a touch maderised on the nose but not unattractive; midpalate is over the hill though, wine is too old. 1992 Pinot Gris, Eyrie Vineyard. (Again, not sure if there was an appellation more specific than Oregon. This wine wasn't dead yet, and must have been very fine quality in its youth.) W5 - (bubbly) 1995 Royal Cuvee, Gloria Ferrer, Carneros. 1.1 - forthcoming autumnal nose, interestingly funky, midpalate of smoothly structured spicy unsweet fruit, lovely if lightweight finish, an outstanding start to the line-up of red wines. 2000 Groote Post Pinot Noir, Coastal Region (South Africa). Personally selected and imported by Betsy! 1.2 - brownish and not 100% clear; small maply nose suggests inexpensive Bourgogne to me; herbal vegetal midpalate, cooked finish. 1989 Reserve Pinot Noir, Eyrie Vineyard, Willamette Valley. (A distinguished producer, but 1989 was just an OK vintage in Oregon, and it's asking a lot for the wine to show well at age fifteen plus.) 1.3 - cooked, dirty, alcoholic nose; midpalate much better, unsweet fruit, tannic; finish is decently fruity, it's a reasonably attractive lightweight but to my personal taste this lacks pinot character. 1998 Bourgogne, Jean-Marc Boillot. 1.4 - corked. 2.1 - cloudy; sharpish reduced nose; initial mouth impression is a closed up wine, solidly midweight, fruit coming up as the wine is held in the mouth; disappears on the finish, though. 2000 Edmeades Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley. (Age four and a half can be very awkward; if you have more, perhaps it should be retasted a year from this Fall?) 2.2 - brilliant light to medium color; bashful nose; lovely mouthfeel but no flavor, can't find the fruit here, closed up?? 1999 Mark West Pinot Noir, Sonoma County. (Retasted toward the end of the next flight, this wine had improved substantially with air.) 2.3 - dark color; sizable nose emphasizing the black fruit end of the spectrum, a touch cooked; tastes similar to nose; the cooked flavor prominent on the finish. 2002 Bourgogne, Mugneret-Gibourg. (This one improved a lot with air too, although air emphasized the alcohol as well as bringing the flavors into better balance.) 2.4 - dark color; bashful nose; full, smooth and fruity midpalate; aromatic finish with considerable fruit; very tasty if not outstandingly varietal. 2000 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley. 3.1 - Coca Cola nose, including the carbonation; plenty of oak; reductive cola and red fruit taste, very long though. 2002 Nuits St Georges 1er Cru, Les Damodes, Lechenaut. (Retasted at the end of the evening, the wine had changed a great deal, mostly for the better. In principle, this wine should age well into the two thousand teens, and it seems to have been quite heavily sulfured at bottling to protect it on its journey through time.) 3.2 - extremely dark; weird sharp pruney nose; sweet fruit and oak; young wine, needs time, pretty disjointed tonight. 2002 August Briggs Pinot Meunier, Napa Valley. (The nose is less strange once you know it's not pinot noir, but this needs at least a year to settle down.) 3.3 - sharp red fruit nose; taste similar to the nose, quite tannic; OK finish; not special. 2002 Bourgogne, Pillot. 3.4 - very dark, cloudy; smells of dark fruits and earth; full, surprisingly sweet midpalate, smooth and tasty finish; very old world sort of flavor despite the sweet oak. 1997 Morey St Denis, Lechenaut. 4.1 - dark color; big alcoholic sweet dark fruit nose; structured red fruit midpalate, quite different from the nose, light to midweight, aromatically forthcoming finish, very long, attractively medicinal, this is quite good. 1997 Cameron "Arley's Leap" Pinot Noir, Abbey Ridge vineyard, Willamette Valley. (A triumph in this indifferent vintage.) 4.2 - extremely dark; outsize raspberry sherbet nose, big full sweet midpalate, intriguing vegetal tones and herbs; warmly aromatic and forceful finish, long, excellent quality, delicious tonight. 1998 Argyle "Nuthouse" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley. 4.3 - quite dark; smells bretty and acetic, is this bottle off? 1996 Cote de Beaune-Villages, Leroy. Bubbly Tasting at Zander - Solo Vino, 2-21-2005 The wines were tasted nonblind and accompanied by excellent goat cheese, strawberries and crackers - thus, tasting conditions were most pleasant but nonrigorous. Tasting notes are relative to the wines' price points and, more than likely, relative to my preconceived expectations of their quality. Some notes are phrased in uncomplimentary ways, but all wines were sound and attractive with the exception of one corked bottle that was swiftly identified and, one may hope, shipped to Wine Spectator senior editor James Suckling to recognize his continuing advocacy of bark corks. Prices stated are Solo Vino's quoted discount prices for those attending the tasting. Wholesaler is Wine Company on all these wines. 1999 Marques de Gelida Brut Cava. Fabulous brown sugar nose; full midpalate, distinctly Cava, rather sweet but dosage is well balanced by the wine's acid structure; great finesse for Cava; this is excellent. Not nearly as good if you let it warm up, however. 35% macabeo, 30% xarel-lo, 20% parellada, 15% chardonnay. The 2000 vintage was announced in the paperwork, but the 1999 was actually poured; probably Wine Co is in process of switching over. $8.49; good value. NV Baumard Brut Cremant de Loire, Carte Turquoise. Clean but shy nose (too cold at first), showing a freshly acidic quality with anise notes as it warmed; attractively structured midpalate; finishes on the rough and short side. Chenin blanc and cabernet franc. $15.99. NV Col Vetoraz Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze. Micro-production prosecco from a tiny appellation; who knew there was such a thing? Powerful, extremely floral yummy prosecco nose; midpalate full, balanced and delicious, with major fresh ripe pear notes arriving late and continuing through an extremely long finish. $25.99. Champagne that costs two and a half times normal vintage brut tends to taste like something rather different, but this tastes like normal prosecco with the flavor volume turned way up. 2000 Iron Horse Classic Vintage Brut, Green Valley, Sonoma County. Sizable nose emphasizing the chardonnay; a full, round, structured midpalate emphasizing the pinot, very dry, rather severe; forceful finish; much more approachable in its youth than was the 1999 version of the same wine. Tastes nothing like Champagne, but very good quality. 60% pinot noir, 40% chardonnay. $26.99. NV Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Premier Cru. Rather dilute floral aroma and flavor; based on the washed-out 2001 vintage?? Decent but way short of this producer's better versions of this wine. 40% pinot noir, 40% meunier, 20% chardonnay. $30.49, since the dollar's in the dumper. NV Jean-Noel Haton Brut Rose. Plenty of SO2 but that should go away with a little time in bottle; midpalate impression is that it lacks structure and dosage is on the high side; good length; impression is that I've had better rose from Haton, but the SO2 from the recent disgorgement may be killing the fruit a bit. 30% chardonnay, 35% meunier, 25% pinot noir, plus 10% pinot noir as red wine. $27.99. Needs retasting in a few months. Incidentally, we shared the current release of Haton's regular (white) NV brut Champagne with friends on Valentine's Day and it was extremely pleasant, the best such wine I've had from this producer. NV Alain Robert Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Selection, Grand Cru. Intriguing raw meat nose, fantastically structured attack, sweet midpalate with the reserve wines clearly in evidence, tremendous finesse, runaway truck aromatic finish. Essence of Le Mesnil Champagne. Outstanding. $45.49 and worth it. 1998 Veuve Clicquot Vintage Reserve. Attractively full floral nose despite plenty of SO2 being in evidence, some anise; full and structured, lacks the fruit of the 1996, good though; transition (to finish) rough, dosage obvious, needs time, strongly acidic finish a good sign for further aging, good quality overall. Rather disjointed at the moment. $56.49. 60% pinot noir, 10% meunier, 30% chardonnay. NV Krug Grande Cuvee. (New labels.) Freshly acidic and very large nose; massively citric midpalate tasting strongly of Avize tangerine; on the transition, total finesse to the point of delicacy, the wine seems to disappear without being swallowed, combined with huge flavor authority, the wine gets bigger and bigger for many tens of seconds after it leaves the mouth, extraordinary. No real aroma or flavor trace of the oak, nor of the reserve wines; this will get better for years in the bottle. $142.99. Hard to suggest actually buying it at this price, but not irrational to do so. Krug is Krug. NV Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec. Most attractively fruity sweet Champagne aroma. Not tasted, since we were going on to dinner. $42.49. 40% pinot noir, 40% meunier, 20% chardonnay.