a great time was had by all

Last night we hosted a tasting of Kinkead Ridge white wines (two verticals including four years of Riesling and four years of Viogner Rousanne) and for those who are partial to reds, I also opened 2004 Rochioli pinot noir, 2005 Emeritus pinot noir, 1996 Chateau St Michelle meritage, 2005 Bergevin Lane Calico red and 2001 Thomas Clay Counoise from Santa Barbara. For more on the wonderful Kinkead ridge wines check out www.kinkeadridgewinery.typepad.com , I think they were all fantastic and show the potential Kinkead Ridge wines, but I am going to talk about the reds tasted. First the Rochioli, my wife and I have visited this winery and tasted there entry level wines, they were good while not exceptional. This wine however was fantastic and points to the importance of time in the bottle. This bottle had gotten some bottle aging which made it rich and full bodied with dried cherry notes, just a stunner. Next the Emeritus, this is a new project from the former owner of Sonoma Cutrer winery, that though know for their chardonnays, produces a pinot noir, so exclusive that it is allocated to the club members. The point is that the producers of Emeritus were responsible for a highly sought after pinot, thus the interest in this wine. That said, I think the 05 will benefit from some more time in the bottle. To be continued.

A neat revelation

A couple of nights ago my wife and I decided to finish off a bottle of Chateau Rieussec Sauternes 2003. We had opened this bottle almost a month before and kept it in our refrigerator sealed with a vacuvin. When we intially opened this wine it was bright and unsophisticated. I was somewhat disappointed because it did not exhibit any of the traits I look for in a sauterne. It was not lush! Now to the second go round. Boy did this wine change with time and oxygenation. It was now rich and full bodied. There was a fantastic carmel flavor up front and noted of butterscotch on the finish. This wine had become better than I could have expected. This exemplifies one of my credos for wine. That being :If you do not like a wine initially give it time, go back to it 24 hours later, it will probably be better, but if not you are no worse off. Often times wines just need to open up, particularly younger wines, so do not give up.

Good wine bad experience

This weekend we opened a bottle of 2001 Provenance Merlot. This is a wine that I have like for quiet some time. We visited the winery a couple of years ago when traveling in Napa Valley. I presented my business card expecting to be able to taste the full range of their wines for free( as a trade courtesy), which is customary and had been followed at every other winery we visited, only to be told I could try four wines for free, but would have to pay for the premium wines. I paid, but was put off by this poor treatment. This needless to say has colored my view of these wines since, even though I still think of them as superior wines I do not recommend them because of this event. Any way back to our Merlot, which not withstanding the above mentioned event, we thoroughly enjoyed, it was a rich wine with plum and black raspberry flavors laced throughout the lingering finish. This wine had held up beautifully and as I have commented before would easily rival a great many Cabernets on the market. Try it for yourself, form your own opinion. Just be a ware that there are other producers with comparable wines that have employees that know how to treat people who might be in a position to sell their products.

An old friend

This weekend my wife and I went down to Vevay Indiana to spend a few nights at the Ogle Haus Best Western on the river. We had brought our own wine (of course) and on the first night we opened a bottle of Seghesio Old Vines Zinfandel. This is one of their lower production Zin's and Seghesio is our all time favorite Zin producer. We had not had any Seghesio in a while and we were blown away by this bottle which had big fruit and alcohol, yet was very reserved and sophisticated. It was a real mouth full, with red cherry and strawberry notes. The alcohol level is high, but well integrated and does not mar the wine. The bottle we opened was a 2004 and thus had some bottle age, yet was still bright and lively, not what you would expect from a four year old Zin. If you like Big wines and Big Zins treat yourselves to one of Seghesio's limited production wines. They retail in the mid thirties, but are worth it for that special occasion