A brief word about my last bottle of ’95 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

March 7, 2013 Leave a comment

Recently, we were on our way to celebrate a family birthday at Chez Melange, the celebrant’s restaurant of choice. As we were about to leave the house, I peeked into our “wine cellar” to grab a wine for the evening — specifically, a cabernet sauvignon, since we all seemed to be in a beef & lamb mood. After a quick look through the possibilities, I noticed that there was one lonely bottle of ’95 Beringer Private Reserve left.

The 1995 vintage of Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon was a legendary one, and when it was released, I stocked up on as much Beringer, Caymus, Groth, Robert Craig, Paradigm, et al that I could afford.  Over the years, we slowly worked our way through the collection, and this was the last chance to enjoy a great example from it.  On top of that, conventional wisdom says that the vintage is past is prime, so I figured there was no reason to sit on this bottle any longer.

So . . . was it a little long in the tooth?  Yeah, it was.  The front end was noticeably softer than I remember, and overall it was a subdued version of what it had been just a few years previous.

That said, comparing this wine today to how it was five years ago isn’t exactly fair.  Most wines currently in their prime wished they had the depth and complexity of flavor that this nearly 20 year-old wine had.  You could still taste the fruit — perhaps not as bold as it was, but very much still there.  Considering that Beringer Private Reserve has never been the fruit bomb that some boutique Napa Cabs are, plus the somewhat lower alcohol level in the ’95 versus current vintages, this was still impressively elegant.

Glad that my last experience with this excellent vintage was as good as it was.  Now to make my way through the ’97s before that vintage starts to go down hill. . . .

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Photo credit:  CK Dexter Haven

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Tonight’s Hollywood Bowl wines

August 30, 2012 Leave a comment

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For tonight’s concert of incidental music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn and Orff’s Carmina Burana, I decided to bring along a couple of 2004 wines: a Late Disgorged Brut from Domaine Carneros and a Ridge Lytton Springs.

Both are drinking damn well. No matter how many times I drink “older” Lytton Springs, I am always surprised at how well it holds up. I think few other zins do as well (Turley comes to mind, but that’s about it).

The Domaine Carneros is less of a surprise, but just as enjoyable — crisp, tangy, and nicely balanced.

And the concert? Quite good so far. More in a couple of days.

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Farewell for now, foie gras — and many thanks to Michael Cimarusti, José Andrés, et al, over the years

July 3, 2012 3 Comments

I don’t remember the first time I had foie gras, but I definitely know when and where I fell in love with it:  it was at Water Grill in Downtown LA, right before the turn of the New Millenium.  Michael Cimarusti had taken over the kitchen from Allyson Thurber a year or two before.

On this particular night’s five-course tasting menu, the chef offered up an appetizer of “foie gras au torchon” that was poached or somehow otherwise infused with cognac.

It was insanely good.  ”Decadent,” was the actual word that immediately came to mind after I put that first bite of foie gras yumminess smeared onto a brioche toast point into my mouth.  I was hooked, and fortunately for me, the portion size was extremely generous — almost too much of a good thing.  Almost.

So it is poetic and more than a tad melancholy that the last time I’m likely to have foie gras in California (for the foreseeable future, at least) was at the hand of Michael Cimarusti, now chef and owner of Providence on Melrose Avenue. A few days ago, Mrs. CKDH and I sat down for a 15-course chef’s tasting menu*, where his joint seafood and foie gras brilliance was manifest in two of the dishes:
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Mardi Gras wine: 2009 Melville Estate Pinot Noir – Sta. Rita Hills

February 23, 2012 Leave a comment

imageMrs. CKDH had asked for some Pinot Noir to go with the Mardi Gras meal she was preparing, so I poked around the wine “cellar” (read as “dedicated closet for wine in our garage”) to see what I could find.  I was surprised to find a bottle of 2005 Cambria “Julia’s Vineyard” in amongst the various ’07, ’08, and ’09 Pinots.  Cambria “Julia’s” is one of our everyday favorites — reliably tasty, smooth, and relatively inexpensive — but it’s not one I like to keep around for very long because it doesn’t hold up for very long.  Sure enough, I pulled the cork, tasted it, and, well . . . not so much.  I let it sit in the glass for another 20 minutes to see if that would help, and it didn’t, so I sadly poured all of it down the drain.

Having gotten burned on an older bottle, I went in the other direction and pulled a bottle from the most recent purchase I had made:  2009 Melville Estate Pinot Noir – Sta. Rita Hills (winemaker’s notes HERE).   We had picked up two bottles of it, plus two more of ’09 Melville “Carrie’s” Pinot; since I really want to give the “Carrie’s” some time to develop, I decided to open one of the regular “Estate” bottles.

In short — it’s yummy, but it’s still young.  Quite tight in the nose and on the palate.  Definitely fruity, and definitely Sta. Rita Hills, but very short finish.  I’m gonna wait until next year before I try the second bottle since I’m sure it’ll develop more back-end with a little more time lying down.

That’s okay, it’ll be worth the wait.  Besides, I have some ’07 Rochioli that is begging to be opened, and I can’t risk waiting too long and having to pour THAT down the kitchen sink.

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Three weeks worth of wine (part two of two)

September 25, 2011 Leave a comment

(Continuing where I left off from my previous post on the subject . . . )

2007 Etude Pinot Noir Deer Camp Estate Carneros and 2007 Etude Heirloom Pinot Noir Estate Carneros

As much as I love California Pinot Noir, I’ve have been largely ambivalent to those from Carneros.  Whenever I’ve tasted them in the past, they seemed pleasant enough but without the rich earthiness of Santa Barbara County examples or the brighter fruit you get from Russian River.  The sole exception to this in my experience has been wines from Etude.

I’ve had prior vintages of the Heirloom Pinot Noir before, and the 2007 version did not disappoint.  The true revelation for me was the 2007 Deer Camp:  just a hint brighter and more fruit-forward than its more famous brethren, its flavors on the palate were layered and its finish was long. For me, Deer Camp is neither better nor worse than the Heirloom, just different — though its price of $50 to $60 per bottle is unquestionably more attractive than that of Heirloom, which typically goes for $25-$30 more.  The excellent Estate regular bottling lists on the winery’s website at $40, but can be found at a veritable bargain of high-$20′s, and at that price is easily comparable (and perhaps preferable) to similarly priced favorites from Russian River, Santa Ynez, or Santa Maria.

2007 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “S.L.V.” Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

For all the countless visits made to Napa over the years, I had never actually visited Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars until this trip, and even though I’ve had the good fortune to drink some of their famous Cabernets before, I relished the chance to try them all side by side.  I was extra lucky that they were tasting the well-regarded 2007 vintage of their wines — except for their flagship “Cask 23″ of which they had sold out of the ’07 and were tasting 2006′s instead.

All of the Stag’s Leap cabs lived up their strong reputation, with each of their personalties coming through as expected:  the entry-level 2007 “Artemis” was rock-solid and middle of the road (if you can call a $45 wine entry-level); the 2007 “Fay” subtle and subdued but  still rich; the 2007 “S.L.V.” bold and sophisticated; the 2006 “Cask 23″ layered and nuanced.  They were all somewhere between excellent and outstanding.  My favorite was the S.L.V. — easily matching the Gargiulo 575 OVX as the best 2007 cab I’ve had so far.  Mrs. CKDH preferred the 2006 Cask 23 instead, making note of the very long finish.  It was disappointing that we were unable to taste the 2007 Cask 23, and I wonder how the difference in vintage would have affected my preferences.

It’s worth noting that prices at Stag’s Leap were among the highest I’ve seen when comparing winery prices versus typical retail price.  S.L.V. and Fay can typically be had for about $80 per bottle and the winery was asking $120 — a 50% mark up.  2006 Cask 23 was listed at $180 at the winery while a quick Google search shows numerous bottles available for around $150, with one source even asking just $139.  I expect wineries to charge their full “list” price which will always be more than what you can find in the store, but these differences — in both absolute dollar and percentage terms — were a staggering rip off.  If the difference was more modest (say, a still relatively steep $20), I would have been much more tempted to go home with a lighter wallet and some bottles in hand.  As it turned out, we walked away without any wine.

1997 Robert Craig “Affinity” Napa Valley

I’ve been collecting Robert Crag’s Bordeaux-style Cabernet Sauvignon blend since the 1994 vintage.  I had a few bottles of the 1997 left and when a dear friend came into town, we decided to bring one of the bottles with us to dinner at Manhattan Beach Post.  It has held up VERY nicely:  after 15 minutes in a decanter, it opened up nicely with fruit and a hint of black pepper on the nose; lots of berry on the palate but structured and balanced, with tannins enough to allow the bottle to hold up for another few years.  It has gained complexity without losing much flavor. This was exactly the kind of wonderful experience you hope for when you lay a bottle down for this long.  It paired gloriously with David LeFevre’s yummy small plates.

RELATED POST:

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photo credit:

  • 1997 Robert Craig “Affinity” Napa Valley:  CK Dexter Haven
  • Etude Pinot Noir:  http://shop.etudewines.com
  • Stag’s Leap:  http://www.cask23.com

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Three weeks worth of wine (part one of two)

September 10, 2011 2 Comments

When it comes to wine, I’ll drink anything as long as it’s good:  still or sparkling, red or white (or pink), dry or sweet, you name it. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure to taste (and drink) a lot more wine than usual, spanning a whole host of varietals.  As I mentioned previously, we recently got back from a trip to Northern California that included stops in Napa and Sonoma.  Lots of tasty wine sampled on that trip, and there were even more corks pulled and glasses poured before we actually left on the trip.  Too many wines to list all of them, but by popular demand, here’s a rundown on some of the most notable bottles of the past three weeks:

2004 Sea Smoke “Southing” Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills

I have a strong love (and bias) for Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir.  Many bottles of Sanford, Whitcraft, Cambria, Au Bon Climat, Melville, and Lane Tanner have happily passed through our possession since the early 1990′s, and for years, Sanford’s “Sanford & Benedict” release was for me the benchmark bottling for  its depth of flavor and year-to-year consistent excellence.  Then, Christie Bishop, friend and fellow blogger, introduced me to Sea Smoke and as they say, the rest is history.  Don’t get me wrong; I still love “Sanford & Benedict” and I drink more Sanford Pinot Noir than any other label, but Sea Smoke is now the quintessential example of this great varietal in my book.

A few weeks ago, we uncorked a bottle of ’04 “Southing” that we had kept for a while and, well, for lack of a better word . . . WOW.  Excellent but slightly restrained on the nose, this wine really hits the palate with full flavor, lush fruit and spice, with a distinctive Sta. Rita Hills earthiness that lingered for a wonderfully long time.  I might have expected this from a new release, but not from a bottle of pinot that had been laying down for  five years and then decanted for 20 minutes.  This was easily the biggest pinot noir I’ve ever tasted, and could have easily stayed in the cellar for another three years or more and would still hold up beautifully.  We brought the bottle along to Hatfield’s and as expected, it was a perfect match for Quinn Hatfield’s perfectly composed (if perhaps slightly repetitive) seven-course tasting menu.

2004 Gaetano D’Aquino Brunello di Montalcino and 2005 Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino

It’s usually tough to find one decent bottle of Brunello for under $60, but our friends at Costco kindly decided to sell two bottles for under $40.  We brought them with us to the Hollywood Bowl for the Rodrigo y Gabriela concert, and opened the D’Aquino first:  a bit tight at first, it eventually opened up enough to reveal a somewhat dryer flavor than your typical Brunello, while still having a nice long finish.  The Barbi was more fruit-forward and was the preferred choice between the two.  While neither was mind blowing, both were excellent, enjoyable, and great values.

2000 Domaine Carneros Late Disgorged “Le Rêve” Blanc de Blancs

Whenever we go up to Napa and Sonoma, we try to mix in old favorites with new and different places which haven’t previously visited.  Domaine Carneros is one of the few places that we consider “required reading” whenever we’re in the area, both for the awesome setting, the excellent sit-down tasting experience, and most of all, the great sparkling wine.  A few years back, Domaine Carneros decided to limit the release and raise the prices of their wines.  Their flagship “Le Rêve” used to be readily available in our favorite wine store, but is now only available in restaurants and direct from the winery, so these winery visits have become an increasingly rare opportunity to taste it.  On this visit, they happened to be tasting their very limited Late Disgorged ”Le Rêve,” supposedly only available through their club and at the winery.  Was it wonderful?  Absolutely.  Was it better than their regular release of ”Le Rêve?”  I thought so.  Did I think it was worth the $100+ club-discounted asking price?  No.  Roederer Estate’s “L’Ermitage” Brut Anderson Valley remains my favorite vintage California sparkler — at less than half the price.

2008 Ravenswood “Cooke Vineyard” Zinfandel Sonoma County and 2007 Ravenswood “Old Hill” Zinfandel Sonoma Valley

I was a huge fan of the Ravenswood Monte Rosso Zinfandel over the years, and when the winery lost access to that famed Sonoma County vineyard’s grapes, I went into a little bit of mourning.  Thank goodness we discovered their Cooke Vineyard Zinfandel last year. While the 2008 isn’t quite as awesome as the amazing 2007 version of the same wine, it is still jammy and spicy, complex yet easy finishing, and pretty much everything you’d want in a zin — except, perhaps, readily available (they only sell at the winery and through their club, and only 300 or so cases of the 2008 were produced).  If you want/need something special from Ravenswood that you could actually find in the store, all of the single vineyard designates are quite good, but the 2007 “Old Hill” was easily my favorite of the bunch.

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Wine and a Weekend of Celebration

June 25, 2011 1 Comment

Typically, when the weekend comes around, Mrs. CKDH & I tend to open a bottle of wine (or perhaps two or six bottles, depending on which folks we happen to be drinking with).  Since last weekend was a particularly celebratory one filled special occasions with family, friends, and lots of yummy cuts of USDA prime beef, I went into the celler and pulled out a couple of Cabs that had been laying down for a little while.  I’ve been asked a couple of times by the wonderful folks with whom we dined to remind them what we drank — my apologies for the week-long delay:

  • 1995 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, right before the U2 concert at Angel Stadium, coinciding with the wedding anniversary of me & Mrs. CKDH:  Once it opened up a little,  still lots of great fruit on the nose; on the palate, nice and complex, though the tannins were quite a bit softer compared to how I remember the last bottle of ’95 we opened last year.  Smooth and long lasting finish.  The prime rib and steaks that we ordered at Prime Cut were decent, but undistinguished; what can you expect from a place where burgers take up almost as much room on the menu as the steaks; still, we weren’t expecting anything much more than we got.
  • 2001 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville, Father’s Day dinner at Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse:  First bottle of ’01 Groth that we’ve opened.  Quite big, even after all this time, but not overpowering.  Complex and a bit spicy, drank very well on its own, paired exceptionally well with the dry-aged New York that is the specialty of the house whether I took the bite plain or with some Maytag blue cheese sauce, and even complimented the bread pudding we had for dessert. Yummy. Very yummy.  So glad I’ve got more bottles left.

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