Mike Webb's House
April 16, 2009
In anticipation of sharing some Ch. Petrus, we all arrived early for this month's installment. Mike has been promising, for years, to share these Right Bank beauties. The only question was "What will the vertical consist of?" Would they be from the sixties, seventies, or just the really good ones from 1959, 1961, 1982 - and the list goes on. You could see the grin of joy on Mike's face as we all gathered around the kitchen counter sampling two very distinct whites. Mike was putting the finishing touches on the dessert while we swaped stories about work and family.
As for the white wine, Mike had stopped in at Vinopolis and wine guru Brian directed him to a couple of White Burgundies from the '05 vintage, including a Ch. de Puligny-Montrachet "Monthelie" AOC and a Domaine de la Folie "Clos la Folie" from Rully. They were very different in aroma and taste. As you might imagine, the guesses were all over the map (literally). We visited Old and New World Chardonnay, Semillon, Viognier, Alvarino. In the end, several of us were reminded of the steely components that led us to these gems.
Mike ushered us into the dining area. Rather than set two tables at end, he set up two distinct tables, six at one and four at the other. Was this part of the tasting? No one knew, but we were giddy in anticipation for the first drop to leave the clear decanter. Over the past several tastings, we've developed this routine of passing the decanters around rather than have the host hover over each position. What would it be like to pour a Petrus is all we could think of, or maybe that was just me.
After four glasses had been stained with the dark juice from across the pond, we all stuck our noses into the stemware. The looks came quick and fast. This wasn't Petrus, or was it? Maybe they all just needed some time to develop. Mike had told us that he had just barely decanted the wine before we arrived. Oh, I get it. He wanted us to witness the glory of the wine evolving in the glass. Nicely played we all thought. But, then came the real test. How would these Merlots taste? We got chocolate, dark berries, smoke, meat flavors. All four seemed a little tight. Of course, these were the really young vintages from this decade. The second four would surely be more typical Bordeaux. Some of us, towards the end of the first flight, made our own blend and agreed the sum of the whole was better than the individual parts.
The second flight of four arrived in the same fashion as the first flight. If these weren't Petrus, Mike wasn't letting on. As we once again dove into the vessels, there didn't appear to be any resemblance to the younger Petrus. These were less tannic, but there were subtle hints of white pepper. We all went through the mechanics of tyring to determine why these Petrus offerings didn't seem to jive with what we thought they should offer. Surely, the reveal would prove that it didn't make sense to pigeon hole these glorious wines into what we thought they should be. Or, had Mike just got us all hyped up again with the promise that next year's tasting would include his Petrus.
The first four, to everyone's delight, were - not Petrus. They were, however, four highly rated Cabernet's from Quilceda Creek from our neighbor to the north. They included the 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2002, the last one receiving a perfect 100 points from Parker. These wines are extremely hard to find unless you're on the mailing list. Fortunately for us, Mike is.
The second flight was from France, but not from the Right Bank. These were a little further south from the Rhone Valley and the heralded Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Mike poured these huge CDP's from 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Suffice it to say, no one was able to properly identify these two dinstinct wines from different areas of the world. I think most of us were still waiting for Mike to say that he had actually poured Petrus in the bottles. But, in reality, these wines were enourmous and were a pleasure to enjoy.
Over the next thirty minutes or so, most of the wine that remained in the decanters found its way back to the two tables. We ended the evening with some home made dessert and a 1997 Dow Vintage Port. In these tough times, we all feel blessed with friendship and the ability to share such wonderful wine.