May 17, 2007 Neal Bell's house The group made the trek down south to Neal's to enjoy a wonderful evening of wine tasting. His significant other, and better half, was gone, so Neal was on his own for food pairings and dessert - he made her proud. We started on the back deck under a lovely blue sky with what we were lead to believe were a 1976 and 1979 Caymus Sauvignon Blanc. The wine turned out to be, however, two Oregon Pinot Gris, an Eyrie Dundee Hills and a WillaKenzie Estate, both from the 2005 vintage. Flight one was comprised of a 2005 Ken Wright Pinot Blanc, a 2005 Maso Canali Pinot Grigio from Italy, a 2006 Cloudy Bay from New Zealand, and a 2006 Dog Point, also from New Zealand. Most enjoyed the Ken Wright Pinot Blanc the best, and it turned out to be the highest rated wine of the flight. There appeared to be some inconsistency with both of the Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough, but that didn't prevent some high scores from Mike and Bill. The second flight turned out to be a vertical of Ch. Beychevelle from the commune of St. Julien. We tasted the 1981, 1975, 1974 and 1970 vintages. Steve pegged the flight almost to a tee. The second flight wines average scoring fell between 90 and 93 points and all were definately deserving of the scores. Neal, with some nudging, brought out a 1978 Ch. Gloria. And then Brant lost another :bet" to Greg - the Gloria is not classified under the 1855 Classification, but Brant was quick to point out, upon returning home, that there was an un-official classification that it was a Fourth Growth - all agree, without hesitation, that the Gloria should be classified. We then turned to a 1967 Miguel Torres Gold Muscat Sweet from Spain and a NV Penfolds Grandfather Tawny Port that accompanied a wonderful dessert. Most of us will be meeting up in a couple of days for a spectacular event. Click here to see individual scoring: May 2007 |