Loren Bunnell's Condo
September 18, 2008
For this year's last tasting, we all met at Loren's swanky Pearl District Condo for what we all assume will be the last tasting at The Henry. Only Bill was unable to make the tasting having decided to head over the mountain with his bride for a Russian-themed weekend with some friends. As usual, all were greeted at the door by Elizabeth, Loren's pup.
Two white wines, in decanters marked A and B, were waiting to be judged. Both had characteristics of Chardonnay, but B had more of a minerality component. Although not much talk centered around these pre-wines, those that did make comment accurately identified the varietal and region. They were both Chardonnay's and both from the 2005 vintage. Carafe A was Domaine Drouhin's Saint-Veran, a nice White Burgundy. Carafe B was William Fevre's Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume. To go alongside the two French white's, Loren had a cheese plate consisting of English Stilton, Italian Pecorino, English Cheddar, and some Pate.
Brad and Neal sampling the bounty with Brant in the background.
After catching up on all the happenings over the past month we all sat down for the first flight of red wine with the frommage, Italian salami and bread. The wines had all been decanted for several hours prior to arrival. Most agreed that there did not seem to be any consistency in the first flight and some even ventured that the first three did not resemble the fourth at all. And there was something going on with the nose on the third wine although no one could really identify what it was - it was not a "corked" issue and some agreed that despite the off nose, the varietal's flavor was pleasant. Not everyone, however, was able to get past the detectable flaw in the bouquet.
We moved to the second flight, also four reds. From the get go, all mentioned that these appeared to be superior to the first flight in all aspects. Unlike the first flight, these had balance, good structure and well integrated tannins. Loren went around the table for our thoughts on both flights. Guesses went from "I have no idea" to California Cabernet to Sangiovese to Zinfandel to California Merlot to Malbec. But only Brad, Paul, Howard and Brant guessed the correct varietal - Syrah. All of the wine had one thing in common apart from being Syrah - Loren had been to each winery at some point over the past few years.
Brant and Loren discussing really important stuff with Mike and Howard going for "seconds."
The first two were Old World Syrah's from the Rhone Valley, a 2001 Alain Graillot La Guiraude from Crozes Hermitage and a 2002 Chave Offerus from Saint Joseph. Both wines ended up averaging 87 points on the evening. The third and fourth wine of the flight were from Oregon, a 2000 Abacela and a 2003 Rock Block Carpenter Hill. The Abacela ending up scoring the lowest for the tasting at 84 points due in large part to the funky nose. The Rock Block Syrah was solid and had the highest alcohol content of the entire tasting at 15.6%.
The second flight were all California Rhone Rangers. They included two each from Sonoma Valley and Santa Ynez Valley - and all were fromt the 2004 vintage. The Syrah from Sonoma included a Sebastiani and a Melville Donna while the wine from Santa Barbara included a Beckman Estate and Babcock Frying Pan Vineyard Syrah's. By a slim margin, the Babcock rated the highest for the evening garnering an average rating of 95 points. Overall, the tasting averaged 90 points, a clear sign that the group loves this varietal.
Paul and Steve desparately trying to decipher the varietal.
Loren then opened a very nice Sauternes from Chateau Chais de Meribel to go with some very dense Chocolate cake.