The Big, Bold, and Beautiful

Notes from a brownbag tasting of big, bold, and beautiful wines, with the proviso that they also have some age - no tannin monsters or immature Parker fruit bombs need apply.

1988 Carmenet Sauvignon Blanc (89%) Semillon (11%) - an interesting old Bordeaux style blend from California to start us off. The nose showed some Riesling characteristics, and we couldn't identify it by that. It had a nice entry followed by some fairly assertive acidity, and finished short and a bit flat. In better shape than many Cal-chards from the early 90s, though.

1992 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Shiraz - made from fruit from McLaren Vale and Barossa, this was still a dark wine with a big mint, eucalyptus, cigar box nose. It was warm and smooth in the mouth, with good acidity (beware of 1993 and later where some of these has excessive acidity) and good length. Enjoyable.

1995 Isole e Olena Cepparello - this wine had a rather pretty fruit nose, a fair middle a bit lacking in fruit, and it hardened up at the end. Surprising, as other vintages have shown much better for us. I also found it a bit lacking in weight.

1991 Leonetti Cabernet - a small high end producer from Washington State that I understand is pretty hard to come by in some markets. This one was fully mature, with a very nice herbal (mostly dill) and licorice nose, nice mouth feel, not too heavy, with good length and balance, but with the fruit dropping off a bit - definitely time to drink up.

1993 Bacio Divino - an oddball wine made by Cloudy Cellars (run by the export manager for Caymus Vineyards, Klaus Janzen), and made from 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Sangiovese, 10% Petite Sirah! It has a still purple colour, nice fat oak nose, medium body with some tannins at the end. A very nice wine I had not tasted before!

1978 Ch. Pichon Lalande - from our Bordeaux maven, a touch of class! A wonderful and subtly inflected nose of herb and cedar, a colour that shows it's age, and in the mouth not quite as hefty as I recall it from the last time I had it - bottle variation is to be expected at this age. Nevertheless a pleasant interlude among the country cousins.

1990 Castelgiocondo Brunello - I have found this to be an underachiever in the past, at least in some bottles, but this one showed quite well, and made me think there is a future for the remaining stock in my cellar. A nose that was very vinyl kid's wading pool went away quickly and left a more typically fruit based nose. Good weight and length.

1989 Dominus - this probably showed as well as any 1989 California cab I have tasted. A nice smoky vanilla nose followed by a refined medium bodied wine with a smooth feel to it. Time to drink up, though! I thought this one fit the theme particularly well.

1995 Les Cailloux Chateauneuf du Pape - from our Rhone Ranger, this was an opportunity to taste something I hadn't sampled since I laid mine down. A great garrigue and fruit nose, smooth long and lovely and drinking very well right now. I think I'll start in on mine soon (the Cuvee Centenaire should probably be left a few years yet).

1993 Ridge ATP Cabernet - Horseshoe/Young-Foster Monte Bello - one of the small production wines sent out on the ATP program, this had a big concentrated spicy fruit nose, a little hot in the mouth (I didn't catch the alcohol level from the label), and an interesting wine on palate. Don't bother trying to find it - you won't.

1970 Moulin Touchais - a very nice way to end the tasting. A Coteaux du Layon, made from Chenin Blanc, and very long lived. I have tasted the 1949 and it was still in fairly good shape. This one showed a touch of lemon and caramel in the nose, not too sweet in the mouth, and nicely assembled. Wish they were more widely available, and that they were still the price we used to pay for the old vintages.

Next month - Original Zin chez moi.

Bill S.

Hi Bill

Great notes, as usual. But what is the ATP program for Ridge? And for others, what is your verdict on 1998 Californian Cabernets? I've bought some Monte Bello en primeur, mainly because my daughter was born in 98, and also I've never had a bad Ridge wine. At £126 for six bottles, it seemed fairly priced.

ATP stands for Advanced Tasting Program. It's a wine club operation that Ridge offers in which members get a pair of bottles about every six weeks throughout the year of limited production Ridge wines. Typically the total output of ATP wines is about 30 barrels.

The shipments cost about $30-35 and give you the opportunity to taste some Ridge Zins as well as Alicante Bouchet, Grenache, Petite Syrah bottlings from small plots.

Your six bottles of Monte Bello at 21 pounds per is a real bargain. Typical pricing of MB cabernet is around $100/bottle. I don't have a comment on the quality of the '98 (which was a marginal year in CA), but Paul Draper consders MB the flagship of Ridge and I've never known him to skimp on quality for the sake of quantity.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (ret) ***Computer Edge Magazine ***http://www.computeredge.com

I was interested in your mention of the 70 & 49 Moulin Touchas. I still have a few bottles of the 49. 59, & 76 that I bought many years ago when the price was still a 'steal' compared with top Sauternes. All of those mentioned were still holding well the last time I tasted them. These wines were nearly unknown and extremely difficult to find in the US when I bought them. I finally found them listed in an auction catalog. I have heard that even some Moulin Touchas from the 20's still is quite drinkable.

Hi,

Sun, 15 Jul 2001 00:48:27 -0500 (CDT), you said:-

Yes, I tasted a few of them around the early 80's late 70s. They were being sold at a ridiculous price - especially considering their bottle age. It was perfectly easy to buy it at more than 30 years old! BTW. Isn't it Moulin Touchais (not Touchas)?

When my brother was promoted to partner in his firm he celbrated by inviting us to a party in a pretty posh restaurant in London. I don't remember TOO much about the food, but I _do_ remember that I brought a Moulin Touchais 1921, which was still perfectly drinkable. (I was a touch disappointed with it, I have to say, but that's compared with the '59 I was more familiar with).

Simon

Where on earth did you get Montebello for £126/6? I'd expect the price to be double this en primeur, especially considering the strengh of the dollar...

Hi Jamie

Yup, I was quite surprised when I saw the price. Just dug out the invoice (from James Nicholson in Northern Ireland), dated 18/8/99 and it's for £124.98. I wish now that I'd bought more.

A membership/allocation program. I don't get to join it because I live in Pennsylvania, but I've bought some ATP wines on visits to the winery. Some very unique bottlings there.