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Le Du wineshop had a fundraiser Saturday. About a dozen local Sommelier volunteered their time and wine distributers donated their wine. About 100 wines were being poured. I arrived at the 1:00pm start time before the crowds came in so I was able to enjoy the first half hour of wine in relative peace. When it got crowded, it wasn’t even rush-hour on the subway crowded, it was rush-hour on the subway during a disaster crowded. It was pretty much cheek to cheek especially in the back room where the reds were being poured. A lot of tasty juice was poured that afternoon. I began with some whites. I enjoyed the 2010 Patrick Piuze “Petite Chablis” and well as the 06 William Fevre Chablis Premier Cru “Fourchaume”  Went off to the New World. Had the 08 Hudson Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay. Buttery, new oak on the finish. The 09 Hanzell Sonoma Valley Chardonnay was excellent. More old world than new, tight with a long finish, it had more in comman with the Chablis I had previously drank. Was disapointed in the 06 Kistler “McCrea Vineyard Ahern Estate” Chardonnay. On my notes I had “salty, briney, like eating an oyster”  Would have liked to try another bottle to see if it was bottle variation.

The reds were being poured in the back room. I tried some outstanding juice. First stop was the Bordeaux table. First wine was the 1980 Calon Segur “Grand Cru”. It was exciting to have the opportunity to drink a mature Bordeaux. Brick robe, chestnut nose, smokey fruit. Very interesting. Others I tried: 08 Blasson D’Issan, 08 Chateau Certain de May, the 08 Chateau Puy Blanquet and the 07 Chateau Beausejour. At the next table I tried some outstanding Barolo. Every bottle I tried was drinking beautifully especially the 1998 Bussia Soprano “Vigna Colonnello”. The wine was maturing nicely, the tannins have sofented to a nice velvety finsh. Others I tried were the 07 Giovanni Corino “Vigna Giachini”, 07 Casa E. di Mirafiore, and the 07 Enzo Boglietti “Fossati” At the table I also enjoyed th 2000 Gianni Brunelli Brunello di Montalcino. Another tasty red was the Ricasoli 08 “Colledila” Chianti Classico.

My next stop was the table with Southern French wines. I enjoyed the 06 Domain du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape. Very earthy, chewy and balanced. The 2000 Bandol Domaine Le Galantin “Longue Garde” was delicious, rustic, smokey, chewy.

By this time the crowd was huge and I had to use all of my wine glass balancing skills while I made my way to the Pinot Noir table. I liked the 09 Evening Land “Seven Springs”, the 09 Peay Vineyards “Scallop Shelf” and the 09 Ben Leroux Volnay. My favorite was the 09 Mount Eden Vineyards Estate. Nose of forest floor, mushrooms, restrained fruit with a silky finish, very nice.

Overall it was an outstanding tasting for a good cause, there was much wine I didn’t get a chance to try.

On Tuesday I attended a couple of trade events. The Estates & Wine 2012 Winemaker Tour and the Italian Wine Masters 2012 Tour. My first stop was the Estates & Wine tasting which was held in the penthouse of the Gansevoort Park Ave. hotel on Park Ave. South and 29th. street. I wasn’t familiar with this distributer, they have a small but interesting portfolio. Since I planned on attending the Italian event later in the afternoon I made the decision not to spend too much time at this event so I cherry-picked what I wanted to try. My first stop was at the 2007 Cheval des Andes. This Argentinian wine is a joint venture between Terrazas de los Andes and Chateau Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux. Bordeaux style with new world fruit, plummy nose, dusty fruit, a little raw oak on the finish but a couple of more  years in the bottle would take care of that. A nice wine.  Next stop was Newton Vineyards Napa Valley.                                                                  They poured the 07 Napa

Merlot and the 07 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, both unfiltered. Both nice wines, I thought the Cab was plusher than the Merlot but with a drop on the finish, the Merlot tight but concentrated. They also poured the 2008 “The Puzzle” which is a Bordeaux blend. I though the wine was fruit forward and a little jammy on the finish. I would say that the Merlot was my favorite on the table. I stopped by Numanthia Estate which is from the Toro region of Spain. I tried a couple of old vine wines, the 08 Numathia and the 08 Termanthia. Both wines are big, with a black cherry nose, dusty, chewy fruit and a nice finish, very tasty. On a side note, what this distributor lacked in the  size of its portfolio it made up with the absolutely beautiful women working at the event.

I made my way downtown to the Italian Masters event held at the Metropolitan Pavilion. A much larger tasting, they poured wines from Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Noblile di Montepulciano, and Valdobbiadene Procecco (How they got in this group I don’t know how) I started my tasting with the Brunellos. Overall I, as well as my colleagues, were a bit disappointed with the tastings. It seemed the best part of the wines were the aromas coming from the glass with gorgeous perfume of roses, tar and leather. I would say my favorite was the Uccelliera 07 Brunello and the 06 Brunello Reserva. I enjoyed the 07 more so than the Reserva, big aromatic nose, great structure, long finish. I also enjoyed the Pian delle Vigne 07 Brunello and the 06 Brunello Reserva. I got a perfumed nose with earthy undertones. Barbi poured the 07 Brunello, the 07 Brunello Vigna Fiore and the 06 Brunello Reserva. Again with the great nose on all three with firm tannins on the finish.

I’m not a big fan of Prosseco so I didn’t try any. I enjoyed the Castello di Ama 08 Chianti Classico, earthy nose, good fruit, tight tannins and a long finish.

 

 

 

 

 

Most trade wine events are on the weekdays in the afternoon. Which makes sense since most people in the industry work odd hours. Sometimes they have a trade tasting in the evening.  Usually they are held at a hip bar somewhere with a vibe that is decidetly less business-like and more social than the day tastings. Last Wednesday I went to one of those tastings at Abe & Arthur’s restaurant in the Meatpacking District. They poured wines from Duckhorn Vineyards and their second labels, Decoy, Migration, and Goldeneye. They also poured the wines from Paraduxx Napa Valley but as the guy who was pouring the wines and who happened to be the winemaker made a point of telling me, Paraduxx is another winery and not the second label of Duckhorn.

First table poured the Decoy wines. A 2010 Sonoma Chard, 09 Sonoma Zin and an 09 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. These are their entry level wines, good bang for the buck, easy drinking.  The Chard my favorite.  At the next table they poured the Migration 09 Russian River Chard, 08 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and the 08 Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. This Chard had more restraint than the Decoy Chard, the two Pinot Noir had a noticable smokiness on the finish. In the Summer of 2008, Northern California had more than usual wildfires. All that smoke penetrated the vineyards and you can taste it in the wines. I’ve experienced that smokiness in other wines and not just these. At the next table they poured the two Paraduxx wines, the 09 “C” Blend and the 09 “Z” Blend. These are new releases from them and are both blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel but in different proportions. I thought the wines were a little hard now and can use some bottle age to soften.

At the next table Duckhorn poured a couple of their Merlots. These are the wines they are known for. The 09 Napa Valley Merlot was tight and closed at this stage but with concentrated fruit. The star of the tasting was the 07 “Three Palms Vineyard” Merlot. The wine was decanted from a Jeroboum which is always a nice presentation. Outstanding wine, great balance, still with firm tannings, would love to see this wine in a couple of years.

This past Saturday two wine shops had their annual Burgundy tastings. Union Square and Le Du. The first stop was at  Union Square Wines. They usually have some sort of tasting in the back room and since the tastings are complementary, it can be a zoo. The crowds came out for Burgundy. They were pouring twenty-three red and white Burgundy from producers such as Joseph Faivley, Domaine Meo-Camuzet, Francois Raquillet, Domaine Michael LaFarge and others. I tasted all the wines. Nothing really blew me away. I found many of the wines to have high acid that worked better with the whites than the reds. Definately food wines. Some that I liked were Joseph Faivleys 09 Mercury Blanc Clos Rochettes Monopole. Good inexpensive white Burgundy that was nicely balanced and a good sipper. Another I enjoyed was the Simon Bize & Fils 09 Savigny-Les-Beaune Blanc 1er Cru “Aux Vergelesses” Moderate fruit, long finish with some mouth puckering tanning and acid on the finish.

Next stop was Le Du’s Wines. There was a fee to enter this event and the wine shop is out of the way which ensured that only wine geeks made it to this event. They poured twenty-three high-end red and white Burgundy from the 2009 vintage. It was a great opportunity to try some really expensive juice at the cost of two glasses of crappy house wine.

Very nice tasting all around, some of the whites I enjoyed; 09 Bruno Clair Bourgongne Blanc, good low-end Burgunday, and the 09 Ramonet Chassagne Montrachet. My favorite red of the night was the 09 Domaine Bouchard Beaune 1er Cru Greves Vigne de L’Enfant Jesus. Great purfume on the nose with silky, firm fruit and long finish. Some other reds I enjoyed were: 09 Domaine Bruno Clair Clos de Beze, 09 Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Les Cazetiers”, 09 Domaine Tiery Matrot Blagny La Piece Sous les Bois, 09 Humbert Freres Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Poissenots” and the 09 Domaine Jacques Frederic Mugnier Nuits-St-George 1er Cru “Clos de la Marechale”

The Le Du tastings are fun, casual events with dedicated wine drinkers, I think because of the costs of these wines, the vibe was tighter than usual this time around. 

Made it up to the expo Sunday. Was at the event by noon. The wine expo is actually two events, the main event in the convention center and a smaller, more eclectic “Grand Cru” tasting at the Seaport Hotel across the street. The grand cru event didn’t start until 1:00 so me and my wingman spent an hour in the main hall looking for some good juice. These type of consumer events can be a drinking zoo but they let members of the trade in a couple of hours before they open to the public so at noon the crowd was restrained

Thomas George Estates Pinot Noir,  09 Russian River PN, 09 Cresta Ridge PN, both very nice wines, the Cresta Ridge with more complexity.

Ladera Napa Valley

07 Cab, 07 Lone Canyon Cab, 07 Howell Mtn Cab

Tasty Napa Cabs with the Lone Canyon as my favorite.

Grand Cru Lounge

After an hour in the main hall we made our way to the grand cru lounge in the hotel across the street. Where the main hall was one huge event space, the lounge was more intimate with harbor views, a live jazz band and some outstanding wines, and people who payed extra to drink good wine.  We decided to start at the California table. A bucket full of Chardonnay from Flowers, Cakebread, HdV, Littorai, Farniente and Charles Heitz. My favorite white was:

2008 Cakebread Reserve Chardonnay…. Creamy vanilla with good acidty on the finish, a good one to drink on its own.

At the Cabernet table they poured Duckhorn, Beringer Private Reserve, Silver Oaks Alexaner Valley,  Darioush, and Heitz Bella Oaks. My favorite red was:

2007 Beringer Private Reserve

Classic Bordeaux nose of green olives. tight fruit but not overwhelming, great acid/tannin on the finish. Taste like what a good Bordeaux would taste from a hot vintage where the grapes got really ripe.

I told a few people at the event this was my favorite and they made a face. I guess assumed that all Beringer made were jug wines, they need to work on their PR.

Merry Edwards Winery poured a couple of Pinots from Russian River, the 09 Klopp Ranch and the 09 Meredith Estate. Very well made and balanced

The most unusual wine I had that day was the Triumvir Vineyards 08 Russian River Pinot Noir. On the nose I was getting pencil shavings and mushrooms and not the usual Cali black cherry and cola. Smelled and tasted very rustic. If I didn’t know it was a Cali wine I would have guessed it was something from southern Italy, I’m not sure if I loved it or hated it.

Burgundy  After the Cali table I headed to Burgundy, They poured sixteen white and red Burgundys from Joseph Drouhin, Lucian Boillot, Joseph Voillot, Bouchard and Louis Latour. I tried all sixteen and there wasn’t a clunker on the table. Very nice. I particually enjoyed these whites: Louis Latour’s 08 & 09 Chassagne Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche 1er Cru, 09 Puligny Montrachet “Les Tuffieres” 1er Cru and the 09 Corton Charlemagne.

My favorite white Burgundy of the night was the 08 J. Drouhin “Clos des Mouches” 1er Cru. Very tasty. Some of the reds I enjoyed were Drouhin’s 09 Savigny Les Beune “Clos de Godeaux” 1er Cru, and the 08 Chambole Musiigny. My favorite red Burgundy of the night was the 09 J. Drouhin “Clos des Mouches” The flies win.

There wasn’t much from Italy at the event but what I enjoyed was the  05 Terrasole Pinino “pinone” Brunello di Montalcino Reserva. Very rich, silky fruit more Cali than Italy.