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Here come da Juice… Meeting Spencer Jesner
Pinot Blanc in St. Helena was the venue this time, and a stellar lineup of NorCal tasters showed up to offer some Wine Country hospitality to our visitor from the East.
Pinot Blanc is the northernmost outpost of the Patina Group - Joachim Splichal’s restaurant empire that started with Patina in Los Angeles, and has impressively grown to eight sites.
We started with a couple of California Chardonnays, just to get things going. 1994 Marcassin Hudson Vineyard - lovely golden hue - with time in the glass, aromas of grilled almonds predominate - in the mouth, lovely concentration and depth of fruit - certainly an "older" wine in terms of flavor profile - simply a matter of palate preference for most tasters. Some preferred a “fresher” wine, and others appreciated the complexities of a fine aged Chardonnay. 1997 Ramey Hudson Vineyard - floral, white peach and other white stone fruits in the nose - fresher and lively on the palate - good balance and a great mix of Chardonnay fruit and floral elements - lovely wine. 1997 Rochioli Allen Vineyard - aromatically, the wine opens with clumsy oakey notes that blow off after a short time, revealing more balance and a mix of white stone fruits - it has lovely concentration on the palate and far more balance than one would guess from the opening aromatics - long and clean finish. 1996 Anderson’s Conn Valley Fournier Vineyard - caramel-like notes on the nose - the wine is awkward and unbalanced to my palate - too heavily oaked - it pales, perhaps, in the company of these three other great Chardonnays, and that may make its flaws much more noticeable We then moved on to Pinot Noir (except for the table with Bruce L and Dr. J - they skipped the second pair of Chards and moved directly to young Cab. Anybody surprised??). The Soup of the Day, as described by our server, sounded good, and proved to be an excellent choice. It was made from roasted butternut squash and sugar pie pumpkin, with a base of onion, white wine and chicken stock, and was seasoned with a bit of cinnamon and mace. The soup was then strained three times and enriched with a bit of heavy cream and garnished with a dollop of rock shrimp salad and toasted pumpkin seeds. The texture was velvety and the flavors well balanced. 1996 Kistler Kistler Vineyard - Matt Parfit took a pour of this wine, and put the glass to his nose. His head shot back, and he exclaimed: “WOW.” I couldn't agree with him more. Effusive aromas of black cherry and dark berry with notes of cinnamon and other exotic spices - very impressive aromatics - the flavors are less impressive at this point in the wine’s life, and are interrupted by moderate but smooth tannins in the mid-palate. This wine will be extraordinary with more time in bottle. 1997 Dehlinger Goldridge Vineyard - it was my opinion 6-8 months ago that this wine was beginning to close down and that is confirmed by its showing tonight. Shy notes of pleasing Pinot fruit - pleasant, but not nearly as forward and impressive as it was immediately after release. Pleasing on the palate, but has a rather short finish and I do believe this one should be left alone for a while. Given the showing of its 1994 sibling a few weeks ago at another offline, I think this wine will reemerge and offer extraordinary pleasure in two or three years. Then - on
to the Cabernets |
Tasting Notes On The Following Wines: 1994 Marcassin Hudson Vineyard 1997 Ramey Hudson Vineyard 1997 Rochioli Allen Vineyard 1996 Anderson’s Conn Valley Fournier Vineyard 1996 Kistler Kistler Vineyard 1997 Dehlinger Goldridge Vineyard 1996 Harrison Auction Lot 1997 Etude 1997 Chapellet Pritchard Hill 1997 Lokoya Diamond Mountain 1978 Mount Veeder 1992 Phelps Insignia 1991 Rosenblum Hendry Vineyard 1974 Mondavi Reserve
Left Coast
Correspondent PROFILES: Tasting
Notes from Synergism Up
the Coast More Tasting Notes from the Ridge Galleron Tasting
a Legacy - C O
P I A "T"
is for... Premiere Napa Valley ®
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| 1996 Harrison
Auction Lot - one of our friends got a line on a few bottles
of this wine that had been offered at the Napa Valley Wine Auction, and
a bottle made its way to our dinner table tonight. Deep, deep garnet
color - quite restrained in the nose - there is certainly some generous
Cabernet fruit, but lacks the depth and intensity that would make this a
"blockbuster" wine. But then, I am not a huge fan of young
Cabernets.
1997 Etude - really quite lovely - sweet oak and ripe Cabernet fruit in the nose - nicely balanced and pleasing in the mouth - certainly a young wine, but again, the word is balance. I think this will mature effortlessly into a beautiful bottle of wine. 1997 Chapellet Pritchard Hill - in a heavyweight etched bottle - there has been quite a bit of buzz regarding this wine, especially because of the large disparity between the prerelease and release prices. Very dark in the glass - a hint of dense Cabernet fruit, but mostly alcohol and oak in the nose - pretty ripe Cabernet fruit on the palate - sweet and generous - obviously needing a bit more time, but even now shows its depth, concentration and lovely balance. This wine is clearly a winner, and I might have paid the opening price for it. 1997 Lokoya Diamond Mountain - hints of sweet, perhaps overripe fruit in the nose - (my notes ended there - I was either unimpressed, or totally distracted).
1978 Mount Veeder - brought by JdL in hopes of finally bringing an older wine than I would. Still has dense dark ruby color without orange or bricking. Somewhat restrained aromatics, showing herb and Cabernet fruit. In the mouth there’s sweet and lovely plumy fruit with just a hint of cedar and tobacco leaf - the wine still has some soft tannins in the mid-palate and structurally shows no sign of breaking up. Perhaps the surprise of the evening, and tasted blind, I doubt I would have guessed this to be a 22-year-old wine. 1992 Phelps Insignia - disappointing. 1991 Rosenblum Hendry Vineyard (from the “Opus block”) - not impressive. 1997 Constant - thin, although it did show some nice sweet fruit. A nice $30 wine. Unfortunately, it cost more than four times that price. OK - I give up. There were several wines I did not get around to, including the Pahlmeyer and the 97 Harrison. This may be because I was having a passionate affair with a glass of… 1974 Mondavi Reserve - the last of six that I purchased at the winery upon release (sorry, Josh.) Decanted briefly - opens with surprisingly fresh and vibrant sweet cherry and red currant aromas with just a hint of spice and tobacco leaf - glides across the palate with grace and dances into every corner of the mouth - sweet and lively fruit with amazing harmony and presence. Finishes long and clean. An extraordinary wine experience, and certainly among my three most memorable California Cabernets. Most of us chose Braised Short Ribs in Red Wine for our entree, served with mashed potatoes, and Haricot Vert. The dish had wonderful flavors, although the beef was not quite as tender as I would have liked. There were also a couple of stickies for desert, included a 1994 Late Harvest Riesling from Navarro, and a Bonnezeaux, but I was too saturated to take any more notes. Noteworthy was Pinot Blanc’s Crème Brulee. I’ve always considered this dish a barometer for a restaurant’s dessert program, and this was clearly the best I’ve had in a long time. Sweet and ethereal, it simply disappeared on the tongue, simultaneously light and rich. The brulee was thin, uniform, and perfectly crisped. Simply wonderful. As were the staff at Pinot Blanc - attentive and tolerant - despite our rearrangement of their furniture to facilitate conversation. I doubt that the management was pleased with us, but they never failed to provide attentive and courteous service. Well done, folks!!!
As usual, the real stars of the evening were the people, old friends and new. It once again was a gas to put a name to a face, and I hope to get to spend more time with Spencer in the future. And the others - Dr. J. and Denise, Matt Parfit and Alicia, Stephen Bozeman and Kim Bernard, David Wright and Pamela Mallett, Josh duLac and Kristen, Bruce L, Richard Leland - always enjoyable dinner companions, and now becoming good friends. califusa ©
Allan Bree
November 2000
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