annual caymus dinner

every year this weekend corresponds with when i get my "new caymus." this year it was, of course, 2009. we tasted it blind with two other wines- caymus 2006 and la fleur de haut-bages liberal 2000 (pauillac). the 2009 was first, the 2000 last. the idea was to show the stylistic differences in old and new world cabernet based wine.

the 2009 caymus was dark, fruity, and balanced. the tannins were quite soft and in spite of its alcohol level it had no "burn" to it on the finish. it is quite drinkable now.

the 2006 caymus was uniformly dark, the nose was more complex than its younger sibling's, there were hints of tertiary flavors, the tannins were soft, and it was balanced.

the 2000 pauillac made its point. the wine has not lost any color. the nose is quite complex, with fruits, leather, and cedar. it is well balanced, but the tannins continue to need to soften. this wine has years to last in the cellar- it was great with food but it will continue to improve with age. i am not even going to try the first wine of haut-bages liberal (2000) for a couple of more years since the second one is still youthful.

just for comparison's sake, i put in a ledson 2002 russian river valley reserve zinfandel. nice contrast.

sun dried tomato tapenade
cheeses from the pyrenees and savoie
seared ahi tuna
onion tart
grilled beef tenderloin
grilled squash with onions stewed in tomatoes
tomato, basal, and mozzarella
strawberry and blueberry tart

and the closer is pictured above...

vacqueyras rose

Sols : calcaire, argilo-sableux

Cépages : Grenache 70%, Cinsault 30%

Age moyen des vignes : 35 ans

Rendement : 36 hl / ha

Production annuelle moyenne : 7 000 bouteilles

Vinification : Vendange manuelle avec tri sur table. Assemblage de rosé de saignée et de rosé de pressurage direct. Elevage sur lies fines 6 mois en cuves.

Accords mets et vins et conseils de dégustation : A déguster avec modération dans l'année. Sera l'accompagnement idéal des repas d'été ( apéritif, salades, grillades…) et la cuisine orientale ( tajines )

c'est tres bien. pour ce soir, c'est l'aperitif avec les formages...

no posts for a while, sorry about that

sorry, i have been a bit reluctant to post lately because of an excessive level of political correctness. i am on vacation, so it is "safe" to put one up. there have been a plethora of great wines over the last few months; i hope over the next week to hit at least several of them.

first, here is a great tasting i put together to emphasize that california whether they get it or not is actually starting to express terroir. clare luce abbey 2006, gott 6 2006, j lohr carol's vineyard 2006, and caymus 2006. yes, this was all about cab. the flight expressed the soils and "climat" of napa, everything from the hot valley floor with alluvial soil to the cooler hillsides. aside from the caymus, the other 3 are under the $25 dollar price point. clare luce abbey was sold after the 2006 vintage, i addressed this in a previous post. if you want to play wine games and learn a bit about soils, this is nice grouping and it is entirely reasonable to replace the cla and caymus with other wines, just focus on valley floor, hillside, and how far up the napa valley the source is located.

at the moment, i am sipping a 2010 tavel domaine des carteresses. this appears to be a private producer who vinifies at the tavel commune winery. i have tried several bottles of this and there seems to be some bottle variability. that said, this is a nice tavel from a great year. i would recommend it. courtesy of guillaume at chateau trinquevedel i had the opprotunity to taste 2010 from the tank in january and taste the grapes in the vineyard in september. my impression is that 2010 tavel will absolutely be the "greatest pink you will ever drink." i am looking forward to my september trip and hope to do a massive tasting of 2010: look for trinquevedel and the other top producers to shine in this vintage.

now to the purpose of this post, a celebration for jill's taking the cfa level 3 exam today. i have ruminated over the wines for tonight for weeks; jill has had indigestion over the arbitrary level 3 test for months. as i write, she is half finished with the afternoon session.

dinner tonight is at spring mill cafe in conshohocken- google it and check out the menu. this is our go to french option and it NEVER fails. i have gone to spring mill since it opened, it only gets better and i highly recommend it. never have i had a less than exceptional meal there.

ok, so i have put a long lead out into the wines for tonight. i have opted to go with some old stuff. when we get home (i will pick her up) we open iron horse 2007 wedding cuve; this is a really nice california sparkling wine which seems to have a good potential to age over the short term. for dinner we will have a 1990 dom perignon followed by a 1998 reserve chateau st michel chateauneuf du pape which i brought back from our january trip. the 1998 vintage in cdp, in my eyes, was a turning point in style for cdp. the year was hot and the grapes were optimally ripe. stylistically, i think this is when the "modern" cdp's really began. the st michel is a nice intermediate between a totally modern wine and the traditional style, and based upon what "madame" at st michel has taught us it should be wonderful (for the cdp, always age at least 12 years). the option was 2005 chateau pignan, the second wine of chateau rayas, which i viewed as infanticide.

so, that is it. in the cellar is a great tasting (done) of provencal rose which i will post. also coming is a neat mix of sauvignon blanc tastings: the funk in this is the concept of pyrazines which give that nasty or maybe unique hint of green pepper. look at rambling california sauv blanc, benzinger duel canopy management, a stony sancerre, and a new zealand sauv blanc. maybe pyrazines are not always a fault (we did a cab tasting where the most novice of the group sniffed and said, "green peppers and i hate them," it was from chile and a wonderful pick up).

no pictures today, sorry. look for the wines and the pairings. i will post the old wines from tonight (no, not doing the ancient krug this evening).

valentine's day

About N.V. Billecart-Salmon Rose Champagne Blend

About the Winery Billecart-Salmon
Champagne Billecart-Salmon was founded in 1818, with the marriage of Nicholas Francois Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon, and is run today by their descendent, Francois Rolland-Billecart. The firm owns 74 acres of its own vines, and buys in grapes from another 346 acres as well. Ninety percent of the fruit comes from within a 20-mile radius of Epernay, with some 35 crus contributing.

About this Vintage
Appearance: Its pale and bright pink colour is adorned with warm glints of gold and its delicate slowly rising bubbles give it a persistent mousse.
Aroma: This cuvée unveils a subtle aroma leading to an elegant, delicate bouquet of fine notes of red fruits and
zest of citrus fruits.
Palate: Its special method of vinification gives this cuvée a light, elegant flavour, followed by a fresh finish with a taste
of raspberry.
Serving: This rosé champagne is an ideal partner as an aperitif and can also accompany a dish of wild salmon or
sushi. For dessert, it will add a sublime touch to red fruit flavours.

Vacqueyras- Domaine Montirius 2006

A.O.C. VACQUEYRAS MONTIRIUS "Le Clos"
La parcelle unique de 8.5 hectare de vigne située au début du plateau des Garrigues s’élève au dessus de la plaine du Comtat, avec de tous côtés sur ses pentes 11 ha de bois de chênes centenaires qui le protègent et l’isolent du reste de l’appellation.
Il y règne un micro climat et une atmosphère particulière où la pluviométrie y est plus faible qu’ailleurs.
www.montirius.com

the wine of the evening is 2006 Domaine Montirius "Le Clos." This is a wonderful wine consisting of 50% grenache and 50% syrah. it is an opaque inky purple. the nose has both red and dark fruit, with hints of fig, pepper, and smoke; the fragrance of the garrigue surrounding the vineyard is readily evident. nothing is lost on the taste as the fruits, smoke, and pepper carry through. there is a perfect balance of fruit, tannin, mineral, and alcohol as the wine finishes. this coats the mouth and lingers with a hint of spice for several minutes. it is a great wine for superbowl sunday, and should match well with the pizza and salad this evening. that said, it would be wonderful with a more complex meal of roasted meat and provencal vegetables. this is a very nice wine and one i hope to add to my cellar.

as usual, to me the mix of ripe fruit, spice, mineral and long peppery finish in this wine takes me straight away to vacqueyras. the wines of this aoc contain a lower percentage (generally) of grenache and a higher percentage of syrah, thus the pepper, spice, and smoke. when i taste these wines my mind goes directly to thoughts of rustic rural wine; to me this is a sense of wildness as compared with the more polished and refined wines of gigondas (minimum 80% grenache) and the huge polished wines of chateauneuf. i love the wines from all three aoc's, but vacqueyras always is special and seems always to identify itself.

the domaine is biodynamic and "Le Clos" is located on the plateau, on predominantly clay soil. vinification is in cement and possibly stainless steel.

shopping this wine on line would suggest that the united states importer has managed to make quite the profit. it is available in pennsylvania shops for $25.99 but can be had in europe for substantially less. even at the inflated pennsylvania price it is a bargin because it leaves many of its more distinguished and expensive neighbors in its "wake."

i strongly recommend this wine, only leave a dozen bottles for me. i will put this up against a chateauneuf or gigondas in a tasting as a great part of wine games.

the Goats of Vacqueyras

we were driving along and thought that we were the one's doing the sightseeing...

of course there was a "cave" across the street. more to come.

hazard a guess?

This is an amusing item we found in Chateauneuf du Pape, but the only sizes were for kids.