2004 Emilio Moro "Malleolus de Valderramiro" Ribera del Duero

Dark just shy of inky black, still slight shades of ruby on the edges. It is a cornucopia of spices with coffee and blackberry on the nose. Quite reserved at first and then it blossomed nicely.

Surprised at how youthful this wine comes out of the bottle, although I shouldn't be since the grapes are tempranillo from an 85 year young vineyard. For me tempranillo is a grape that always seems to be younger than it is when I drink it. It has an expressiveness and liveliness that is distinct.

This wine in particular starts with a hint of the coffee from the nose and then takes over you entire mouth, with tannins that are noticeable but rich combined with lovely dark berry flavors. The whole experience is a big whoosh of flavor that recedes very slowly with a delightful finish.

I rate this wine a 97. I think it still has many years to go, in fact I may have drunk it a bit young.

WA 98, WS 96 VN 93


WR

2004 Domaine Tempier Bandol La Migoua

Domaine Tempier is the leading winemaker in the Bandol appellation, part of the overall Provence region. It is an area along the Mediterranean coast where to meet the requirements each bottle must contain at least 50% of the Mourvèdre grape. Typically wines contain much more than 50% with some Cinsault and Grenache as part of the blend. This 2004 is truly fresh as a daisy.

The nose is a lovely blend of raspberry, cherry and a lovely combination of spice and floral notes. Very nice nose. The color is dark ruby, translucent. The initial experience with the wine, even before a taste is genuinely outstanding. It leaves you wondering if it can live up to its billing. 

Fortunately, it does a vey nice job on the taste. it is quite fresh on the tongue, with strong dark fruit and leather. It holds its flavor and offers a very enjoyable mid-palate where even today the tannins show. The finish is very nice, although with a hint of bite that was a bit unexpected. 

This wine is excellent and I rate it 95.

WS 95 WA 92  







WR

2004 Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragon Pianrosso Brunello di Montalcino

Ciacci has been a long favored name for Brunello's. 100% Sangiovese grapes, from the Pianrosso vineyard. The wine is a translucent dark ruby color. The nose is plum maybe slightly to prune with classic Brunello hints of dirt and sagebrush or dried plant. Very nice and expressive.

 
This wine is really drinking well. It comes with more plum, some cherry and still has a nice freshness to the fruit. It also brings along the Brunello bit of grittiness with leather. It has a nice long finish and is very satisfying in the way it all comes together.

After tasting on its own a bit, it was joined by a pasta with pesto sauce and it was a great compliment.

This wine is is very enjoyable and worth seeking out.

I rate it a 93.



WR

2004 Chateau de la Gardine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Winter is my favorite time of year to drink Rhone wines. A cold day, a fire, a hearty meal, say beef stroganoff (substituting pork loin for the beef) and voila, a great way to end the day. Okay, in sunny California a cold day does not exactly measure up to the rest of the world's cold days (excluding those of you in Hawaii of course), but cold is relative when it comes to weather. Sure I put on a light windbreaker, rather than a heavy wool overcoat, but it almost feels bundled up. Anyway, to the wine.

This is another K&L Wine Club selection. It is solid if not spectacular. The wine went great with dinner (which was only okay, too much sour cream in the stroganoff blend I think). It was strong with dust and dirt flavor, but also had some very nice spice and a hint of chocolate/licorice nose. It is a deep colored and full bodied wine with good balance. It tastes quite a bit better than the nose right now. I expect this wine will drink very well over the next seven to ten years, but no one would be disappointed opening a bottle and drinking it now.


WR

2004 Cloud 9 Composition

This wine was flat and uninspiring. The fruit was bland, the acid and tannins were both strong. I doubt it will ever come around as a bottle and could not recommend it over many $5 bottles that I have had. It comes in at over $30 so it is very disappointing.

It has a very stylish label.

It comes from a winery up in the foothills around Murphy's, an area that I have always liked but never really believed produced superb wine. The grapes are Napa, so the pedigree seems like it has a chance. Unfortunately, no luck.

WR

2004 Arrowood Cabernet

Drank this over two nights. The first night it was closed and took over three hours to open up even a little. You can sense the fruit, but it is deeply buried underneath the tannins. The tastings notes I have read suggest it should have been more open, but for me it took quite awhile for the fruit to mix it up with the tannins.

Second night, great transformation. The fruit came right to the surface. The tannins dropped into the background and were sweeter and resolved better into a long finish. A keeper, but probably not going to be at its best for five years or more.

I got it for a good price as Safeway has a lot of wine on deals right now. It was around $30, which is actually reasonable for finer California Cabs. Worth it to buy and put away for awhile.

Arrowood has a nice website and lovely winery.

WR

2004 Argyle Pinot Noir Nuthouse

This is a silky, black fruit, berry mostly, very long finishing Pinot. Great tasting fruit. It would be great with a lamb, or even a bit of spicy sausage. I have been drinking Oregon Pinot Noirs for awhile now. They are not every day for me as the price points, like this one tend to be over $30. This one was $42 or so at Safeway with the 10% half case discount. The good ones tend to be in the under $50 price point, rather than the under $30 price point that you can find for the California Pinot from Sonoma or Santa Barbara area.

Link to Argyle Winery online. Picture is of the 2005, but 2004 looks the same.

Back in awhile.

leh