2005 Chateau Palmer 4th of 7

Dark inky purple wine. Reminds me of Chateau La Conseillante with the color. The aroma is classic Margaux with a perfume like floral scent over the top of berry, licorice and mild oak. It is quite enjoyable and yet, it is a bit deceptive, as the wine itself hits with a punch of great fully integrated elements. The fruit is bright with berry there is a layer of spice, the licorice and other hints. Then there is a most wonderful finish with the flavors carrying through to the end. Very enjoyable wine. At its relative youth it is fully drinkable and I would expect it to be a great drinking wine for a long time.


The Palmer is a lovely wine. It is an excellent example of a very, very good wine. Fully balanced, fruit bright with flavor, lovely color and nose. It, of course, raises the classic dilemma of how much is too much to pay for a bottle of wine. It retails at $350 a bottle. The question is always going to be asked, is it worth it? The answer really is challenging. If money is no object, then by all means I suggest trying it, for sure. Someone has the kind of money for this type of wine, which in a restaurant would probably go for $750. But, if the real question is can't I have this same kind of wine experience for a lot less money, well the answer to that is most definitely. There are many wines that would rate with this Palmer at a 10th of the price. RP 96 WS 95

WR

2005 Chateau Beausejour 3rd of 7

Pretty deep ruby red wine in the glass. The nose is very closed, heavy legs which foretold heavy tannin. The wine has a tangy strong fruit that packs an initial punch. It smooths out with a longish finish. The tannins have started to resolve nicely into the wine. I could see this wine being quite good in another three to five years and lasting many years beyond that. It has a good base and I think may lose some of that initial spunk which will make it more fluid.

I would expect this to be a particularly good good option with food.

RP 91 (higher rated in earlier tasting) WS 92-94

WR

2005 Roy Red Beltramo's 5th of 6

My friend, who was with me at the tasting, bought a bottle of this and brought it home. It retailed for $95. Talked to him last night and he loved it. The look on his face when he said how he liked it said it all.

The tasting notes were very solid. Great fruit, good balance, a wine of depth and subtlety. This wine also should have many years ahead. It is a classic Bordeaux style blend, Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Lovely wine, something that all types of wine drinkers can really enjoy. I think that it will also be exceptional with food in a couple of years. Right now bursting with fruit.

Roy Estate is located in Napa.

2nd place out of 6. Not really competition for the Araujo, but still a great wine.

WR

2005 Kapcsandy "State Lane" Cabernet Beltramo's 4th of 6

This wine was good. It was well made, showed as very young, which it is and seems like it would have a long life. The fruit was strong blackberry and cherry, with quite a lot of pucker on the finish. The tannins will die back and this wine will be very good. All the same, at $180 a bottle I really could only be a big fan if someone else was paying.

Kapcsandy on the web. They have a cool crest.

3rd place of 6.

WR

2005 Araujo Cabernet Beltramo's 3rd of 6

During the tasting I was standing and chatting with a husband and wife who were tasting. The husband was not really taken with any wine but this one, and even though the price of this wine was noted at $265 a bottle it was the one wine in the tasting that he said he would consider buying. The others, nice to good, but not worth the triple digit, or near prices.

He was right.

Araujo Estate is a Napa cult wine. The prices are high, it is very hard to get unless you are already on the mailing list.

This wine was marvellously balanced. The fruit was luscious. The tannins sweet and round. The finish was long and delightful. The nose was hints of plum, berries and vanilla. I have not had any of these previously, but have read that vanilla is a flavor that predominates. I have to say it again lush and balanced. Truly an outstanding wine today and I would suspect for many years to come.

Clear and convincing 1st of 6.

WR

2005 Dominus Beltramo's 2nd of 6

Dominus is a "name" wine. It has tremendous heritage from its french roots (not literaaly) and it has been a very successful brand from Napa.

This wine was good, not great. Plenty of fruit, too much acid, and tart tannins. would clearly be much better in a few years. This is consistent with my experience with Dominus which has shown them to be long lived Napa wines compared to most. They are not in the Dunn category, but within the last year I opend a 1997 to enjoye with a meal and after decanting and letting it rest for a couple of hours it was still vibrant with fruit and very enjoyable.

4th of the 6 wines tasted.



WR

2005 Joseph Voillot Pommard "Clos Micault" Beltramo's 7 of 9

This wine starts with a dark color and right away on the nose backs it up with a heavy berry nose, mixed with a slightly burnt hint. This wine was the most alcohol rich of the group from tasting and it had a slightly glycerin silky flavor which I almost never associate with pinot noir grapes. It was quite pleasant to taste, my guess is that it benefited as against the other wines due to the extra year of aging, but I think it will be a much more complete wine in three or four more years. Right now it is a bit disjointed, but when it settles down it should be quite good.

2nd place out of 9.

WR

2005 Bruno Clair Savigny-les Beaune "La Dominode" Beltramo's 5 of 9

This was a bit of an odd one. It was closed in the same way that the Mongeard-Mugneret, and on the first sip I thought it was going to be a very similar experience, but then out of no where a nice delicate fruit found its way to the front. The acid bite up front was not really that strong, but it had nothing to balance with at first. In the end it did not open up much either, so hard to feel good about it as a wine, but it seems like it would have more potential.

7th out of the 9.

WR

2005 Chateau de la Maltroye Chassagne Montrachet Rouge "La Boudriotte" Beltramo's 2 of 9

This wine started flat on all accounts, opened up on the nose a bit, with Cinnamon and ginger(?). The taste was bitter, strong tannin and acid with no balancing fruit that I could discern. Gave up hoping it would come back.

9th place out of 9.

WR

2005 Tollot-Beaut Chorey-Cote de Beaune, Beltramo's 1 of 9

Simple, open strawberry nose, moderate structure. Quite drinkable today, but this is not going to last for years.

5th place out of the 9 wines.

WR

2005 Whitehall Lane Cabernet

Glycerin, silky unctuous, oh, I forgot I am not Robert Parker. This wine is a great example of what many Napa wineries are trying to deliver these days. A fruit forward, bold, silky smooth Cabernet. For me, I quickly fell in and out of love with this style. There are times when I really want a glass of wine that hits this profile, but most of the time, I drink with food these days. That means, looking for something that is a bit less ostentatious on it own and something that compliments the food.

This wine is nice and if you like this style, I think it is a very well made example of this type of Cabernet. The fruit is bursting with berry and yet it has a long finish, that is where the silky feeling hits. It was a bit alcoholly in the first pour from the bottle, but that seemed to fade out very quickly. All in all a good bottle of wine.

Whitehall Lane is located in the heart of Napa Valley.

WR

2005 Louis Martini Cabernet

This is a deep dark ruby wine with a nice nose with spice and berry and the taste is a very fruit forward flavor. It is a big wine with sweet tannins nicely integrated into the fruit. I must say that it has been a long time since I have had such a fulfilling Cabernet at such a great price. I got this for under $20 at Safeway (did I mention they are having a very strong sale) about two weeks ago and bought another bottle as I walked down the aisle yesterday because it was excellent at any price. Definitely give it a spin if you see it. You may want to pick it up by the case once you do.

Martini is owned by Gallo but has its own website for its wines.

WR

2005 Block No. 45 Pinot Noir

This is an inexpensive pinot from California. It appears to be from the central coast, but the bottle does not say where the grapes were grown. It was fine. Nothing special, don't go looking for it. If you are served it at some social event, it will be more than drinkable, but you would not go out of your way to say, wow, I need the name of that wine.

No winery to link to and no place to find the label. Sorry.

WR

2005 Xavier Monnot - Monthelie "Les Duresses" 8 of 9

Nice nose of fresh apple, tasted more of sour apple. Very tight and dry, not very minerally.

Bottle $39.99, taste $4.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Pozzo Bacio Divino Red Blend

So this is a another fruit basket. I was eating some fresh cherries while drinking this (after a tasty stew) and the wine had almost the same powerful fruit as the cherries. It was, however, much better balanced and structured (than the cherries) with nice sweet tannins, and went really well with the stew. It is mostly sangiovese, with a bit of cabernet and a splash of petite sirah and some other stuff. Maybe that is why it had the power punch flavor I tasted. It would be great with a tasty sausage pasta.

Link to the Bacio Divino website

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Chante Cigale Chateauneuf du Pape

My nose is playing tricks on me. When I take a whiff of this wine it gives a raspberry jam, but when I taste it the flavor is much heavier. It tastes of earth and dark currant and blackberry, not the lighter flavor of raspberry. I had this wine from 2003 and it was a real find. This one is less outstanding, even as it delivers a very workman Chateauneuf. My standard in this space is the Chateau de Beaucastel. It is of course at the top. This sits nicely in the 80% range. I don't think I will buy any more of this, but it was nice for a try.

A new feature will be trying to provide a link to the producers website, Chante Cigale. Plus a special item tonight, the Wikipedia entry on Chateauneuf du Pape which I think is pretty good even as it is brief, they of course include the dashes, Chante Cigale does not.

Tonight Barack Obama won the Democratic Nomination for President. While it had been a foregone conclusion for some time, tonight was the night when even the Clinton's knew that the race was moving on. I don't know that I will vote for him, but I am still proud that my country has been able to make this transition and applaud him for his effort as well.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 LaBoure-Roi Bourgogne Blanc

A very light, not too fancy french Chardonnay. It really is an everyday drinking wine for the reasonable price of $13. However, the folks at K&L are selling it with a bit of White Burgundy blood lines, suggesting it is a class or two above where it is selling. All in all, it taste fine and certainly very drinkable, especially for the price and compared to what else is around for that price point. But, and there is a but, if you mixed it in with any of the more refined and well made (better oak, etc.) it really would not stand up to the competition in my view.

A bit of selling going on around this bottle.


Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Jayson Red Wine (Pahlmeyer)

Big smooth creamy merlot, with enough elements to make for a very nice experience. I will admit that most merlot dominant wines are not in my wheel house. I like things dry and the trend in California making merlot more "drinkable" moved it from dry to a sweeter and in my mind less complex and ultimately less enjoyable wine. All that said, one of my favorite French Bordeaux is Angleus, which is almost always 60% or more Merlot. This is a move back in the right direction, although not as far as I as an individual would hope. It is better than just a drinkable wine. It has some nuance to it with a nice nose.

Another new add to the site, I put a label in. Not sure I will have the ambition to do this everytime, but it does make it look more professional.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Vergers, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard

My wife likes dry minerally white wines. While she has had her share of big buttery California Chardonays, about ten years ago she developed a taste for French Chardonays. This one is a great representation of what makes these wines enjoyable. It is dry yet bold in its steely gravely taste. Any yet, somewhere in the palate is a hint of apple and and lighter tastes. Very light oak and a slightly bitter finish. Hit the spot with some chicken last weekend.

Been very busy, will be adding a couple more wines over the Memorial Day weekend. Some better wines, pulled from storage for a taste.

Back in awhile.

leh

2005 Trefethen Double T Red

This went with a ribeye steak last night. It was serviceable. The fruit seemed a bit lost in the structure. It might be better in a couple of years, or the fruit might be completely gone. Difficult to be sure at this stage. More currant flavor than anything else. I think it is more or less a classic Bordeaux blend.


Back in awhile.

leh