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

1995 Troplong-Mondot 1st of 7

Another Beltramo's tasting. This time it was focused on 2008 Bordeaux, but included this 1995, and two 2005 wines. Overall it was an okay tasting. I thought a couple of the wines had merit, but with Bordeaux's expanding prices over the last couple of years, it requires one to dig deep to support the habit. One that I find more challenging with so much great wine flowing from so many regions of the world. To the Troplong-Mondot.

This wine was nicely ruby in color with a closed in nose initially. It had tobacco and cedar notes. The taste was very gritty, heavy with raisin and prune. It had a heavy flavor profile and a long but sweet finish. Tannins were still not fully resolved into this wine. RP 92, WS 90. Price $175. I would not buy this wine, but would not be disappointed if someone served it at dinner one night.

WR

White Burgundy Tasting Notes -- Next Nine Posts

Went to the Beltramo's White Burgundy Tasting Saturday. These were all well regarded wines and you will see by the price points that they should be good for the price. Beltramo's has a simple set up for tasting. I don't make it all that often, but do make it once in awhile. In my experience the wines are well chosen with a range of price and flavor given the category. For a flight of 8-10 wines, the cost is between $50 and $80, but you can buy individual wines if you do not want to go for the whole flight. Also, since the expensive wines are often $15 to $20 per taste, you can drop the cost of the tasting to $30 by omitting one or two wines.

Format wise, I was not sure whether to put all these wines into a single post or split them up. I am going to start with this approach. They will all be pretty short notes. I will put the order of Finish in each Post Title. Just to be clear, I don't think the random finish in wines in a mixed tasting like this means all the much, but people alwasy want to know, what did you like best? So you will know.

Back in awhile.

leh