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

Beltramo's January 31 Red Burgundy Tasting

The next sequence will be a very brief set of notes on 9 French Burgundies. Prices range from $30 to $115. Beltramo's has a very functional tasting area, they Vinturi the wines as the decant, and the pour is a controlled 1 oz pour with a pour device. The have good tasting glasses and have a new tasting every weekend. I am on a roll right now and later today will hit the Parker 95+ wines tasting they are having.

Sorry no pictures or website, except for my favorite for the group. I will list the wines place for the flight, 2nd of 9 or whatever. I primarily use the wine quality as the measure, but when I break a tie, I typically give the break to the wine that is a better price. When I do this type of tasting, I realize the wines are not really in competition, but it is a natural way of thinking about the tasting. It tends to be the case for me that one or two wines stand out positive, one or two wines stand out negative and the others jumble together without much to differentiate them, so take that into consideration if you are looking at the rankings.

WR

2008 Lewis Vin Gris Syrah

The fourth of four wines at the K&L Lewis tasting. Spent $10, enjoyed four wines that are all good to excellent.

This is a delightful rose. Not what you want to be drinking in February with a light drizzle falling outside, but certainly something to enjoy on a warm to hot summer day, refreshingly chilled. It has very nice fruit, a nice balance of acid for some pop and a very nice sweet/tart blend flavor in the mouth. I think it was served a bit warm for this tasting, but it did allow it to bring out its flavor.

This would be great with a summer BBQ chicken salad mixed with corn and carrots and a mild cream dressing.

I would only quibble with the price, given that there are many very fine summer rose that come in around $15, rather than $25.

WR

2007 Lewis Barcaglia Lane Chardonnay

Another chardonnay, third of four wines. This was more subtle than the reserve, although not by much. It is still a classic California chardonnay, with some spice on the nose and lovely pear, honey flavor in the mouth. I liked this one better as it was a bit less overwhelming and readers will know I like a more steely, gravelly wine. I felt this wine was much more well balanced, with a nice finish of fruit and acid.

WR

2007 Lewis Reserve Chardonnay

The second of four posts from the K&L tasting of Lewis wines.

This is a classic California Chardonnay. Big, bold, buttery, can't find a b-word for oaky. Pear and apple and a bit of lemon, citris on the nose, with full mouth soaking chardonnay. It was not perfectly balanced, although I thought the acid was sufficient, my friend felt is was lacking. Still, if you love the California Chardonnay, then this is a wine for you.

The Lewis Cellar website is nice with a bit of history of the family and you can also buy.

All of these wines are just being released this week. So this tasting was a pre-release of these wines. Both of the Chardonnays were given more time in the barrel on the lies.






WR

2006 Lewis Reserve Cabernet

Went to a K&L tasting of Lewis wines, this will be one of four notes from the tasting.

This was a great fruit forward Cab with a very strong tannin finish. The tannins were very powerful, so there was quite a bit of pucker power, but they also had enough sweetness and following on the lovely fruit, made a nice glass. This Cab is big and bold and I think be a real treat in another 5-7 years, when some of the tannin bite will have smoothed out, but the fruit will still be very vital. The color of this wine is also a marvel, it is inky black, with almost no translucence, and that was the case even with a small one ounce pour.

K&L has tastings in the Redwood City store on Friday evenings and Saturdays. This tasting included the Lewis's, Randy and his wife Debbie, behind the bar pouring. There was a pretty strong crowd and I was there with a friend so did not get much chance to talk to the Lewis's. It was clear the group was enjoying the wines.

WR

2000 Leoville-Las Cases

"A tour de force in winemaking" no less authority than Robert Parker.

I opened this tonight on a whim. It is a very nice bottle of wine, but I felt like something special, I have a few of these and have not tried one in well more than a year. It is still a long way from being a special wine. But all the elements are there. The fruit is full, with great subtle flavors. I sniff spice and licorice and cherry, and taste the berry coming through still somewhat strong tannins. I am sure that these tannins will mellow over the next few years and I will probably wait at least another year if not longer to break out another one of these.

I have no doubt this will be a great wine, but unlike many much more reasonably priced wines I have been drinking lately, it is not really for drinking now. It requires more time to fully achieve what the winemaker was aiming to deliver.

The winery does not seem to have an online presence, but here is a wikipedia entry.

WR

2006 Joel Gott 815 Cabernet

This is a very enjoyable Cabernet, even at this very young age. It drinks beautifully. It is a deep ruby, very clear red. The most notable flavor on the nose for me is coffee. It is a lovely subtle flavor blended with berry.

The wine on the tongue is equally delightful. Much bolder than the nose, it has great blackberry tones and the tannins deliver a solid integrated finish. I think it would be very interesting to taste this wine again in three or four years and see what the time has done for it. My instinct is that it will develop very nicely. It is not a wine built for twenty years, but a bit of age would turn it from something that is nice to enjoy now, to something much more special.

The price is under $20 for this wine, but you could do much worse for many more dollars. Great with a grilled steak or steak burger.

You can find out about the entire line of Joel Gott wines here.






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

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