Ten Birthday Wines - Starring a 1970 Bordeaux (France, Germany, Ontario, California)

'Twas the night of my birthday and friends were in the house - bottles of wine were opened and here's what we had:

Starting with a Dr. Burklin Wolf 2004 Riesling, which was quite an interesting older German Riesling full of honey and waxy notes with some apricot pit ... this was the first dead soldier of the night (some wines did not get finished).  Other whites of the night were a Thirty Bench 2012 Riesling, Chateau des Charmes 2010 St. David's Bench Chardonnay, Cave Spring 2012 Dolomite Chardonnay, Vineland 2011 Elevation Riesling, and a Vineland 2005 Dry Riesling (this one did not show well).  Speaking of not showing well, we also opened a bottle of Ruhlmann 2004 Sylvaner Bouquet Printanier - Cuvee Prestige, sealed with a cheese-o plastic cork, this wine should never have spend this long in my cellar, nor should it have been opened tonight - this wine should have stayed lost.

Surprisingly, only two reds were opened, a Tom Eddy 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which proved to be a delightful wine, well aged, well balanced but certainly not the star of the night ... on any other night maybe, but tonight it was a 43 year old Bordeaux that stole the show.  The Chateau Gruaud Larose 1970 Grand Vin was absolutely stunning, considering its age.  To the average everyday wine drinker this is going to sound unappealing, but to wine geeks (like a couple around the table tonight) this wine kept changing and opening and giving different aspects of its character that were admirable: starting with Band-aid and forest floor on the nose and a bit on the palate, there were also welcome (and surprising) hints of raspberry that appeared, not strong, but subtle and appealing.  No doubt the wine is very mature, but still very drinkable. The most surprising part is the acidity, which still stood up and kept the wine "fresh" or at least the palate from getting tired.  The biggest and best compliment I can give this wine is that it is savoury and sexy - in its own kinda way.  This is only the second wine I have ever had from my birth-year, this time it was extra special cause it was my actual birthday.

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Laura Hartwig 2001 Reserva Merlot (Chile)

Not sure what prompted me to pull this bottle out of the cellar; I was in there re-arranging a few bottles and one of the ones I put my hands on was this Merlot from Laura Hartwig.  An interesting wine to say the least and a nice little pairing with my homemade burger (dinner).  It was smoky with licorice notes, spiced-dried-cherry, cinnamon-cocoa and some foresty floor notes that emerged fully after about an hour of being open ... there was a certain kind of sweetness on the finish that mixed well with that smoky-licorice and spice, most likely from the 15% alcohol.  Definitely not for those looking for fresh fruit in their Merlot because this one is showing its age, but for those who like age on their wines this one sure delivers.

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Nieto Senetiner 2001 Don Nicanor Fine Red Wine (Argentina)

After my experience with my last Don Nicanor wine and my discovery that I had an even older red blend from the same buried in my cellar, I decided that tonight I would give it a try ... it's Sunday evening and there's no rush, so if the bottle turns out to be less than adequate I'll move on.  This is a 12 year old wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot aged 12 months in French oak barrels - all this information was listed on the back label, but no cellaring recommendations beyond 16 Celsius or lower, and that the wine was made unfiltered (which really means there could be sediment).  Not sure what I was expecting but here's what I got ... nose started out with cocoa powder, spice, clove and oak; palate was also spiced and dried fruit, mainly of the dark berry varieties.  The label did recommend opening 30 minutes before drinking, had I done that I would have missed out on all of the above, and instead had the following:  (~30 minutes) opened to reveal the definite smells of spiced raspberry on the nose and a palate that showed off surprising complexity of raspberry, cassis and blackberry (more dried than fresh, but there was an element of freshness there) though everything was still a tad on the oaky side.  After an hour the wine smoothed out dramatically (seemingly between sips) but the profile of dried dark fruit and oak still remained.  I would have to say I was very impressed with this wine, sometimes it's good to come to a wine with no expectations.

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Tale of Two Vintages: Jackson Triggs Okanagan Cabernet Sauvignon (British Columbia)

Not sure what possessed me to do this but tonight I thought it a great idea to pull out two bottles of wine from the same winery: same grape variety but different vintages ... why not eh?  If you've got 'em flaunt 'em, or at least pull 'em out and try 'em.  The two wines were Jackson Triggs Proprietors' Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2001 and 2004 vintages.  Starting with the opening of the bottles:  the 2001's cork pretty much disintegrated in the bottle, it was spongy and soft and no matter how I tried I could not get that all the cork out of the bottle.  My last resort was to push the remainder of the cork into the bottle - while an eighth of the cork remained adhered to the side of the neck.  The 2004 was in much better condition and slid out without any hassle what-so-ever.  Colour of the wines were as expected, the 2001 was definitely brickier than the 2004 - though the 2001 was more evidently aged and showed its 12 years more readily, whereas the 2004 did not look to be a wine of 9 years from vintage date.  Initially the 2001 was a nice wine with sweet dried fruit notes and it was quite smooth with just a hint of some tannin or acidity - it was hard to make out what was biting back ... but that was short lived as the wine became very raisiny within 30 minutes and stayed that way for the rest of its life span in the glass (about 2-and-a-half hours) ... it had definitely crested the hill and was hurtling towards the bottom.  The 2004 had the opposite effect:  it started off pretty rough and rugged, almost to the point of being aggressive - but once it settled into the glass it started to reveal its true nature, lots of cassis and other dark fruit with creme de cacao on the palate ... over the course of its lifespan in the glass (same as the 2001) it developed a wonderful texture in the mouth, mixing tannins with a pseudo-creaminess.  Within the course of 2 hours it opened to the point that it was expressing itself with dark fruit (mostly dried) with black licorice and sweet spice.  Truly impressive.  So while the 2001 is definitely on the decline the 2004 is just a hair off its peak and should be drunk this year - yes it has crested the hill but it sure doesn't want to go down with any quickness.

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RH Phillips 2001 Toasted Head Merlot (California)

Earlier this week I posted a piece for Ottawa Life about California Merlot which garnered a short conversation on Facebook between someone who loves Merlot and someone who finds it to be a vile weed (but a good blending grape).  I would have to say that lately I have tasted quite a few really good Merlots made in Ontario from the 2010 vintage - but that really has nothing to do with this wine.  I was prompted to dig a little deeper in the cellar to see what I could find in the Merlot department with a little age on it.  My last foray into aged Merlot was not a happy one - so I was hoping for better this time.  Not sure whether the Toasted Head was meant to age but I will say it didn't do too badly.  At first the nose was that of dried blackberries, smoke and anise ... the flavours is where it played a little game of possum at first: smoked/dried herbs and dark berries with a toast of earthiness ... it then became more defined with smoked-dried cherry and cinnamon, herbal while it continued to smooth out ... cheeking out the glass as I swirled the wine I noticed quite a bit of sediment coating the glass ... I also found that as it sat in the glass it developed more spice character but never lost that smoky/dried cherry quality - and that was a good thing.  And a very good thing for a twelve year old Merlot.

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Finca El Retiro 2001 Syrah (Argentina)

A few days ago I tried a bottle of the 2004 version of this wine (see review here) - I was impressed that an eight year old bottle of Argentinian Syrah could taste so good ... well I can now also tell you that an eleven year old bottle did not fare as well.  The 2001 Syrah was a wooden, earthy, long-gone-to-the-Yukon mess that showed little sign of what must have been a beautiful past.  Little to no fruit (actually I didn't taste a drop), the nose was wooden and earthy with forest floor running through it all the way to the finish.  The palate was like drinking pressed wood with a cedar mid and a hint of something smoky (which is the best flavour I could find in the bottle.  Not sure I'm going to let the other bottles get to be this old so I know what I'll be drinking during BBQ season this year.  Sorry Finca El Retiro Syrah - at 8 you were tasty, at 11 you were gone.

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Four Wines With Varying Degrees of Interest (Australia / California / Italy)

The only thing better than making new friends is making new friends with a good wine cellar who are willing to share ... I have been very fortunate this weekend to find myself in New York meeting some wonderful people and drinking some pretty interesting wines.  Friday was Sushi night and while everything we tried might not seem like sushi matching wines they were of varying degrees of interests all on their own.  Starting with a MollyDooker 2011 The Violinist, a wine made from the Verdelho grape - a grape found primarily in Portugal and Spain ... what the Aussies are doing with it I have no idea but this wine was not to many people's liking - there was a suggestion that maybe it needed time and I'm not so sure, this was just a very underwhelming wine that lacked character and acidity.  Should have been a great wine with the sushi, but in the end it fell flat.  Opened next (and quickly after the white debacle) was a Sine Que Non 2003 Omega ... it doesn't get much weirder than this an Oregon Pinot Noir made by a California winery, but what the heck. I'm picking up a lot of interesting tidbits this week ... like the US system is much freer in what you can make and from where than my beloved Ontario (more on that tomorrow).  This bottle was brought by our host because the bottle was leaking in his cellar and he wanted to see if it was still any good.  After I had this wine I looked at a few reviews on-line and discovered that ours tasted more like Pinot than others, who spoke of it as more Syrah/Shiraz like ... this was most definitely Pinot Noir, in fact it seemed to blend the old and the new worlds with its old world stinky nose and its new world fruit flavours, a dichotomy of sorts that worked out well ... maybe the leakage helped it along.  Final bottle at dinner was a Dark Matter 2006 Zinfandel, a delicious spicy, chocolatey with raspberry mixed in - it was a wonderful Zin, not for sushi matching but a lovely sipper tht would have been divine with BBQ ... maybe next time.

I'd be remiss if I did not mention a bottle of San Gregorio 2001 Serpico which was open earlier in the day on a dare ... and to see if this wine really was holding up.  Parker gave this particular vintage of this old vines Aglianico 98 points and the scuttlebutt is that it can age 30 years.  Upon first taste it would have been surprising that it lasted a second taste, but we were adventurous and kept giving it air and another try.  It started off quite fruit driven, then closed up on itself and revealed nothing but wood, cedar and oak notes.  The finish was raw and became like drinking liquid wood ... could this be the end of this wine?  About an hour later we came back to the glass and it had really blossom with fruit and the wood had dissipated to a dull roar - a supporting player to all that lovely fruit.  Post Script:  we left the bottle for about 24 hours and re-tasted it ... the end result was a so-so wine but that middle part was wonderful, that was the sweet spot.

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Laborie 2001 Merlot (South Africa)

Two things intersected tonight: 1) I was watching Sideways before dinner (it was on TV) and 2) I started looking for a Merlot in my cellar after Miles had his tirade against the grape being consumed at dinner.  If you've seen the move you know what I am talking about, if not, stop reading this post and get thee to the television and find that movie (or your video retailer, it's worth owning).  Now, what led me to South Africa is another story - I guess I was looking for something older and my experience with South African wines has always been one of them needing time to shuck the stink and get into something you're happy to drink.  This one still had elements of it's "South African stinky-ness", but it was more on the palate than the nose.  The aromas were faint at first but turned into mocha, vanilla and a hint of something more earthy.  The palate was altogether intriguing with cocoa starting everything off then moving into smoky notes, then dried blackberries and cassis, adding a hint of tar and finally emerging with a defininte coffee note on the finish.  An interesting wine and not what I would call your typical Merlot.

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Allegrini 2001 Valpolicella Classico (Italy)

If I told you that I opened this wine and said it tasted like an old Italian wine, would you know what I mean?  Some would and but most wouldn't - if statistics are correct - most of you have no idea what I'm talking about (95% of all wine purchased is drank within 48 hours).  So to have an 11 year old Italian wine is a rarity these days, and too bad cause it really is an educational experience, as well as a tasty one, if you like old wine.  Not sure I should be doing it regularly with Valpolicella's though (known more for being light and fruity than age-worthy).  There was plenty of dried fruit on this one with smoky notes and a light cedary playfulness about it.  The dried fruit was cranberry and sour cherry and it really was quite enjoyable on the palate.  The palate was smooth with dried fruit and only hints of wood interuption, but as it crossed the mid-palate and moved to the back oak and cedar took over and lingered - though still pleasantly - nothing was over the top or took over, it all just melded together pleasantly.  About 30 minutes into the experience the wine took on three new aromas and flavours:  licorice, forest floor and dried leaves.  I was thrilled with the way this wine stood up

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Apollonio 2001 Valle Cupa Salento Rosso (Italy)

After a weekend of drinking beer spent with my in-laws I was glad to see a bottle of wine waiting for me upon my return home.  This is a wine I had taken out a few days previously but never got around to drinking - a 50 / 50 blend of Primitivo and Negroamaro aged 12 months in barrel then an additional 12 months in bottle (or that is what I understood from the back label and my rusty almost non-existent Italian).  At first it smelled kinda hot, looking at the alcohol content I am not surprised as 14.5% jumped right at me, it also tasted rather warm but there was a spice on the front palate amongst the heat that told me that a little time was needed for it to come around.  Dried plum, spiced -raspberry, licorice, all-spice and black pepper were all found on the nose; while white pepper, licorice and dried red fruit dominated the palate.  The wine smoothed out after 45 minutes and was supple and easy to drink, but still with dried fruit, spice and pepper ... around the hour mark it developed a hint of bitter cocoa on the finish.  Nice wine for its age.

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Penmara 2001 Five Families Shiraz (Australia)

This was the last of my selected 2001 trial bottles and boy was this one a disappointment ... let's start where this wine went wrong ... the closure: a plastic cork (which were big in the early part of the 2000's) this nasty-ass closure should be banned - and anybody who is still using it should either mark that you are using it on your label (preferably in  BIG BOLD print), or close your doors ... this "cork" is ruining your wine.  This wine was oxidized beyond belief to the point of it being a sweet sherry, brick coloured with lots of sediment in the bottle - this tells me there was some real potential in the bottle, but has turned so nasty and I can honestly tell you I have tasted vinegar with better depth of flavour.  What an absolute waste of what could have been a beauty of a bottle.  Yuck.

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Domaine des Salices 2001 Syrah (France)

Well, back again for more 2001 bottles of hooch ... I think I'm stuck in 2001 because I am re-arranging my wine cellar and I'm transferring data from my current software system (Cellar!) to CellarTracker - so I don't want to get too involved with the movement of the cellar until the transfer is done ... anyway that's just a little about what's going on here, I'll keep you posted.  Anyway back to the wine.  Last night I tried another '01 wine from France, this time a Vins du Pays from J &; F Lurton's Domaine des Salices.  This Syrah was an interesting wine, though I only made it through one glass because the more it sat the smokier, the woodsier and the more tannin dryness it left on the tongue.  The nose was smoky, mushroomy with dried raspberry and cedar ... it also had a fun little minty quality about 30 minutes in.  The taste kept the smoky, added earthy and cranberry notes along with dried cherry, cedar-vanilla notes and gentle spice ... but then between 30-45 minutes in the glass the subtle changes that were happening became more pronounced and intensified turning more woodsy than fruity quickly (even the dried fruit seemed to disappear); the wine got gritty and just started drying out the tongue.  I probably missed the sweet-spot of this wine by about 3 years.  Oh, well, it's all a learning experience.

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Cave de Rasteau 2001 Rasteau - Cotes du Rhone Villages (France)

My obsession with 2001 wines, or should I say experiment, finally continues.  After a weekend in Kitchener at the Wine & Food Show, where there was enough wine poured to choke a horse.  I had brought 3 bottles of 2001 wine along with me for those quiet evening back in the room, but it seems that I either got back to the room too late or enough wine had been consumed for one evening - or both (see the late dinner at Bauer Kitchen).  So all the bottles of 2001 made it back home, and it is here that I will begin again to drink and experiment with them.  This Rasteau proved to be a lovely find a decade later.  The nose is rich with cedar, cinnamon, dried blackberry and dried cranberry with hints of vanilla that seemed to drift in and out of the olfactories.  The palate was nicely spiced with creme de cassis that rolled around in the middle and that touch of vanilla (from the nose) found its way onto the palate.  The finish was a pleasing combination of dried raspberries and black licroice that took awhile to develop in the mouth but then lingered for quite a spell.

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Eugenio Collavini 2001 Merlot - Isonzo del Fruiuli (Italy)

Over the next few days I will be sipping and sampling wines from the 2001 vintages from around the world ... there's no conspiracy as to why I am drinking wines of this certain age, I was just messing around in the cellar the other day and thought maybe I should be drinking up my seemingly vast collection of 2001 wines (make room for the newer stuff).  So over the next three days you'll see more reviews of wines from over a decade ago.  Tonight's candidate in the category is a wine from Italy's Friuli region, a Merlot - not usually a grape many consider a traditional Italian grape, but they do mess around with the international varieties.  This was an interesting wine and one I wish I had more than one bottle of; after a decade in bottle it proved to have a wonderful mouthfeel and smoothness to it.  Dried red fruit and blueberry lead the charge here, with a touch of some cedary notes, there also seemed to be quite a bit of spice (probably from the wood) in the early going.  But after an hour it settled down and became a wine you could sit and sip on for most of the night - which is what I did ... let's hope the other wines from a decade ago hold up just as well.

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5 Bottles on the Night Before Italy (Ontario / Italy / Washington)

Tonight a buddy came over to wish me well the night before I head off to Italy for an Amarone tasting and winery tour in Verona.  Fives bottles were opened, none of them finished.  Dinner was a mini-bucket (8 pieces) of Kentucky Fried Chicken ... not the best food to be pairing with wine, but what the heck we had to eat something, especially something that reminds us of our misspent youth, and, as my buddy said, "what would be a better than this for your last meal on North American soil" (I still have lunch tomorrow but still he makes a good point).  The wines we tried reached as far back as 2001 to as current as a 2009 ... here's how they all fared:

Bottle 1 - Cantina Tollo 2004 Colle Secco Montepulciano D'Abruzzo ... this turned out to be a quaffing wine, dark fruit oriented with a raisiny-pruny quality that intensified the longer it was opened.

Bottle 2 - Tawse 2006 Echos Bistro Red ... a little more on this on my Taste it Again blog, but this one has turned very much into a spiced wood concoction.

Bottle 3 - Charles and Charles 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon / Syrah ... I have reviewed this one in the past few weeks and my review still stands.

Bottle 4 - Southbrook 2001 Triomphe Cabernet Sauvignon ... another wine to appear on another blog (should be on the Lost & Found but ...) - no doubt about it, no matter how you slice it, this one was buggy, as in lady bugged.

Bottle 5 - Southbrook 2002 Cabernet / Merlot ... might be the best wine of the night, especially considering its age.  Check the Taste it Again blog for my notes, but I this one reminds me of shish-kabob on the BBQ.

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LA Cetto 2001 Private Reserve Nebbiolo (Mexico)

So tonight we decided to make taco salad for dinner and in my infinite wisdom I thought a Mexican wine would be nice ... but what is the national grape of Mexico?  I've had Petite Sirah and Zinfandel from this same producer (LA Cetto) but what do the Mexicans consider as "their grape" - cerveza?  What wine goes with tacos?  All very difficult questions to answer.  So when I saw I had a bottle of Nebbiolo, an Italian grape variety that`s used to make Barolo, I thought I just have to give this a whirl.  Having been to the region of Piedmont (where Nebbiolo is most prevalent) I can tell you that the Italians believe there is no place else on earth that does Nebbiolo like they do ... and no where else on earth does this grape grow as well as it does right there in its "native" home.  I have seen bottles of Nebbiolo from some odd places, nowhere odder than Ontario, but Nebbiolo from Mexico struck me as odd too - probably why I bought it in the first place.  As for the wine in bottle, I would have to say it was pretty good.  The nose had layers of dried blackberry, currants, cinnamon spice, spiced dried cherries and a hint of cedaryness ... these aromas didn't come out all at once, they seemed to pop up throughout the evening as the wine opened.  The first thing noticed on the palate was the spiciness and acidity, that soon turned into black currants, spice, sour cherry and later hints of raspberry-balsamic and spice.  All very interesting and quite a lot of fun on the tongue.  Coating the glass was also a fine dusting of sediment and within an hour of opening tannins and woodsiness started to take over, making the wine seem drier than it previously had.  I would have to say I was impressed with the wine ... it might not be their national grape, but it sure is one I wouldn't  stop making wine from; though I have never seen a bottle of it since my original purchase many moons ago.

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Simonsig 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon (South Africa)

My aging test with South African wines continue ... as I was logging in yesterday's wine I noticed I had a bottle by the same producer, same year, but a different grape.  Curiosity set in and I wondered how it would fare ... I would have to say it did better than the Syrah did.  The nose was pretty much a simplistic matter - while at first pop there was a little earthy and gritty smell it settled down pretty quickly into pleasant blackberry and vanilla aromas, those seemed to stick around through the length of the evening.  The palate was the thing that changed the most ... at first it was non-descript yet pleasnat, then I started picking out dried blackberry and black pepper.  A little later on vanilla and dried raspberries seem to be the focus, then about an hour and half in there was chocolate plain as day on the finish ... this was one nice drinking wine which I enjoyed very much.

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Simonsig 2001 Shiraz (South Africa)

Tonight was an experiment in aging South Africa.  Many have noted that in young South African wines there's a note of tar and/or brett, in general a dirty note that is not always welcome.  I have talked to South African winemakers and my favourite answer to date was "dirty barrels", as in "they are using dirty barrels", implying of course that their competitor is making wine improperly while WE are doing it the right way ... the funny part of the conversation was that I was smelling the exact same smell in their wine as well, so I just nodded my head as if I understood and moved on to another wine.  Now I am not sure where the smell comes from, it could just be the terroir of South Africa or that they are making wines too close to the roadway, but I have learned to live with it and expect it (which is why I seem so surprised when I don't find it).  Have no fear it was here in the glass and on the palate, but what I have noticed is that as these South African wines age they develop more interestingly than the average bottle of Chilean or Argentinean wine.  The nose was an earthy very smoky number; the palate was full on earthy also while giving off some minor pepperiness to the tongue.  Then about 20 minutes on there seemed to be some smoked raspberry that appeared on the mid-palate which then led to a very smoky finish.  I have to admit that it was not a good pairing with BBQ chicken, but it was an interesting wine to have all on its own.

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Folanari 2001 Merlot - Cabernet Sauvignon (Italy)

Another wine I pulled out of the cellar on a whim ... a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Veneto region of Italy.  This was an interesting wine for what it still had, lots of acid, and that may have helped in its ageing process.  The nose was an interesting mix of dried and fresh dark fruit, but otherwise uneventful.  The palate proved to be full of dark dried fruits too, but the surprise was mid-palate where there was still a lovely hint of cassis and a touch of woodiness.  There were nuances of tannins and big acid on the finish and for the first 45 minutes this wine was intriguing and a pleasure to drink; but then the finish turned very harsh and bitter as the fruit lost the battle to the tannins and all that acid.  I was surprised the wine was still quite drinkable, but not surprised that it 'fell off the table so quickly'.

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Bouchard Pere & Fils 2001 Macon-Superieur (France)

Here we are on a Wednesday night ready to serve up some salmon, trying to decide what to grab out of the cellar.  The right side of the brain says Chardonnay is the right choice, the left side is telling me that there is an interesting bottle of Pinot just sitting there ... I like to take chances so the Pinot it is.  I'll have to say the first sip (no food) was interesting but not exciting.  It was drinkable, as there was a hit of fruit, but it was a quick hit that did not linger, or even give you opportunity to figure out what the fruit was.  Aromas were almost non-existent.  With the food it was just sour and unappealing, so I let it sit while I had dinner and then moved on to figuring out this wine.  As it turned out it never did really come around to be anything wonderful ... nor did it turn into a pile of dung - it kind of stay in the glass as a non-descript red wine, maybe a little spice on the palate, and it was most definitely dry.  My wife, who also gave this wine a few sips thought she got a little initial fruit also, but it was so quick it become indistinguishable.  In the end the best thing I could say about this is that it was wine, a red wine that was neither good, nor bad, just red wine.

NB:  It has been pointed out to me that the wine is actually a Gamay Noir, not a Pinot Noir ... still a good choice with salmon but not this evening.  As the person who pointed this out to me said: "at 10 years old likely better in the sauce pan than a glass" ... now we know what happens to aged Gamay - so drink early, and if you have a lot of it, drink often.

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