Browse Month

January 2008

Pay the premium

Selaks “Premium Selection” 2006 Riesling (Marlborough) – Dry, dusty, and extremely austere on the nose. The palate, however, is a lot more interesting, showing a moment of cream followed by the sharp bite of sour orange acidity, grapefruit rind bitterness, and walnut skin. There’s good length, and while the wine “feels” mostly dry, a bit of residual sugar is there if you look hard enough…a grace note of softening sweetness at the end. A fair effort, though probably not with the complexity or stuffing to age more than a few years. (5/07)

Nor’easter

Selaks “Premium Selection” 2005 “Ice Wine” (East Coast) – 50% gewürztraminer from Gisborne & Hawke’s Bay, 50% riesling from Marlborough. Mild, showing peach, apricot skins, and a shortish finish. This is pretty simple, and I seem to remember it being a little more appealing in the past. (5/07)

Robert Catherine

[bob lindquist]Qupé 2005 Syrah “BobCat Cuvée” (Santa Barbara County) – 40% Bien Nacido Vineyard, 40% Purisma Mountain, 20% Alisos Vineyard, blended especially for (by?) Cat Silirie (wine director for the restaurant group of which The Butcher Shop is a member) and Bob Lindquist of Qupé. Smooth and gentle, showing leathery blueberry, earth, and good acidity with some complexing and welcome hints of green on the finish. Really, really fun. (5/07)

Diamond in the rough

[bottle]Rombauer 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) – Very austere, aromatically, with the palate showing tarred rosemary and not much else. It’s imbalanced in favor of its tannin, as well, which adds to its dry severity. (5/07)

Rombauer 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon “Diamond Selection” (Napa Valley) – Much more structured than the regular cabernet, but more balanced as well, showing espresso, dark black fruit, and leather with a light charred coconut aspect to the finish. More expressive and longer than any of the wines so far, though there’s also the faintest touch of brett. (5/07)

Auto parts

Rombauer 2003 Merlot (Napa Valley) – Smoked black cherry residue and black pepper; there’s a char to this wine, probably from the oak, that somewhat dominates. There’s good acidity, but the wine hollows on the finish. (5/07)

Carneros park

[bottle]Rombauer 2005 Chardonnay (Carneros) – Oaky, full-bodied, silky and lush, and quite openly sweet on the palate. Very, very simple, and seemingly pointed at the widest possible audience of chardonnay-as-cocktail drinkers, in which context I think it should be viewed. (5/07)

Read-only zin

Rombauer 2005 Zinfandel (California) – Grapey and slightly confected, with spicy-hot red cherries dominating. This doesn’t seem quite dry, either. Not my style. (5/07)

Mike & family

[pictures]Rotier 2005 Gaillac “Les Gravels” (Southwest France) – This is the sort of country French wine, with structure and character, that works better in its home region than it does on the road. Still, it’s appealing enough, with a lot of leathery tannin coupled to dark, meaty fruit and the blackest soil. Like many reds from the Southwest, it pairs sweatier southern French aromas with a structure reminiscent of Bordeaux to the north, and strongly suggests that it will benefit from age. Right now, though, it’s solidly made but somewhat lacking interest past the very fact of it. (1/08)

Du-bour-dieu-be-do

Dubourdieu “Château Graville-Lacoste” 2003 Graves (Bordeaux) – Fat lemon-grapefruit without any mitigating structure or lightening, Some heat on the finish. More like fruit juice than wine; it’s not a fruit bomb, it’s just one-note (or perhaps half of a note) and rather tedious. (1/08)

Acute, Vertus

[vineyard]Larmandier-Bernier Champagne “1er Cru” Blanc de Blancs “Vertus” (Champagne) – Delicate and floral, with strobe-like metals and powdered lemon-apple crystals. Incisive but not sharp, long, feminine (with gentle but inexorable strength), and just beautiful throughout. (1/08)