1995 Château Léoville-Poyferré

Unfortunately I tasted this only after it had been decanted. That being said, it was very aromatic upon opening and still held a deep reddish-purple core with only mild signs of age at the edges. A smooth, well-balanced, and mature wine. As for pedigree, In Frank Schoonmaker's eyes, Poyferré is the best vineyard in St. Julien and "perhaps a little fuller-bodied than the other Léovilles, and generally brings a slightly higher price" (1976). If you want something more like Pauillac, go for Léoville Las Cases which is near Château Latour on the border of St. Julien and Pauillac. This leads me to some words of wisdom I picked up along the way, if you like a particular winery and don't want to pay out of the nose for it, it'll pay to find one of their neighbors. Perfect example: Provenance of Rutherford gets a significant amount of their grapes from Beckstoffer's Georges III vineyard, which happens to be adjacent to Caymus. Try out the Provenance if you like Caymus and tell me I'm wrong. I have to credit this snippet of advice to the man who also recently shared his opinion about the 1995 vintage in Bordeaux. Frankly, the point was that 1995--while a notable vintage--is perfect with food due to their unique structure and notable acidity. So, if you're dining out and want to splurge on Bordeaux, 1995 Bordeaux is definitely a good choice.

P.S. I thank the accidental billionaires for making it possible for me to taste this wine.

Holiday hiatus.

The holidays are upon us and as you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging much. This is not to say that I haven't been tasting some lovely wines or expanding my knowledge to someday share with you, dear reader.

No, my day job has been taking up a great portion of my time, combined with extended time at the restaurant amongst other obligations, has left little extra time to blog. So, I'm making it official: I'm announcing a temporary hiatus, but not before tossing in this link on the Dry Creek Valley and a short rebuttal to a friend--with great taste in shoes--about why anyone would ever want to use Twitter, which is where the hat tip goes out to (HT: WineTwit).

Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible identifies Dry Creek Valley as home to the Ridge's Lytton Springs Zinfandel, one of my favorites alongside their Geyserville bottling (Anderson Valley) and York Creek (Spring Mountain). Although, I must say I'm also quite the fan of Grgich Hills, but that's not from the Dry Creek Valley. Everyday, more affordable Dry Creek Zinfandels come from Mauritson, Four Vines' The Sophisticate, and Alderbrook owned by Terlato, owners of Episode, the yummy meritage showing the classic cocoa flavors people associate with the "Rutherford Dust"; and Chimney Rock in the Stags Leap District). All of these wines have a nice fruity, jammy flavor profile--some are fruit bombs, loaded with alcohol--perfect for those soon-to-arrive summer nights around a fully loaded grill with a cool breeze blowing through your hair. For the winter: think, warm fire, steaks, and great company, followed by some chocolate.

Speaking of food, here's a recipe from Alderbrook, found in the linked article:

BRAISED POT ROAST RAGOUT WITH POLENTA (serves 8)

6 pounds chuck roast

5 carrots, diced

5 parsnips, diced

2 small yellow onions, small diced

6 stalks celery, small diced

8 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons picked thyme

1 pound button mushrooms

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 pounds hickory smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 cups zinfandel

10 cups veal stock (beef will do if necessary)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 bay leafs

1/3 cup slurry (potato or corn starch and water mixture, mix into a thin paste)

Cut chuck roast into 1-inch pieces. Brown all pieces in a large stockpot with olive oil. Deglaze pan with zinfandel and reduce by half, set aside. In the same pan sauté the vegetables -- onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, and garlic for about five minutes, add thyme, and then set aside. In a separate pan render the bacon. After cooking, strain the bacon fat. Use a small amount of fat to sauté the button mushrooms and add to the vegetable mixture. In the large stock pot add the tomato paste and veal stock and bring to a boil for five minutes, then add the beef and wine mixture. Cover with lid and simmer for one hour. Then add vegetables, bay leaves, bacon and mushroom mix. Slowly simmer covered for 45 minutes or until meat is falling apart. Add slurry to thicken the stew and simmer for about five minutes.

For the polenta:

4 cups chicken stock

4 cups whole milk

2 cups corn meal

½ cup butter

1 cup parmesan cheese

Bring chicken stock and milk to a simmer. Add corn meal slowly and stir every five minutes to prevent from sticking. Continue to stir until mixture has thickened to a smooth consistency. Add butter and parmesan cheese.

Serve the ragout over the polenta.

Stay tuned for a recap of today's tastings

You can expect an upcoming summary of a day full of tastings in the outskirts outside of Boston in couple of days:

Grand Tasting at Gordon's Fine Wine & Liquors in Waltham

Fall Tasting at Spirited Gourmet in Winchester

Followed by an evening at the restaurant where I learned about a neighbor of Peter Michael who makes less than 100 cases of lovely sauvignon blanc, Knight's Bridge, which also has an awesome website, with recipes, maps, and excellent food pairings with their wine--I'm feeling a trend of only 100 cases of each. Here's one of the pairings:

2006 Knights Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon: Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard:

Herb-crusted lamb loin with terrine of potatoes and local radish/haricot vert salad. For dessert, couple with chocolate soufflé cake with crème anglaise and fresh blackberries.

P.S. The Spirited Gourmet in Belmont has a series of magnums like Grgich Hills 02 Cabernet Sauvignon on clearance, ones that I bet are close to peaking and in some rare cases, getting ready for the long haul of 10 years, maybe more. I've been tempted, but have yet to succumb.

Also, Gordon's hosts awesomes events, like the Sommelier Smackdown, 4 courses, 2 sommeliers, 8 different glasses of wine, you choose the winner, hosted by Sel De La Terre duo: Ian Grossman and Louis DiBicarri.

1995 Guenoc Reserve Beckstoffer IV Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

At age 13, you could smell and taste the loamy currant, hints of cedar, well-integrated tannins coat the mouth, all of this leaves me wanting a bit more. This pales in comparison to the other wine of the night (see below).

ADDDENDUM: You can't see below because this blog has been imported and this post was retrieved from my archives: 10/3/08). The other wine of the night: 2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia. We had both these wines with porterhouses and I think sauteed spinach, peppers, and other vegetables along with baguettes. Good night. Thanks P.