A Rare and Special Bonnes-Mares (and Other Earthly Delights)

"…a 'friendly, drink me, 
get lost' kind of wine."

1995 Moillard Echezeaux Grand Cru, 13% alc.: Mr. Flippy described this ruby dark garnet as "like walking through a field of fennel," and indeed, it drew a variety of other descriptors as well. It has a pretty nose, but nowhere near as expressive as the Bonnes-Mares. It has a deep black cherry character that is accented by the following:
"Fennel pollen, dustiness in ze mouth." – Pascal
"Dried cherry." – Robin
"Dried chocolate." – CZ
"Unsweet bakers’ chocolate, stony mineral." – Scott
The tannins are still a bit hard 1-½ hours after being decanted, but it does continue to open slowly as long as there’s some left in the glass.

1998 Vincent Girardin Volnay 1^st Cru "Les Santenots," 13% alc.: A ruby dark garnet, this shows pretty sweet cherry flavors and aromas, with good acidity, silky tannins and a nice long finish. Alan added an impression of "big stewed plum," and Pascal offered "dry herbs, like thyme or somesing; a lot of excitement in ze mouth." The fruit is more substantial than in the Echezeaux, yet also more accessible. As you might expect, it opens nicely with a few hours of air.

1999 Lucien Boillot Pommard 1^st Cru "Les Fremiers," 13% alc.: This dark garnet is all about big sweet oak, chocolate and black cherry flavors and aromas, with some toast and coffee on the palate. Rather one dimensional, it’s not showing a lot of tannins, nor is there any terroir to speak of. Mr. Flippy described "a little toffee on ze finish," calling this a "friendly, drink me, get lost" kind of wine.

Mystery Wine #1: Alain Arroyas arrived with two bottles in tow, both wrapped in tin foil to mask their identity. This one’s a rusty ruby garnet that Robin, Kim and Mr. Kerr agreed "smells like the sea;" Robin added an impression of iodine. Velvet-y on the palate, it shows a nice smoky black character with earthy hints that come out in the reasonably long finish, some tannins and the most acidity of the bunch. CZ remarked, "A mouthcoating of sugar candy reminds me of a chaptalized wine." Pleasant enough on its own, a later taste found that it doesn’t have the substance of the others, being neck and neck with the Ken Wright McCrone as the weakest of the bunch. 1996 Vincent Mongeard Vosne Romanee, 13% alc.

1997 Ken Wright Willamette Pinot Noir McCrone Vineyard, 12% alc.: When we decided on a "Pinot Noir" tasting, I had no idea that Burgundy would be so well represented, so we brought along this ruby dark garnet and the following bottle that had been resting in our cellar for about 3 years. The nose isn’t as expressive as the Burgundies, having soft, perfumed candied black cherry aromas that follow through on the palate. Scott and Kim added impressions of "cola and rock & rye," while Robin was reminded of the glue used to bind books. Pascal said it was "sweeter on ze palate zan ze Burgundies," and I took that a step further, saying that it almost tastes like soda pop, even compared to the Ken Wright Carter Vineyard. The tannins are soft and silky, the acidity is good, and it has a nice finish, yet it’s probably the weakest wine of the lot. Tasted by its lonesome, I daresay it would be just fine.

1997 Ken Wright Willamette Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard, 12% alc.: Another ruby dark garnet, this shows more smoke, spice and complexity to the black cherry flavors and aromas than the McCrone, and it develops some cola as it opens. Pascal remarked, "I don’t see ze terroir in these (Ken Wrights), adding the he finds "zis one complex, wiz an note of coconut, and ze McCrone simple." It was interesting and instructive to compare these to the Burgundies. The KWs are nice but not quite in the same league as the others, but then it should be remembered that ’97 was not a great year in Oregon, either.

1997 Beringer Napa Pinot Noir Los Carneros Stanley Ranch, 14.1% alc.: This was sent along by Gary and Maureen Bell, who were unable to attend, due to their wedding anniversary celebration. There is an immediate rubber component to the flavors and aromas upon pouring that isn’t necessarily a bad thing (Scott referred to it as "Chateau Goodyear"), but then it dissipates with air anyway. It has a sweet oak, smoky black cherry character, with good presence in the mouth, good acidity and silky, unobtrusive tannins. Pascal found it "flowery," and agreed with Alain that it has a "spicy black pepper husk" component that is attractive. More substantial and impressive than the Oregonians, I was perhaps a bit surprised that this was one of the stronger wines of the night.

Mystery Wine #2: The 2^nd of Alain’s teasers, this deep dark garnet was poured from a bottle that was obviously not slope shouldered, so it couldn’t be Pinot Noir, right? Mr. Kerr noted "cola, cherry and chocolate;" the tannins are under control, the acidity is good and it has a decent finish with a little earth. There is a certain Pinot Noir-like quality to this that made me wonder if it might not be a South African Pinotage, but Marty suggested that aloud before I did, incorrectly identifying its place of origin as Paarl. Pleasant but unexceptional, it provided a fun and interesting puzzle. 1999 Lanzerac Stellenbosch Pinotage, 13% alc.

As I said earlier, none of these wines are "bad" by any means; they just had the misfortune of following the Bonnes-Mares. Often we had as many as seven glasses with wine in them before us at once. Mine were still mostly the Burgundies when Alan served his fabulous aromatic braised beef short ribs on a bed of roasted Shanghai style Polenta and they all paired well with them, and why would I have expected otherwise? They also matched well with Kim’s stuffed baby portabella caps throughout the tasting.

Afterwards, a few more corks were pulled, but except for a fine red Rhône to toast my beloved Detroit Red Wings, I was through taking notes. One thing that did surprise me though, was a 1994 Ridge Sonoma Zinfandel that the Zinfan opened. I was shocked at how deliciously full of rich fruit it was. I love my Ridge Zins, but ’94 was not a particularly good year for them, or so I thought. But this wine was so impressive, even more so than many ’94 Lytton Springs and Paganis that I’ve had from that producer!

It was the perfect way to cap what was a wonderful night of fine wine, good food and good friends, and that’s what it’s all about for the Gang of Pour.

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May 2002