2008 Beckmen TLV(?) 70% Syrah 30% Cabernet

This along with '08 Beckmen Grenache arrived via UPS having spent the day (or more) at 90 degrees or higher temps. Taking wine out of the styrofoam, the wine bottles were more than lukewarm. I thought they'd be ruined. So I opened this bottle on Saturday (yesterday) and after Vinturi oxygenation, was pleasantly surprised that it was quite nice. It is now Sunday evening and wine has held up quite well. Blackberry with lavender overtones and maybe raspberry too. A bit reminiscent of the L'Aventure Estate Cuvee which is a similar blend of cab and syrah, but not as deep, complex and compelling. Still, considering I thought for sure it was essentially cooked at high temp, it's a fine wine. 90+ points. At right is picture

of Beckmen's beautiful vineyards, which we visited, outside

Los Olivos.

2004 Grenache D'Arenberg The Derelict

A very nice grenache with its huckleberry, black cherry, chicory, lavender, violet perfume and taste. Good medium silky body with a good though not spectacular finish. It's the nose that's really pleasing to me. 93+

1982 Pichon Lalande!

Amazed to find this at bottom of stack of bottles in my old Eurocave wine refrig and took it to Revolution restaurant in downtown Durham for dinner celebrating Francie's birthday on 4/17. What a treat! Initial aroma was strongly influenced by a rosemary/italian herb impression over the cigar box, characteristic St Julien nose (recall that Pichon is on the border, in Pauillac but almost in St Julien). The nose was subtle, complex, nuanced, "elegant" with a long finish, low tannin, good acid, medium bodied and incredibly young looking; could pass for 6 yr old bordeaux.

2002 Penfold's Grenache Reserve

the initial nose on this was amazing, with pronounced rosemary/provencal herbs and lavender. just great on top of the vanilla strawberry/cherry grenache nose and palate. not as deep as my standard (De Lisio) but this is older, at its peak right now with the round bottle bouquet, not any noticeable tannin and medium body, medium finish with enough acid; not any heat either. the striking thing is the combination of the wonderful aromatic spices with the grenache cherry/strawberry/red plum. 93 points.

Follow up on 4/18, 6 pm: after preservation with gas drinking well tonight. very pleasantly spicy/herbs on top of elegant grenache red fruit nose. good acidity and finish.

Parker writing in 2005, 95 points:

The 2002 Grenache Cellar Reserve is a terrific effort. Produced from a 75-year-old Barossa vineyard, and aged completely in old wood, it exhibits a fabulously complex bouquet of licorice, kirsch liqueur, and spice box, a great mouthfeel, huge body, and lovely elegance as well as freshness. It is a terrific example of old vine Barossa Grenache that should drink well for 5-10 years.

From Penfold's website

Cellar reservear rEsErvE

Grenache 2002

The tradition of innovation and experimentation is central to the Penfolds winemaking philosophy and is perpetuated in the form of Penfolds Cellar reserve wines. These sometimes one-off releases emerge periodically when experimental wines, which have been nurtured carefully in the winery cellars, are deemed appropriate for public release.

The wines do not necessarily fit into any particular genre and provide winemakers with the freedom to strive for new styles and definitions of excellence in their expression.

With the 2002 Cellar reserve grenache, a wine has been developed which harnesses one of the world’s most exotic and perfumed red wine grape varieties, presenting it as a single varietal wine in contrast to its more established cousin, the Bin 138 grenache-Shiraz-Mourvèdre blend.

Barossa Valley

regular rains throughout winter resulted in good soil moisture levels and healthy vine growth, but a cool spring and summer reduced potential yields, and in fact left grapes in danger of not ripening. a warm, dry autumn relieved the situation and this, combined with careful vineyard management, resulted in a harvest with smaller than

average yields but of excellent quality. grenache

Matured for 12 months in a 50/50 combination of older French and american oak hogsheads.

alc/Vol: 14.50% acidity: - ph: -

4-Dec-03 Now - 2010 Duck & game, Cheese, Beef

Winemaker comments by

Peter gago

Dense crimson, with an almost black core. a heady, concentrated, fragrant lift of unabashed, youthful grenache fruit, showing primary raspberry and dark stone-fruit conserve aromas, courted by dark spice, licorice and floral notes.

Expansive and intensely opulent. rich, generous blueberry and blackberry fruits, with licorice, dark chocolate and stewed beetroot layered over ripe, subtle tannins. The body is full and round, with a chewy, concentrated rich core. Fully reflective of its old-vine fruit sourcing, this wine has silky softness, yet the concentration, depth and structure to mature over several years in bottle.

Quinta do Vallado 2007 $20

This is the vineyard/winery that has a lovely inn on the Douro in Portugal. I stayed there for a couple of days and thoroughly enjoyed it--including tasting and tour of the winery. This was in 2008 so I might have tasted this wine in barrel sample.

Anyhow, first taste was a bit harsh. The nose is pretty restrained but has layers of complexity that includes some brown and green spices, some vaguely lavender element. THe berry component isn't the normal huckleberry or blackberry, nor is it cherry. Very long finish that's a bit unintegrated for now. Of course the wine was a fairly recent arrival at CH Wine Co. I'll look forward to drinking this in a year or two. At this point, this bottle, I'd say 90.

Here is the URL for this vineyard: http://www.wonderfulland.com/vallado/.

Parker (90 points):

The 2007 TINTO is a Douro blend. It is another fine “regular” Tinto in this very consistent 2007 vintage. This relatively low priced Tinto has a hidden advantage in that a significant portion of its blend (27% this year) is an old vines field blend from 70 year old vines. The young vines portion (defined as 15 years old, which is fine for most people) includes Touriga Franca (25%), Tinta Roriz (20%), Touriga Nacional (20%), Tinta Amarela (5%) and Sousao (3%). Although it does not show a lot of mid-palate depth, noting that the wines from this estate are always on the more elegant side, it has fine structure and complexity, a certain earthy nuance and some brightness. It is gripping on the finish and should develop a medley of flavors as it ages. It is yet another in the string of regular or second wines in this vintage that perform particularly well at excellent price points. Drink now-2017.

There are some price drops here over listed prices last year. The Touriga Nacional in particular has dropped dramatically. Marketing continues to be an unpredictable activity in this economy and with these exchange rates.

Paul Lehner Durrau 2006 Blaufrankisch Reserve (Mittleburgenland)

I picked up this red wine of Austria when I was in Vienna in fall, 2008. As I recall, I had some in a restaurant that was on the outskirts of town and was affiliated with a vineyard that, I believe, surrounded the restaurant. I had scoffed at red wine from Austria (and I'm not all that impressed with the whites I've had either) but tasting this was impressed. So I took a bottle home. It's pretty good. A deep smoky, hazlenut nose with a hint of espresso; silky texture, little tannin and decent acidity. If I didn't know it was Austrian I might think it an inexpensive Italian. It's plenty ripe. I wouldn't pay more than $8 or $10 for it; give it an 86.

After writing this I looked it up in Parker and found quite a different impression and price tag:

Wine Advocate # 181 Feb 2009	David Schildknecht	(92-93)	Drink: N/A	$74 (74)
From some of the heaviest and most iron-rich soils in Horitschon, Lehrner’s 2006 Blaufrankisch Durrau is only now being released, and when I last caught up with it, was not yet bottled. Ripe blackberry, Szechuan pepper, and mint on the nose lead to a liqueur-like richness yet at the same time brightness of fresh fruit on the palate. An infusion of herbs, pepper, and tobacco as well as underlying stony, peaty mineral elements, marrow-like meatiness, and caramelized onions and root vegetables contribute to a thought-provoking level of complexity. Faintly resinous notes of new wood as well as walnut oil and bitter chocolate add to the wealth of flavors in a long, vibrant, palate-staining finish. This should be worth following for more than a decade. I reported in issue 160 on Paul Lehrner’s style (and wry wit), and in issue 177 reported on two outstanding values, his 2006 Blaufrankisch Gfanger and 2006 Claus (a blend of Zweigelt and Blaufrankisch), because they had been bottled early and I could not restrain my enthusiasm. “I’ve never had a wine reach 14% alcohol, and I don’t intend to,” remarks Lehrner – whose wines are decidedly under-rated by his countrymen – but I do not believe any taster will find his 2006s lacking in ripe flavors.

I agree it's complex on nose but seems over-ripe to me on the palate without the balance and nuance of wines that merit 90 points or more. Different strokes for different folks. And it might be that it was damaged in being carried, put on an airplane, transported from NC to DC, etc. And it wasn't stored esp well in the past few months; it was unrefrigerated in the house at 1114 RI Ave NW.

2005 Schwarz Thiele Road Vineyard Grenache (Australia)

I see it's been a month since my last entry. That isn't because I haven't been enjoying wine; au contraire, Francie and I had a great tour of Santa Barbara and Paso Robles (CA) wine country and tasted, then ordered, a whole lot of grenache, syrah, and various blends. I will need to collate my notes and put them on the blog.

Meanwhile, here's an Australian grenache, opened 24 hours ago as I write on 3/27. The unmistakable sweet flowery huckleberry on an ethereal nose, a bit of forest floor and violet, and a touch of maybe leather/cigar box/St. Julien. Some candy cherry. Very silky on the palate, with more strawberry on the taste than nose. Against my standard of the 2004 De Lisio Grenache, my all time favorite Aussie (or any) 100% grenache wine, this one is a bit lighter in body, nose, color and shorter in finish. If De Lisio was 95 points, this one is appropriately 92-93. And I'm impressed at how it's drinking better today than 24 hrs ago. Some stuff from the winery website

Thiele Road Grenache 2007

Bright ruby red coloured wine with vibrant aromas of red cherry and plummy fruits. It's a spicy little beast with red licorice, heady five spice, grilled meats and kirsch with some lifted raspberry and violet top-notes. There is just a hint of gingerbread in there too.

The palate is awash with liquored red cherry and red plum fruit, enveloped in warm spice flavours - five spice, cardamon and ginger - it's earthy and finishes brightly with a ripe tannin structure and good balance and drive.

"Typically light hue, and typically light-bodied, but has more definition to the spicy red fruits, and less outright confection flavour......better than many barossa counterparts. Rating 91, drink 2013."
... James Halliday, (Australian Wine Companion, 2010)

"....Lovely, lovely wine. Just a great wine to quaff. Earthen and raspberried, jammy and spicy. Silken texture. Fresh acid through the finish. Massaged tannin. A warm-hearted 'earth wine' that's crying out for the dinner table. Rating 92, drink 2009 - 2013."
... Campbell Mattinson, November 2009 (www.winefront.com.au)

Winemaker Notes

I used to catch the school bus from the end of Thiele Road. Our family Grenache block is planted along this dusty old track and has been there since my father’s uncle dropped in the cuttings in 1946.

These gnarly old vines now hold up the traditional red gum trellis and the trunks are home to nests of white ants.

The vineyard is spur pruned to reduce vigour and bunch density. Typically small berries and open bunches are this vineyards characters.

Fruit is hand picked and 50% destemmed, 50% crushed to give some carbonic maceration characters.

Soaked for 3 days, yeast is then added and the ferment is allowed to reach 30-32 degrees to increase colour and tannin before reducing the temperature to 18-23 to maintain varietal characters.

Ferment is pumped over gently twice a day and hand plunged so that skins do not desecrate. We undertake and extended maceration on skins for 8- 12 days.

Malo lactic fermentation is then undertaken in old French oak barrels and the wine is purposely unfiltered and racked twice before bottling 20 months later.

Tasting Notes

Bright ruby red.

Vibrant aromas of red cherry and plummy fruits. It’s a spicy little beast with red licorice, heady five spice, grilled meats and kirsch with some lifted raspberry and violet top-notes. There is just a hint of gingerbread in there too.

The palate is awash with liquored red cherry and red plum fruit enveloped in warm spice flavours – five spice, cardamom and ginger – it’s earthy and finishes brightly with a ripe tannin structure and good balance and drive.