2008 Tensley Syrah special cuvee for Chapel Hill Wine Corks for Kids

Strong perfume of strawberry and blackberry with pinewoods, spice, and some toasted oak vanilla quality. On palate maybe a bit of fig? The color is medium, not as deep as the other cuvees I'd guess. On the palate there is fine midpalate, silky feel, moderately long finish carried by moderate acidity and fairly low tannins. The alcohol does its job nicely, producing a round wine with fruit and acid well balanced. This is a typical Syrah, good but not special. 89 points. There is nobody else to review since it's a special cuvee for CH Wine Co's charity. It cost $20 whereas other fine Tensley Syrahs cost $35 and up.

2007 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape

This was a real treat, on sale in St Paul where I was visiting Clay and Inge. Picked this up to drink on our trip to the far north lake country. So, on the first night, it was a bit disjointed (of course it had been shaken up on our 4 hour drive, some of it over bumpy roads). I could tell the plum and black cherry fruit was there but it was overwhelmed by the acid and alcohol. So, as if to confirm Charles's argument (the guy from Lynch Bages in Bordeaux), tasted it 24 hours later with no gas preservation or vacuum pumping and it was wonderful. Drinking from plastic cups, so nose wasn't great. But on the palate a masterpiece of silky balance, with toasted black cherry, blueberry, white pepper and a damn-near Pomerol like roundness. The acid is now in perfect balance with fruit. Maybe a touch of licorice and with air, black raspberry. And a very long finish carried by the acid and alcohol. Tannin soft and drinking great right now, but should help it last for another 5-10 years. Unmistakably a syrah-grenache blend but the grenache gives it the Pomerol roundness. I'd give it 93.

Parker in Oct 2009:

93 points. The 4,400-case blend of 80% Grenache and the rest Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cinsault, the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape boasts a dense plum/purple color as well as a wonderfully sweet nose of fresh black truffles, incense, blue and black fruits, roasted herbs, and earth. The wine is full-bodied and pure with fresh acids, silky tannins, and a voluptuous mouthfeel. Drink this beauty over the next 10-12 years.

Palmer 1996 and Alter Ego 2007

These are notes from the tasting at Palmer, very near our hotel in Margaux, France a few weeks ago. They are fragmentary since I didn't take detailed notes at the time. Alter Ego is the second wine of Palmer and '07 is considered a mediocre year. The wine was oaky and plummy, certainly not unpleasant. It was a great treat to taste the '96 Palmer which is an expensive bottle of wine from a good year. My notes say sweet Margaux nose, plum and cherry with currant. Very silky tannins and firm acid. I'd say it's about 2 years from peaking.

A Parker taster (not Parker) in March 2010 wrote: 93 points. Deep garnet colour going a little brick. The nose is very forthcoming with a good intensity of earthy loam and black truffle aromas mingled with dark cherry, leather, tar and black olive. Medium to high acidity and a medium+ level of very fine tannins. Great balance. Long finish.

Parker said in 1999:

Wine Advocate # 122 Apr 1999	Robert Parker	91	Drink: 2007 - 2028	$114-$262
This wine, a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, is performing well after its July, 1998 bottling. It boasts an impressively saturated purple color, in addition to a backward yet intense nose of black plums, currants, licorice, and smoke. Following terrific fruit on the attack, the wine's structure and tannin take over. There is plenty of sweet fruit, and the tannin is well-integrated, but the wine requires 7-8 years of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2028.

From a Sept 2009 tasting on Jancis Robinson

55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc (last Cabernet Franc at Palmer), 40% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. Cooler but sunny summer. Great Cabernet in this vintage in Bordeaux generally. A more classic Palmer.
Deep youthful garnet. Open, sweet dark and spiced fruit. Smell the sun. Spice and truffles coming through as it opens up. You can still smell the sweet toasty oak though this was not the first vintage of new vats. Rich sweet pure fruit. Firm but rounded tannins and long aromatic finish. Fine cedary aftertaste. Very pure and direct and frank, some herbaceousness adding aroma but not greenness. 17+.

2007 Tensley Syrah Colson Canyon

Tasted immediately after the H. Story Grenache. Since I loved that I didn't expect to like this Tensley syrah so much. But it is, indeed, a slightly better wine. It's not quite as overpoweringly fruit, but it's more complex and nuanced. The nose is damn near ethereal, though it'll be more available in a couple years. It's violet, it's strawberry and red plum, provencal herbs. It's a very long finish. It's higher in acid than the Story Grenache, which carries a very long finish. This is about as good as syrah gets, I'd say. I wouldn't chose it over a 94+ cabernet, but it's damn close to a fine bordeaux in its grace and complexity--it's just a lot more pleasing right on the surface. Doesn't require a whole lot of contemplation. Which is OK with me. 94+, and this one will get better as opposed to the Story Grenache which is pbly as good as it's gonna get.

As with Herman Story, we are members of the Tensley wine club which means we get a bunch of their wines every few months...a good idea, actually. This one will drink nicely for 6-8 yrs.

Parker says 95 pts:

The brilliant 2007 Syrah Colson Canyon is Tensley's biggest production single vineyard Syrah. Like the other wines, it is aged in 80% neutral and 20% new French oak barrels, and is bottled with no fining or filtration. This blockbuster effort is as black as a moonless night. It offers up stunning notes of graphite, blackberry liqueur, creme de cassis, licorice, barbecue smoke, and a deep meaty character. The layered palate feel as well as the enormous richness and length result in one of the finest Syrahs being produced in California's Central Coast. It should evolve over the next 10-15 years.

2007 Herman Story On the Road Grenache

This wine was purchased while we were in Paso Robles, CA tasting at many of the leading vineyards. This one is unusual in that Herman Story's winemaker (Russell From) and owner buys grapes from good local vineyards and vinifies them with great verve. We enjoyed talking wine and that day he was blending one of his 2008's and actually asked for our opinion! He's a specialist in grenache, which is why we sought him out. Herman is the winemaker's grandfather, a colorful guy apparently.

This grenache is outstanding, just slightly less deep and interesting than the baseline standard, 04 De Lisio. THe nose is variegated, including notes of eucaplyptus, mint, plum, black cherry, toasted vanilla. THe mouth feel is silky indeed, and although there's alcohol on the nose and palate (16.1% alch!) the fruit is so thorough and ripe that alch disappears from your senses. What is dominant is the silky fruit cherry/plum/oak/methol-eucalyptus-spice on palate and in the finish. If DeLisio was 95, this is 93+. Lacking just a bit of the depth and complicated finsihes of De Lisio or L'aventure.

Well, Parker gave it 93 and wrote:

The 2007 On the Road Grenache is a sensational example of this varietal. This sexy red is loaded with kirsch liqueur intermixed with notions of lavender, pepper, licorice, and spice box. One of the finest Grenaches being made in the Central Coast, it boasts a deep ruby/purple color, broad, savory flavors, abundant glycerin and alcohol (16.1%), and a seductive, heady finish. This is another full-flavored wine that merits serious attention. It should drink well for 3-5 years. Kudos to winemaker/proprietor Russell From.

These are full-flavored, balls-to-the-walls, beautifully made, intensely flavored wines that are capable of lasting a decade or more (in the case of their biggest Syrahs).

Chateaux Palmer and Lynch Bages

Reporting from the Medoc, southwest France: tastings at the great Margaux estate, Palmer, and at Lynch Bages. Had 1996 Palmer and 2009, 2001, and 1997 Lynch Bages, the latter at a 2+ hour BLIND tasting with an expert at Lynch Bages who taught us some new ways of assessing wine. The '09 was surprisingly closed and not all that promising, or so it seemed, but Parker has given it 94-96 points. The '01 and '97 were both excellent and '97 a real surprise since it's reputedly not a good vintage.

2009 Lynch Bages: From the barrel, acid high on attack, OK on mid-palate, very acid on finish. Not too much alcohol on the nose. Long acid finish with tannins drying, not very soft. Not much fruit on finish. Charles, who led the tasting for us (and it was just me and Francie, quite an unusual experience), said the tannin isn't bad. No balance at this point between tannin, acid and alcohol, something he urged us to notice on the nose and on the palate. He said at this stage the strong acid and tannin is a good sign. This one I pegged as a very young wine but didn't think it could be from the heralded 2009 vintage. He also said to notice the brilliance of color, i.e. its reflectivity (which was excellent) and the transparency--could you see your fingers through the wine? The more opaque the better, and this one was opaque.

2003 Haut Bages Averous (second wine): Much more balance and silky, softer tannin; with alcohol not hot like the '09. Alcohol is, says Charles, the referee between acid and tannin. Acid gives freshness, alcohol gives smoothness. In this particular wine he says, alcohol is too prominent on the finish. The wine is too warm, more "rustic" therefore than the Lynch Bages. It is given less age before release, lower age of vines, no new oak, and more merlot for earlier drinking.

2001 Lynch Bages: Better balanced. Alcohol makes for roundness, soft tannins, good mid-palate with balance. This one finishes with the tannin and acid more pronounced than on the first two wines and on mid-palate. Yet the finish was also longer; and he says, shows as a typical vintage of the terroir.

1997 Lynch Bages: Perfect balance. Fresh acid on the attack, balanced middle and finish is just as balanced as the mid-palate (unlike the '01). The finish is long and elegant, as well as complex. '97 seen as a bad year because it came between 1996 and 1998, two hyped vintages. Alcohol here nicely serving to round off the acid and tannin. The lesson says Charles: look for those off-vintages from excellent terroirs with good winemaking practices.

It's interesting to see what Parker wrote in 2000 about the 1997: This wine is jammy black currant fruit intermixed with cedar wood, herbs, spice, and pepper. It is a light-styled yet friendly effort with creamy new oak, low acidity, and a medium-bodied, attractive albeit superficial appeal. Drink it over the next 5-6 years.

Parker gave it 86 points and said it would drink until 2006, yet we tasted it in 2010 and it was really delightful. So one wonders, did the reputation of the vintage actually decrease Parker's scores for 1997, leading him to underestimate its potential?

Above is a picture of Palmer's barrel aging room with workers topping off barrels (which lose about 5% to evaporation, I believe, each month). More info on Palmer in separate posting of July 14.

2003 Troplong Mondot

A very nice St Emilion, spicy, violet-infused and cherry--distinctively NOT cabernet's blackberry and black currant. However as shown below, Parker sees it differently. Nonetheless it's 90% merlot as I suspected and that gives it the cherry overtones. Maybe i'm sensing cherries when parker senses plum and I can see that. I rate this 93. And it needs a couple more years to fully mature in my view. The finish is moderately long on the palette, but on nose, truly a fine aromatic offering.

Here's a nice picture from Troplong Mondot's website. Francie and I stayed in the Troplong Mondot room of Hostellerie de Plaisance in 1985; we're returning to the Hostellerie for lunch on June 12. Rooms there now 10x what they were in 1985 -- then $55, now $550.

Parker: This superb estate, run with impeccable attention to detail by Christine Valette, has produced a formidable, backward wine that will require considerable cellaring. When St.-Emilion’s new classification is announced in several months, it will be a crime if Troplong is not promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe status. Even by Bordeaux standards this is a weighty vin du garde, with huge density, a backward, masculine style, an inky dark ruby/purple hue, and subtle notions of white chocolate, espresso roast, plums, blackberries, and currants. Full-bodied, powerful, and “closed for business” at present, it exhibits beautiful purity, stunning depth, and a long, persistent finish. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025+. 92+ points.