2004 Chateau Vieux Chevrol

Not as good as I had hoped, but a very pretty bottle.

Party Wine

A few weeks ago we had a sort of house-warming party. Sara BBQ'd some ribs, made some other dishes, and invited my new coworkers over for dinner. I ducked into the closet and came out with the following.



The 2004 Chester-Kidder, a merlot. A good merlot, but not really my style of wine. It's smooth and drinkable, but does not have the nice fruity flavor I tend to go for.

The 2005 Portteus Zinfandel, of which I can not say enough good things. Have you joined their wine club yet? Why not?! This is a Washington Zin that puts a lot of California wines in their place. Think of it as Turley that you can actually get a hold of. Though I hear the 2006 is a very different sort of Zin. I am looking forward to trying it.

The 2002 Moulin-St. Georges, my stand-by Bordeaux. I got a lot of this vintage from Garagiste at a ridiculously low price. I love to pull it out for guests.

The 2006 Mark Ryan The Dissident. There are two things I believe to be true about Mark Ryan. One, he is a great wine maker. Two, his wines are over-priced. This particular bottle was a gift, so the second theorem is rendered moot. The wine is billed as a "red table wine," which is about right. It was a decent enough drinker, though honestly I think I only had a small taste of it. It was a bright and fruity wine. If you like Mark Ryan's other wines, this one will please you. Though I think for the price, you can do better.



I will end this post with a picture of the awesome coconut cakes that Sara made, and a promise of more posts to follow soon.

2002 Moulin-St. Georges

No need for me to type a full review again, but I am just going to say that it has been very consistent from bottle to bottle.



And here is a picture.

2003 Chateau Beaulieu

You want to drink Bordeaux but you don't want to pay $80 a bottle to do it? This one got 89pts from Robert Parker and you should be able to pick it up for about $16. However, you'll need to buy two. About 60% of the bottles I've had have been great and the rest have been stinkers (one went right down the kitchen sink after a taste).

2005 Chateau Toulouze

2005 is the vintage for Bordeaux. When Garagiste started getting lots of the lesser-known Bordeaux, I figured when I'd order some here and there to have on hand. The theory was that since prices had gotten so insane on the high end and that you had to be an idiot to make a bad wine in 2005 in Bordeaux, that lots of underrated wines were to be had in the mid-range and value-range.

Well, that sort of panned out. This wine, the 2005 Chateau Toulouze Grand Vin de Bordeaux--at $13--technically fits the above theory. It's not a bad wine, but it is mediocre. Originally I was planning to leave the following as the only comment on the wine "unremarkable but drinkable" but I thought I'd give a bit more of an explanation.

1998 Beausejour

I picked up a half case of the 1998 Beausejour from Garagiste. This was a good move on my part. I began seriously collecting wine in 2002, so my oldest bottles are from 1999 and 2000. Well, I have a '97 Grange but I recently got that to fill out my vertical. Anyway, back the Bordeaux.

The Beausejour is a Pomerol, which means it's going to be a Merlot-based blend. The more time I spend drinking Shiraz, the more I am wary of Merlot, but this wine did not disappoint. It is a medium bodied wine and had nice, structured fruit in front and a very long finish. Parker said it had "remarkable symmetry." Which I agree with.

For me this is a food wine. On it's own it is drinkable, but seems a bit thing. With the right meats and cheeses this wine could be an exceptional experience.

2002 Chateau Moulin-St. Georges

Ah, Bordeaux. More specifically St. Emilion. My favorite french appellation (Pomerol comes in second). Moulin-St. Georges is one of my favorite bottles, and the 2002 Cheateau Moulin-St. Georges is drinking quite nicely. On release Parker rated it 89-91, but I believe it has improved in the bottle.

The wine had lost the intense St. Emilion sent that comes from the bottle when it is young, to be replaced by a lighter, but still earthy smell. The first few minutes were disappointing, but after a good swirl or four it opened up nicely. It had a nice subtle mineral taste. The fruit had a hint of cherry or raspberry. The tannins were completely mellow. It was noticebly thinner feeling, but still rather full bodied. It still has it's dark, inky color.

2004 Vieux Chevrol Lalande de Pomerol

This weekend I visited another character in my cast of wine-snobbery: Garagiste. Those who don't know, Garagiste is a Seattle-based importer of limited production and good-value wines. The way it works, as far as I know, is this: you get on their e-mail list, when you see something go by that you want, you reply and say how many you'd like to order. Then every once in a while, you call them up, make an appointment to pick-up and go see what you got. It's kind of like Christmas every time I go.

To celebrate my good friend Don getting a new job, we had breakfast Saturday at Coastal Kitchen. Since it was breakfast, only scanned their wine list briefly, but I did note that they have half-priced wine nights on Tuesdays. The breakfast was excellent as well--I got a ginormous portion of blueberry marscapone coffee-cake. The fresh squeezed orange juice was welcome as well.

After breakfast we went to Garagiste to perform my semi-annual pick-up. I got lots of goodies. And just like Christmas, I had to open one now. So when Ben's wife called last night asking if I wanted to go to dinner at their place, the perfect opportunity presented itself. I brought along a bottle of the 2004 Vieux Chevrol Lalande de Pomerol, which I got from Garagiste for $18. We drank it alongside an Australian meat pie and raw carrots.

This is what Gargiste had to say about the wine, and I have nothing to add, except it goes great with Australian meat pie:

"Vieux Chevrol is one of those important properties that remain a beautiful jewel in the face of sandpaper. They are a one of a kind winery and they have more in common with Trotanoy or Lafleur than one may imagine (without the new oak). This wine bridges the gap between Romanee St. Vivant, Pomerol and some form of satiny, sultry Syrah. It is light to medium bodied, bright red cherry in color and owes its pedigree to its place as well as to the owners of the property that allow the wine to express itself without heavy extraction or color - all with the velvety sap of a Grand Cru Burgundy. A gorgeous wine that is as special as it gets from this area."

So, if you can find some of this excellent Bordeaux, please pick one up for your enjoyment.

1998 Chateau Beychevelle - St. Julien

I'm making it a Christmas tradition--Bordeaux. I have two favorites: Cheateau Beychevelle and Chateau Moulin-St. Georges.

I have now had both the 1998 and 2000 version of the Beychevelle. Both Bordeaux-blends (of course), the 1998 was almost as good as the 2000. At the time, the 2000 was the rock star year for Bordeaux, but as global warming continues, the vintages just keep getting better and better. This wine, still tasted like it could sit in the bottle for at least another ten years, but at 9 years old, the '98 was definitely drinkable.

Both of these wines are less than $40--I picked up the '98 Beychevelle at an undisclosed location in St. Louis in June for $35.

An excellent wine.