AJ McClellan
When Dave is in town it is always a mixed blessing. On the one hand we never get any work done, but on the other hand we always have a lot of fun! This trip was like any other – no work, all play, and we managed to get especially rowdy this time around.
1982 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – Dave was on a kick today and he decided it would be fun to blind us on the wines that we tried. The Mondavi was first up, with a nose that immediately reminded all of us of Bordeaux. Dave thought he had pulled a fast one. However, once you get to the palate of this wine there is no mistaking it for New World. With candied cranberries, mint, and eucalyptus up front and roasted vanilla bean on the back, the wine finished with iron and steel and screamed of old Cali Cab. I called it 85 but alas I was 3 years off.
1997 San Leonardo – Disappointed with how easily we had called his first wine, Dave poured the second with a slight smirk, knowing that we would never be able to guess this 95 point Italian wine from Trentino. Unbeknownst to Dave, we had tried this wine two weeks earlier and as soon as we picked it up we knew exactly what it was. Big bell pepper and jalapeño up front, with a back of freshly cut grass. If there was fruit in the wine I could not find it under all the greenness. We promptly dumped it out after telling Dave exactly what it was. How this got 95 points from Wine Spectator I will never know.
1997 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue Musigny – After receiving a slight razzing over his previous selections, Dave decided to bring out the big guns. After blinding this wine we all were thrown for a loop. With a lightness in the glass but devoid of complexity (and given the quality of Dave’s previous two wines) we all thought this was a medium quality Grenache based wine from the Cote du Rhone. With cranberry, blackberry, a slight mushroomy component, dark chocolate, and hints of game we all thought we were spot on. After revealing the bottle, however, we all were stunned. In hindsight I can see how it could be Burgundy but the quality Vogue is known for simply was not there, possibly due to the poor year of 1997 or possibly just a bad bottle. That’s the problem with Burgundy; it’s always a shot in the dark if you will get a mind blowing bottle or a very disappointing one.
After three strikes Dave earned the title of Golden Bollocks and we decided to go out to eat.
