By: AJ McClellan
After a long day at work it is good to unwind with a great glass of wine. Well, that is why we are here! We had a great group of members drop in yesterday each with a great bottle in hand. The wine was flowing and good times hung in the air, that’s Graileys for you…
2001 Marcassin Upper Barn Chardonnay – Big peach and pear with green apple and notes of hay on the nose. The palate has a note of peach gummies, chewy with a slight waxiness. Big lemon drop candy on the palate with barnyard and a finish of Honeycomb cereal.
2006 Le Bon Pasteur – This bottle was not drinking as well as the others we have recently opened but that did not stop the bright red fruits from flowing out of the glass coupled with dusty barnyard and spice box.
2004 Ridge Monte Bello – I was very impressed with this bottle, when blinding it I called right bank Bordeaux. It was soft with excellent earth and rich blue and black fruits.
2007 O’Shaughnessy Howell Mountain – Very ripe on the nose showing crushed cherries and muddled blackberries. The palate was massive with big lush tannins and a mouth full of jammy fruit.
2006 Guigal La Mouline – I know, infanticide – I just couldn’t help myself… When we first opened the bottle it scared the daylights out of me with a waft of cardboard, but the palate was fine, so I decanted the bottle poured myself a glass and forgot about it for an hour. When I came back to the glass, the cardboard had left the building leaving notes of hard apple cider, black tea, big tar, chewing tobacco, and big black pepper in its wake. The palate was massive showing smoked quail, blueberry bubblegum, and more pepper. Given 20 years in the bottle, this is going to be one heck of a wine…
1978 Pichon Lalande – A classic Pichon. The fruit was dusty but still showing well and the nose was full of clean earth and old forest. The palate was soft showing dried raspberries and old cedar with big forest floor and cooking spices.
1982 Pichon Lalande – One of my all time favorite bottles of wine. The ‘82 jumped out of the glass attacking you with fresh raspberries, plums, Bing cherry, moist earth, freshly cut firewood, soot, and tanned leather. After some time in the glass the wine began to develop a soft undertone of wet dog, graphite, and cinnamon. The palate was plush with ripe fruits, old earth, and miles of forest floor. This is a wine that is easy to get lost in showing layer after layer of complexities. Very Nice…