Wednesday was all about special wines; you know, the kind that most winos reach out for to celebrate special occasions.
I knew my day was set when Ivan The Fiver walked in with his drinking shirt on. Within a few minutes, I was poured a taste of 2002 Colgin IX Estate Cabernet Sauvignon which exhibited wonderful ripeness and purity of fruit. Creme de cassis, blackcurrant, sweet herbs, coffee, and spice. On the palate, it was powerful and concentrated with a rich mid-palate and very smooth tannins. Lingering finish with chocolaty richness.
This was followed by the graceful and complex 1991 Lafite. On the nose, it was elegant and layered bouquet of cigar box, smoke, leather, graphite, cedar and a core of blackcurrant fruit but the palate, initially, seemed lackluster.I thought it lacked mid-palate (Simon would argue otherwise), it was rather austere and sharp-edged on the finish. As the wine sat in the glass, it developed density in the mid-palate becoming rounder and silkier in mouthfeel. Elegant, vibrant, and persistent length with blackcurrant/graphite undertones. I loved this wine! This wine often gets lost when tasted next to more opulent and flamboyant wines because it’s beauty speaks so subtly but if you give it time, it’s complexity will haunt your senses like nothing else.
The sexy, exotic, and drop-dead gorgeous 1994 Colgin Herb Lamb was uncorked next. The nose was big, bold, and intense with blackberry jam, blueberry pie, creme de cassis, cinnamon, violets, and dried herbs that was echoed by the equally unctuous and dense palate. Velvety tannins and ripe with a texture that glides seamlessly from the front to the back of the palate.
Next opened was a 1986 Gruaud Larose that showed fantastic cedar, aromatic herbs, earth, spice, and tobacco right out of the bottle. Full and firmly structured with a core of blackcurrant and plum fruit notes mixed with earth, cedar, and tobacco. I think this is in a great spot where it still retains a beautiful, sweet core of fruit but already beginning to develop some secondary aromatics that makes this wine compelling right now. Some grip of ripe tannins in the back suggest this has the structure to evolve further in bottle.
Just in time to refresh my palate, JJ offers me a taste of the flamboyant, opulent, and perfumed 2010 Georges Vernay Condrieu Coteau de Vernon. I love, love this wine! With such an intense and ripe nose, you almost expect this wine to be sweet on the palate but it isn’t. Delicious apricot jam, peach, marzipan, honeysuckle, orange blossoms, and yellow plums are consistent on the nose and palate. Very round, ripe, and rich in mouthfeel but underneath it is a nice thread of acid that keeps the wine balanced. Long, elegant finish.
A bottle of 1997 Araujo Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon showed up to the table next. I had a taste of this back in December when Ivan The Fiver opened a magnum to share at our annual Graileys Members Appreciation Party and this is a knockout yet again! More muscular with chewier tannins than 94 Colgin HB showcasing a savory touch (smoke, minerals, cedar) to its rich, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit.
And did I say, this is only Wednesday evening?