Last Friday was a great night at Graileys, hanging out with the one and only Ivan the Fiver and winemaker extraordinaire Mike Herby. We began our Funday Friday with a tasting through Mike Herby’s delicious red wines: Relic Wine Cellars. My favorite of his lineup was the 2012 Kashaya Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir that expressed sweet black cherry and baking spice through a rich palate that was counterbalanced by integrated acidity and focused minerality.
A lot of bottles were opened Friday night, so I am only hitting my favorites from the bottles I have tried. There were two ‘90s California stars that were incredibly memorable. We opened the inaugural bottle of Galleron Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon- 1993 vintage- rich dark fruit, layers of leather, spice, dark chocolate and deep graphite all in a ridiculously seamless body with a long finish. A mighty fine bottle of 1999 Bond Matriarch was also opened and showed amazing deep black berry, black currant and dark plums were still opulent as smoke, gravel, and licorice weaved throughout the palate.
We also opened a 2000 Valandraud that was my favorite of the night! Sweet black plums and dark wild berries, espresso, dried violets, dense layers of charcoal, toasted spice, mocha and matured leather- I can go on and on but I will stop at Awesome!
The 1999 Le Clos du Caillou Chateauneuf du Pape was fantastic! Dried red fruits and spice perfectly blended with earthy, rustic notes of garrigue, herbs and deep minerals finishing with great length that was reminiscent of preserved strawberries and hemp oil- although I am sure that was not the exact description Friday night. It had been a slower week in Graileys with everyone out of town on Spring Break but that did not stop us from opening great bottles of wine to conclude the week.