Record low temperatures couldn’t keep the Graileys crew down yesterday before the Dallas Stars game. We had a lively crew of members in and, as always seems to be the case, ridiculously great wines were opened and good times were had. There was a touch a footy on the telly earlier in the day, and the wines were tasting great despite it being a root day.
Three wines really stood out to me from the lineup. The 1983 Chateau Rausan Segla was another superlative example of the excellence that is the 1983 vintage in the village of Margaux. It needed about 20 minutes of air to open up, but once it did Oh My! The dried violets, cigar, new leather, dried blackberries, cassis, exotic incense, gravel and wet stone minerality and plums were spectacular! The creamy, generous palate was accented with these nice mineral and tobacco notes with a seamless, extremely long finish. This has been the fourth bottle of this little stash of 83 Rausan Segla, and each bottle has been extraordinarily good with its own personality. Me mate that opened them and shared them has been very generous indeed! The next great bottle was the 2001 Hundred Acre Kayli Morgan Cabernet Sauvignon and it was full of that deep, mysterious side of Northern Napa Cab. It had those almost haunting aromatics and excellent power wrapped around subtle tannins with extreme depth of fruit. This puppy has a long life ahead of it for sure, but it was drinking wonderfully well yesterday. Notes of ripe blueberries, mulberries, creme de cassis, blackberries, licorice, graphite and subtle smoke come through on the nose and palate. It has fabulous fruit along with full-bodied power and a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood. A stupendous bottle of wine to seek out. The last stunner was a youngin’ but damn fine according to all that had the pleasure of consuming it! The 2009 Torbreck Runrig Shiraz from the Barossa Valley. This is one of the last spectacular Shiraz to be made by Dave Powell, who had a parting of ways after the 2010 vintage. The wine was every bit the sultry, intense and overly great Old Vine Barossa Shiraz that pushes the threshold of fullness and ripeness but somehow maintains balance and length. Eucalyptus, menthol, violets and blueberries on the nose with an undercurrent of anise and Indian spices muddled with mulberries and damson plums. Generous and elegant on the palate, it gives plenty of concentrated fruit flavor with crisp acid and firm, fine tannins. It finishes long. A wine that will go for 30 more years. Bravo Torbreck!
As often occurs, we drank a boatload more of great wine yesterday too. They included:
2011 Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Blanchots Dessus
2011 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Hyde Vineyard
2010 Kapcsandy Family Endre Red Blend
NV Francois Diligent Trois Pinots
2012 Caymus 40th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon