Well, to be brief before I paste my notes, I was generally disappointed with the wines presented last night. Based on many of the amazing wines available in this catalogue, I would have expected them to pull out a few more nice wines to taste. So much for that idea.
Oh well, I still tasted 24 wines, chatted with some great people and had an all around good time.
And now for the notes:
2000 CHARLES MENTON NINE POPES (Barossa, Australia)
Deep purple colour. Sweet nose with glycerin, blackberry jam, and smoke. Thick legs. Very tasty wine with layers of sweet dark fruit and a bit of cedar. Long dry finish. Will only improve in the cellar. 91 points.
2000 M. CHAPOUTIER COTE-ROTIE LES BECASSES
Medium-dark ruby red. Thick legs. Aromas of mesquite, smoke, provencal herbs and red berry fruit. On the palate, peppery with red fruit. Good tannin and a decent finish. Needs time. 87 points.
2000 DOMAINE DU VIEUX LAZARET CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE CUVEE EXCEPTIONELLE
Medium-dark ruby red; thick slow legs. Nice nose of bramble, grilled meat, spice, cassis. Wow. Lots of fruit, glycerin, spice and a smooth, lingering finish. The steal of the catalogue at $42CAD. 92 points.
1998 MASSOLINO BAROLO
Medium ruby colour to a pink rim. Pretty traditional nose of tobacco, rose petals and berries. Nice wine with cherries and candied red fruit. Medium-full bodied with a disappointing short finish. 86 points.
1999 MARCHESI DI GRESY BARBARESCO MARTINENGA
Light-medium red; floral nose with hints of cream soda. Crystal clear in the glass. Surprisingly well integrated tannins for such a young wine. Earth, mushroom, tobacco and red berry on the palate with a medium finish. 87 points.
2000 DOMAINE BOUCHARD LE CORTON
Medium-ruby colour with anise and a bit of barnyard on the nose. Medium-full bodied with red fruit, good tannin. Slightly hot but with a lingering, dry finish. 87 points.
2000 DOMAINE DANIEL RION & FILS VOSNE-ROMANEE LES BEAUX-MONTS
Clear ruby red in the glass. Great nose of coffee, cassis, mocha, and floral. Nice wine with pretty fruit and good tannin but a little short on the finish. 87 points.
2000 MISSION HILL OCULUS (Okanagan Valley)
Medium-red to rim. Nose of cedar, bramble, cassis, and pepper. Full bodied with lots of tannin and spice. Hot in the mouth. Needs a heck of a lot of time if it’s going to come together. 85 points.
1999 QUINTESSA
Medium-dark ruby, crystal clear in the glass. Cassis, cream and dark crushed fruit on the nose. Well integrated tannins, medium-full bodied with great dark fruit. Medium finish. 89 points.
2000 KARLY WARRIOR FIRES ZINFANDEL AMADOR COUNTY
Dark ruby colour. Pretty nose of dark fruit, mocha. Full-bodied, unctuous, tasty wine with plenty of cassis and black fruit. Long, lingering dry finish. Great Zin. 92 points.
2000 CLINE CELLARS ZINFANDEL LIVE OAK CONTRA COSTA
Medium-ruby to violet rim. Thick legs. Coke and red fruit on the nose. Full-bodied with lots of blackberry and raspberry. A little hot. Touches of mocha, cola, and oak on the finish. 88 points.
2000 SHAFER MERLOT STAG’S LEAP DISTRICT
Dark ruby red to rim. Cedar, bramble, mocha aromas. Silky in the mouth with cassis, crushed black fruit and smoke. Good finish. 89 points.
1997 GIUSEPPE LONARDI AMARONE DELLA VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO
Medium-ruby. Medicinal nose with cedar and red fruit. Thick legs. Medicinal tasting as well with cherry and earth. Very disappointing. Tried twice from different bottles with similar results. 68 points.
Medium ruby. Cream, mocha, cassis on nose. Smooth, well integrated tannins with good black fruit. Medium finish. A tasty wine. 89 points.
2000 D’ARENBERG THE COPPERMINE ROAD CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Deep, dark ruby colour; almost black. Huge nose of cassis, anise, leather. Medium-full bodied with well integrated tannin. Good fruit in the mouth with a medium finish. 90 points.
1995 REIF ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON ESTATE
Medium-dark ruby. A little green on the nose with bramble as well. Integrated tannins, decent fruit and lots of pucker on the woody finish. 80 points.
1999 CHATEAU LEOVILLE-LAS CASES
Dark ruby to rim. Beautiful nose of blackcurrant, smoke, tobacco leaf, grilled meat and bramble. Nice thin, slow legs. Full bodied with some bite. Nice tannin but little fruit right now, it’s hiding behind the oak. Long, lingering finish. Should come around with time. 90 points.
1998 PARKER COONAWARRA ESTATE TERRA ROSSA FIRST GROWTH
Intense purple colour. Dark fruit, glycerin, smoke and a bit of green pepper on the nose. Smooth, lots of fruit peeking from behind the wood. A little hot and will need time to mellow. Lots and lots of wood right now. Was expecting better. 88 points.
1997 CAPARZO BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO
Deep garnet to rim. Nose of briar, chocolate, coffee, and caramel. Nice red fruit, integrated tannin. Dry on the finish. 87 points.
1998 BANFI EXCELSUS
Dark, dark ruby, almost black. Nice pretty nose of plum, black cherry, flowers, and smoke. Thin, slow legs. In the mouth: cassis, coffee, oak. Really dry, mouthpuckering finish with red berries. Needs a lot of time if it’s going to come together. 60/40 Cab/Merlot blend. 87 points.
1995 BANFI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVA POGGIO ALL’ORO
Deep dark ruby/garnet colour. Expansive nose of cassis, raspberries, and violets. Full bodied, plenty of tannin and oak with enough fruit to support with age. Should come together nicely with about 8+ years in the cellar. Long, lingering polished finish with a hint of rose petals. 93 points.
1999 DOURO A.A. FERREIRA CALLABRIGA
Deep ruby colour to violet rim. Crushed berry fruit on nose. Well integrated tannin with nice fruit and a bit of pucker on the short finish. 86 points.
2000 MAJELLA CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Inky purple; opaque. Bit of crème de cassis. Soft, integrated tannins. Black fruit in the mouth with a lingering finish. A tasty wine. 90 points.
1997 JACOB’S CREEK SHIRAZ/CABERNET LIMITED RELEASE
Inky purple colour. Pretty nose of cassis, pepper, caramel and cream. Cassis, dark crushed fruit in the mouth with a short finish. 87 points.
Thanks for the tasting notes for those of us that couldn't afford to go for time/money reasons. Plus I was waiting for the tasting list to come out and by the time it did it was late in the game and I wasn't impressed by the list.
One quesiton: I guess you didn't get a chance to try the Alkoomi Blackbutt?
[This message was edited by SirIsm on May 14, 2003 at 07:38 PM.]
futronic -- thanks very much for taking the time to post these notes. Were it not for you, I would have missed entirely the '00 Lazaret, which just became available here last week (at about the same price). I agree: a very good deal!
I bought 6 on your rec, and will be going back for more.
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Cheers.
Posts: 6489 | Location: Vancouver, BC | Registered: Oct 17, 2001
No problem Seaquam. I'm just trying to contribute to the best of my ability as I've learned a hundred fold from everyone else.
What do you think for the cellaring of the wine? Leave it for a few years before opening it up? I only bought thre so that's why I'm curious. It was drinking well at the time but I still think it will improve a lot.
We drank one bottle. It's got lots of primary fruit, not too much tannin, and certainly not excessive acidity. I won't have another one for 2 or 3 years, and will re-evaluate at that time. However, based on initial experience, I don't expect to keep these more than 10 years--doesn't have the intense concentration or structure that some of the other '00 Chateauneufs have, but it is very well balanced. A wine to look forward to.
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Cheers.
Posts: 6489 | Location: Vancouver, BC | Registered: Oct 17, 2001
Glad the notes could be of use! I found the Terra Rossa to be disjointed and a little green. For all the accolades that it received, I was just expecting more. It wasn't a bad bottle and should improve with time, but it wasn't the blockbuster people were talking about.
My sentiments were echoed by friends that are much more versed in high quality Australian wine than I. I believe their thoughts were along the lines of, "tasting that tonight just saved me a few hundred dollars, because there's no way I'm buying that wine at that price."
Great, helpful notes futronic, and while it's not your fault, you open a wound of my own making as I missed the bloody ordering deadline!!!!
I got back from my Europe trip last Saturday and completely forgot to order. Thankfully, I was only going to try to get some of the Elderton CSM, but as it is one of my all time favourite wines I am truly heartbroken at having screwed it up. And of course there will be none left when the telephone ordering begins, not that I'd be able to get through in any case.
My bad, my bad!
------- "Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."
Nothing yet. I would assume that they probably started calling on Tuesday of this week. I put down about 4x what I actually wanted, so if I get shut out again, I'm gonna snap. You'll see me picketing the Vintages/Classics office next week.
Side note for Torontonian Port lovers: I was in the Summerhill LCBO Thursday evening and noticed that they had put some full bottles of Warre's, Fonseca and Niepoort 2000 Port on the shelves...I nabbed a bottle of the Niepoort for CDN$58.
Thanks for the heads up Ism. I didn't buy any VP during the initial release (save for a split of Taylor's), but based on the purchases I racked up over the past few weeks, I'll skip the VP once again. I might grab a couple bottles of '97 Fonseca LBV at Saturday's release, however.
No word here yet either. I'm not optimistic about at least one of the items I ordered, though. I noticed that the 2000 Lafon-Rochet which I ordered from the Classics Catalogue at C$59 (and subject to a two bottle limit, I might add) is now scheduled for the July 12th Vintages release at C$77.95! Somehow I doubt that the LCBO will be inclined to fill too many orders at the lower price! A 33% increase in two months! We deserve better than this.
If your order for the Lafon doesn't get filled, go to Summerhill and see if they have any one the shelf. They're bastards like that. I can think of a several things from the previous catalogue that were "sold out," yet three days later ended up on the shelves there. The 98pt Riesling is one that I can think of off the top of my head, as well as the Cinq Cepages were both in this boat.
Stupid LCBO. They really need to get their head out of their a**es and start ordering adequate product. Word on the street is that volume will start picking up fourth quarter this year, when they should have larger quantities of the better quality wine (who cares about plonk volume). I'll believe it when I see it.
BTW, speaking of increases, the '97 Antinori Piane delle Vigne increased 20% in five months and the '97 Poggio Salvi Brunello was up about 30%. Gouge, gouge, gouge.
I've noticed that as well. In fact, when I ordered my '99 Cinq Cepages, they called me back to say that the limit in the catalogue was a mistake and I could get more if I wanted! Then I saw it on the shelves!
You're right about the '97 Poggio Salvi Brunello. I paid C$59.95 at the Vintages release last November and was told that I could only have one bottle because of limited supply. Yet, lo and behold, it magically re-appeared in the Classics Catalogue last month at C$79!
One final example is the '97 Tignanello. Vintages released it way back in February 2001 at C$79.95. Summerhill has some today at C$149.95! (For those looking for the math, that's an increase of 87.5% over 28 months.) I'm thinking of trying to return a few of my bottles at the higher price and pocketing the difference!
They only let you have one of the Poggio Salvi? That sucks. The store I went to had two six-packs. Myself and another guy wanted it and we could've had a sixer each if we wanted. In the end, I took four, he took three.
I think it's time to start speculating on wine at the LCBO. Buy wine, flip it back to them six months later at double the price!
I received "The Call" just a few minutes ago. Out of the seven wines that I ordered, the only one that was sold out was the Elderton CSM. Here's what I ordered, and what I ended up buying is marked with an asterisk:
There will be a few happy people since I passed on the Brunello. Personally, I couldn't justify buying even more as I now have about two cases of '97 Brunello and that's enough.
I'm really happy I got the Allegrini Amarone. I look forward to drinking the first bottle in about 3-5 years.
I'm sure you'll hear Monday/Tuesday. The only think that sucks about being called later (or is sometimes a good thing), is that you can buy stuff that people passed on. For example, maybe you can get the Brunello that I skipped if you like that type of wine.
Summerhill appears sold out of the 2000 Niepoort, but I found a few bottles left at the Vintages Manulife store. I've stashed a few away to enjoy with my 2000 vintage son in 20 years or so!
