Wines Tasted - January 2009

I've had the good fortune to taste a large number of wines recently. Some of the finest have been highly anticipated and some were surprises. I'm adding a few of the most memorable:

Copain Wines - Some of the finest California blends I've come across to date. A wonderful style showcasing site, restraint and balance.

Blackbird Vineyards - A boutique label from Aaron Pot and Sarah Gott. With a grower/winemaker team, the vineyard(which lies at the corner of Oak Knoll and Big Ranch Roads) is alowed to express itself in the bottle with incredible results. The wines are well balanced, lavishly oaked blends of mainly Merlot with Cab Franc and a bit of Cabernet. While the vineyard grows only the Merlot and Cab Franc portions the Cabernet comes from a good quality SLD source.

Blackbird Vineyards - Arise - Napa Valley - 2006 - $40 - (Modern) - The only varietal (100% Merlot) wine in the portfolio. The wine showed light mocha, creme caramel, sweet cream and red currant notes classic to French Oak ageing. it was medium bodied, and moderatly long through the finish which showed off moderate-plus tannin. It really came down to texture, and these wines have it, along with sweet ripe fruit.

Blackbird Vineyards - Illustration - Napa Valley - 2006 - $70 -

Blackbird Vineyards - Paramore - Napa Valley - 2006 - $90 -

Blackbird Vineyards - Rose' - Napa Valley - $24 - (Food Wine, Classic) An elegant, light bodied Merlot based rose full of: fennel-like aromas, florals and minerality, but not too much fruit. If you savor Provencale Rose, then this lacks for nothing, except food. Not a siping wine so much as a beverage with crudites.

Ch du Nozet de Laducette - Pouilly Fume - 2005 - $40 - (Classic, Food Wine, Showpiece) A stellar example of Loire Sauvignon Blanc at its finest. This wine was bright and clear green-straw in color; full of green melon, lime, cut grass, chive and mineral/chalk in the nose. On the palette it was fully dry, as well as being high in acid(all expected), but it was the body and length on the palette that dazzled me...the finish was laiden with all the bouquet offered, but with such persistence and "honesty" to its fruit! I'm telling you, if you want a great version of PF, this is it.