A rather chaotic atmosphere marked the start the April installment of the monthly BAWE tasting yesterday, held at Restaurant Shanghai 1930 in downtown San Francisco. Despite the rough start, once the wine started flowing things settled down and we were off and running with the largest turn out we’ve had yet at any of these events (24 people in total!). The venue yesterday was graciously arranged for us by one of our members, and while the private room setting was very cool, it provided some logistical challenges for the type of tasting we usually do. Nonetheless, we managed fine, and the food provided by the restaurant was excellent and plentiful.
Our tasting consisted of three flights, and two bottles of each wine – which worked out well with the number of people present. All wines were tasted single blind. Here are the wines, along with 1st and 2nd place votes (1st/2nd), with the top two wine noted in
bold italics
1) Chenin Blanc, any vintage, any region:
……
1998 Chalone (8/9)
……2001 Chateau d' Epire Cuvee Speciale Savennieres (0/1)
……
2001 Pichot Vouvray (9/5)
……1996 Tijou-Soucherie Coteaux du Layon (5/8)
As you can see, this was really close between the top three wines, with the Pichot coming out on top based strictly on #1 votes, but the Chalone coming out better if you apply a weighted scoring system. All four were very different in style, and really showed the versatility of this grape.
2) 1999 California Cabernet:
……
1999 Del Dotto (8/6)
……1999 Emilio's Terrace (2/3)
……1999 Madrigal (4/3)
……1999 Pride (0/0)
……1999 Lewelling (4/6)
……
1999 Shafer (6/6)
I think the thing that shocked must (but not quite all) of us, was how poorly the Pride showed in this flight! The Del Dotto was a beautiful wine, and the Shafer had a lot of Brett, so was a love/hate thing.
3) 2001 Australian Cabernet:
……2001 Clarendon Hills (2/3)
……
2001 Henry’s Drive Reserve (6/7)
……
2001 Marquis Philips S2 (7/8)
……2000 Darioush Shiraz (ringer) (7/1)
……2000 D'Arenberg “The Footbolt” Shiraz (ringer) (0/0)
What a flight this was! A ton of controversy seemed to surround this flight, no doubt as a result of the two ringers thrown in. Clearly the Henry’s and the S2 showed beautifully, and I think most found this flight overall more approachable and “ready” than the 99 Cabs.
On to my individual tasting notes! As always, these notes are mine alone, I hope others will chime in with their views also.
1998 Chalone Chenin Blanc
2001 Chateau d' Epire Cuvee Speciale Savennieres
2001 Pichot Vouvray
1996 Tijou-Soucherie Coteaux du Layon
1999 Del Dotto Cabernet
1999 Emilio's Terrace Cabernet
1999 Madrigal Cabernet
1999 Pride Cabernet
1999 Lewelling Cabernet
1999 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon
2001 Clarendon Hills Cabernet
2001 Henry’s Drive Reserve Cabernet
2001 Marquis Philips Cabernet Sauvignon S2
2000 Darioush Shiraz
2000 D'Arenberg “The Footbolt” Shiraz
There you have it, another fantastic tasting with a great group of wine lovers and some outstanding wines. Looking forward to next month, when we taste Sauvignon Blanc followed by Northern Rhone
