Saturday, the Denver Wine Geeks gathered to taste the reds of Washington St. I'd like to thank everyone for bringing all the great wine and food. Before tasting the featured wines, we opened a bottle of
2002 Chateau de Chasseloir Muscadet Sevre et Maine . I was busy cooking, so no real notes from me other than it was refreshing in a hot kitchen (maybe someone else will chime in?). A
2001 Oliver Hill Shiraz, Jimmy Section, McLaren Vale was also opened for everyone to try. Again, no notes from me.
As for the Washington State reds, I must say that there wasn't a bad wine in the group. All were enjoyable, though we covered a wine spectrum with this broad a category. All wines were tasted blind (double blind for most) and everyone voted for their top three. All wines received multiple votes. I've included the wines tasted in the group order, starting with the most popular, along with some of my (modest) notes. Hopefully, others in the group will be able to fill out these and add their own commentary (especially with everyone's divergent tastes).
#1 - 1997 Arbor Crest Dionysus #2 - 2001 Andrew Will Ciel du Cheval #3 - 2000 Ch. St. Michelle Canoe Ridge Estate Columbia Cab Sauv #4 - 1999 Kiona Cab Sauv #5 - 2001 L'Ecole No. 41 Estate Syrah #6 - 1983 Ch. St. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon Cold Creek Vineyard #7 - 2001 Cayuse Camaspelo #8 - 2000 Andrake Cellars Red Mt. Reserve Overall, I really enjoyed all of the wines. More importantly, so did the wife, which means I get to buy more of these now. Thanks again for everyone for the great evening and bringing all the great wines.
After our formal tasting, we opened a couple more bottles to open with dinner (braised ribs, mashed potatoes, sautéed swiss chard and braised carrots). The
1998 St. Supery Meritage was drinking great. I didn't get a chance to try to
1997 Beringer Knight's Valley cab .
After dinner, we opened four dessert wines to finish off the evening. A
1997 Niederthaler Hof Durkheimer Feuerberg Eiswein from Phatz. The
1998 Eola Hills Vin d'Epice Late Harvest Gewurztraminer , which was quite nice. A
Covey Run Riesling ice wine which was also good and a
Mccrea late harvest Roussane which had undergone secondary fermentation in the bottle and was discarded. A nice end to a great night of wine, food and friendship.