Notes from the Denver tasting groups latest meeting, a foray into Merlot. Notes are all compiled from multiple members (and some alcohol hazed memory). Hopefully a few will chime in and fill out some of the holes here.

Since you can’t just start right off with the reds, so we opened a few whites to start the evening while tasting some great apps.

2001 J J Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese

2002 Thornbury Marlborough Sauv. Blanc

2002 Trinity Hill Shepherds Croft Hawkes Bay Sauv Blanc

2001 Vino con Brio Ripken Vyd. Viognier

MERLOT – On to the merlots. After tasting, everyone picked their top 3 wines. Every wine had at least one vote. The Merryvale and Stag’s Leap came in at the top of the list by a fairly large margin.

#1 - Merryvale Beckstoffer Vineyard Las Amicas Vineyard Carneros

#2 - 1999 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Napa Valley Merlot

#3 - 1997 Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot

#4 - 1997 Ferrari Carano Sonoma County Merlot

#5 - 1993 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot

#6 - 1997 Flora Springs Windfall Vyd. Napa Valley Merlot

#7 - 2000 La Fleur de Bouard Lalande de Pomerol

Bonus Wines: mbansek was kind enough to open his cellar to his fellow wine drinkers for a few bonus wines. After some searching, three wines were selected. Unfortunately, the Caymus was corked, so a Dalla Valle was procured. While all were great wines, we were a little beyond taking notes by this point.

1995 Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien – Incredible silky texture, vibrant fruit and an ethereal finish. For most, the best wine of the night.

2001 Marquis Phillips Shiraz 9 – Way over the top displaying the spice, large oak and monumental fruit one would hope for from a premium Aussie Shiraz.

1995 Caymus Special Selection cab (corked) – The oxidation was described as “a sin.”

1996 Dalla Valle CS (pinch hitter for the Caymus) – Tremendous wine.

We also opened a bottle of 1998 Kracher Beerenauslese Cuvee at the end of the night. All I can remember is that it was sweet and tasted good.

thetwood, allow me to commend you for posting your TN links within. Very nice. Thanks for all of the TNs too. Sounds like you all had a great time

Cheers Thetwood, I've appreciated the efforst you've made to linking all the tns. thanks.

Yes, cheers, Twood. One would think with all the time I have been spending at the office lately, and the fact that my notes are there, that alone would lead me to post them. But alas, they will have to wait for another time.

Oh, if only April 16th were here...

Mike

Thanks everyone. I must say, I have a new respect for Eric White and the others that link tasting notes like this. It's really nice from a reading perspective, but a pain to actually build.

Jeremy - Have you tried this Trinity Hills sauv blanc? If so, I'd be interested in your thoughts. I remember drinking it, but didn't take notes and my memory isn't that great (especially after all of the wine we had)

Yeah I have tried it. My notes are not dis-similar to yours. I found the acids were "greener" and a little more minerally rather than the tropical intensity of the Marlborough styles, sort of more Bordeaux Blanc in style. An enjoyable Sav if one was after something a little different from the more traditional NZ styles.

Well done thetwood! Yes, it is a bit of a pain to post this way, but the results really do seem worth it.