King Estate Competition

Three years ago after the Wine Educators conference in Eugene, Todd and I toured King Estate and had a great tasting of their new releases and older library wines. Two pinots that we particularly enjoyed were from the 03 vintage - a Hyland Vineyard, and a Pfeiffer Vineyard. At the time, I rated both wines as very good with the following notes:

Pfeiffer - dark ruby, nutty and somewhat weedy pinot nose. Spicy dk fr, l/m acid and l/m to m tannin, intense red cherry and nutty spice.

Hyland - dark ruby, almost inky. Spicy dark cherry nose, hint floral. L/m acid, l/m to m tannin, dark cherry fruit and long finish.

At the time I preferred the Pfeiffer by a bit, and Todd preferred the Hyland (hmmm, California palate perhaps.....?). We bought one of each and vowed to retaste the wines at some point in the future under appropriate circumstances. Since that time the wines have been stored in identical conditions.

Last Friday night was the night, with a menu of grilled salmon and vegetables and mushroom risotto to accompany the wines. The food was excellent, and the wines, served blind of course, were distinctly different but both very good as well. The results were:

Wine 1 - m/d ruby, hint of garnet on rim. Light cherry nose with a spicy slightly woody note, like dried herbal tea. M acid, l/m tannin, slight green herbal note with red cherry fruit and tea character. Soft round mouthfeel. Very elegant pinot, fairly long finish. 16 out of 20.

Wine 2 - m/d ruby, ruby rim. Exotic cherry spice on nose at first, dark fruit, a slight vanilla oaky character starts to come out. L/m to m acid, close to m tannins, chalky red cherry and lively oaky spicy notes, fairly long finish. Also 16 out of 20, on final reflection maybe a hair under 16.

Todd's cryptic notes indicate that wine 1 was soft, with a slight tea note and some heat. With the food he felt that the wine was overpowered initially, but later paired nicely although not as sophisticated as wine 2. He felt wine 2 had a stronger nose, vibrant fruit and more tannin. With the food the wine was smooth and elegant.

Which was the Pfeiffer, and which was the Hyland? What do you think? Todd preferred wine 2. Our unbiased observer, Annette, gave the nod to wine 2. I, alone again in the wine wilderness, preferred wine 1 by a nose as I felt it was a more complex elegant wine.

In the end it seems our preferences had not changed. Yes, wine 1 was the Pfeiffer. Interesting experiment and very educational. Next up, a tasting of the various vineyards of DRC!! I wish.

I Knew I Would Miss One

It was in the fridge - a 03 Les Arums de Lagrange - white bordeaux. This had a honey character with a bit of nuttiness, a tad oily. I thought it might be an alsace product. Good.

Annette is currently turning the leftover veggies into a corn chowder sort of thing. Yum.

The BBQ Wines

Started out on the deck in the searing heat. Jon was pouring a white and playing guess the grape. A high acid wine with a mineral bite, some nuttiness, and sharp white fruit. Kind of chablis like, but not quite. It's a ......... apple wine from Findleton Winery in El Dorado. Quite nice (but not after eating chocolate). Then a 08 See Ya Later Ranch (BC) rose called Nelly, supposedly after the winery dog white. Very dark for a rose, lots of fruit and good balance. A 06 Gugliemo Sangio was opened, but it was still too hot for red for me, so on to the 07 Quails Gate (BC) Riesling - lots of acid in this baby too. Deelightful. Then another rose arrived, this one a Thornehaven (BC) Divino - a bricky colour, perhaps a bit over the hill with oxidized notes, but still decent fruit and complexity.

Then the onslaught of reds with the meal commenced:

05 Cedar Creek (BC) Merlot/Cab - had that slightly vegetal leafy BC cab thing, very nice.

04 Chateau La Roque Pic St. Loup (FR) - a Languedoc mourvedre. This was really enjoyable, a bit of garrigue on the nose, some in the palate as well along with juicy plum/ch fruit and good balance. Really worked with the red meat.

02 Noceto Mistura 180 degree Selection - from Amador, blend of ??. I recall this as being lighter, lots of acid, tasty. But my mental notes are getting fuzzy at this point.

01 Obscurity Zin - older, port'ish nose. Raisiny fruit, might work with chocolate but I did not like with the food.

06 Mettler Cab (Lodi) - big wine, I still think Lodi cab always tastes like zin. Which is not necessarily a problem......

then of course, the dessert with

07 Weinkeller Schick Kerner Icewine - from Pfalz via TJ's - soft nose and beautiful sweet fruit followed by acid bite. Well done.

07 See Ya Later Ranch Ehrenfelser Icewine - holy crap, awesome aromatics followed by intense sweet apricot like fruit and then bang, a citric acid explosion. The WOTN.

The chocolate mousse rocked, and really should have been accompanied by port, and I toyed with the idea of opening one. This morning I was glad I did not.

G

First Post

OK, I am posting this just to see what it looks like. Official Wine Swines bbq was held last night, with numerous attendees and copious wine. On the menu, Annette's filo wrapped mushroom/pate things for appies, then dinner of tri-ti-, kebobs, lamb, pork loin, and mushroom encrusted salmon (thanks Todd for the grilling challenge). Many standout wines, more to be posted later.