Consolation tasting

Well, I showed up at the Peay tasting last night only to find out that it was actually Wednesday night! Nick Peay posted the wrong date elsewhere and I didn't even think to doublecheck it. Duh. Once I got over feeling stupid, I decided to have some wine anyway, since I was there, and the nice guy at the bar gave me tastes of the Peay Chardonnay and Roussanne/Marsanne as a consolation (they didn't have anything else left), which was nice of him.

Cheese fortification seemed necessary, so I walked down to Cowgirl Creamery, found out that yes, indeed, the original cheese shop they had off Fillmore is closed (so sad), picked up some cheese, got some crackers at the bar, and did the possibly slightly weird thing where I sat at the bar by myself all night. I had entertainment, though; I was looking at stuff online and SMSing people and chatting with the people sitting next to me and talking to the guys working the bar. And there is a new Thursday night farmer's markety type thing going on until about 8 on Thursday nights at the Ferry Building... the shops stay open late and there are people with stalls out and it's not really like the real market, but it does mean I can pick stuff (cheese) up after work and not deal with the market crowd.

Anyway, I tasted a handful of wines, liked all of them, was excited to have what might well be the first not-weird South African wine in months (I think the last one I had that wasn't strange was the 2003 Porcupine Ridge Syrah). So not all is lost. And I learned my lesson to always check the date. And to watch out for those wily Peay brothers!

2003 Peay Roussane/Marsanne
(73% roussanne 27% Marsanne)
Sonoma Coast, California, US
Slightly hazy (the wines are unfined and unfiltered) light straw in the glass, this has a slightly reticent (I could have been distracted by some bar smells) nose of light lemon, hazelnut, and plastic. In the mouth it presents cardboard and lemon-apple (nicer than it sounds) flavors, finishing off with a nutty lemon creme brulee and vanilla finish. It has some good acids to balance everything out. Very nice overall, not too much fruit, and the finish, although creamy (the wine goes through 100 percent malolactic fermentation) is restrained and very pretty, not overwhelming.

2003 Peay Chardonnay
Sonoma Coast, California, US
Slightly hazy goldy yellow, darker than the Roussanne/Marsanne. The nose is full of toasty oak, pineapple, and apple. The mouth is all warm browned butter and apples, and the finish is warm spice and cream. It definitely has the CA Chardonnay mentality, but is super-restrained, not overblown, and is almost perfectly balanced. For me, it is flirting with the idea of being too oaked, but everything else pulls it back from that back into the world of the well-balanced.

2003 Domaine du Poujol Vin de Pays l'Herault
(50% Vermentino and 50% Carignane Blanc) I gave this a try because I wanted to try some Vermentino. In the glass it is clear pale almost-straw, almost-neutrally beige. It has a very fruity nose, all nectarine and peach and stone fruit, but is decidedly un-fruity in the mouth. There is spritzy snap up front, followed by a lot of granite, mineral, and slate. The finish kind of of dies off with a faint taste of something I could never quite place, maybe almond.

2003 Boekenhoutskloof "The Chocolate Block"
(Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Cinsault, Viognier)
Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa
Mark Kent is also responsible for Porcupine Ridge wines, amusingly, so I guess he's someone for me to keep tabs on. This is a deep opaque purple in the glass with ruby edges. The nose, slightly soft, is all smoke and leather, with blackcurrant and feet mixed in. The wine delivers a lot of tarry black fruit and firm tannins, with some slight spice at puckery, dry finish. As it sat out, the black fruit became slightly more pronounced (both on the nose and palate), although there is still a lot of leather to go around.

2002 T-Vines Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, California, US
Textbook California Cabernet! Inky purple in the glass, this has a blackcurrant nose mixed with earth, rock, and bramble.
Black fruit, slight dust in mouth, and pleasant tannins (not too hard, not too soft, but just right). Nicely done, I think, and not scary. Very approachable.

I ended up buying some of the Peay Roussanne/Marsanne and The Chocolate Block, so I guess those were my two winners of the night.

Comments

[Kieca]

I guess that is why wine is so interesting... it's so subjective. There is something for everyone out there. I love funky, dirty, tarry wines, for the most part, myself. And I have no problems at all if someone gets their Viognier in my Syrah, so to speak!

[Fatemeh]

Lovely site - not sure why I've not visited before but, eh. I'm here now.

Anyway.

Chocolate Block is a wine I finally tried after much hemming and hawing and staring at every time I'd go to FPWM.

Don't like it. Not a bit. First off, Syrah just isn't my cuppa tea -- bretty funky barnyard doesn't do it for me. And while I do love the spiciness on some of the Syrah's I've tasted, I have a hard time getting past the funk.

Then you go and throw some Viognier into the mix, and now you've got some kinda weird stone fruit, honeysuckle sweat sock thing going on. And none of it really seems to follow through.

I don't know. I hear people love the stuff. But there are plenty of places I'd rather spend my $30.