Christian Miller (CMM)
Christian Miller
Clos de Goisses Extra Brut 2009, Philipponnat - medium brassy gold color; wonderful pungent aroma of yeasty fresh bread mixed with baked apple fruit and rain on hot gravel; medium body, fine dense mousse, creamy but not heavy or cloying texture. The flavor is like the nose, the finish is very long. This might not greatly impress those in the mineral or fruit camps of Champagne appreciation, but for people into long tirage and leesy-yeasty impact (like me), it's spectacular.
Red Rhone blend California (Sierra Foothills?) 1989, Domaine de la Terre Rouge - this wine was bought in a double magnum in celebration of my son's birth year, and he finally found the right occasion to open it. The wine is a blend of the holy southern Rhone trinity of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, raised in mostly or all older barrels if I recall rightly. It's labeled "California" but I suspect that the vineyards were all or mostly Sierra Foothills, perhaps some Contra Costa or Lodi.
Back when I purchased it, Bill Easton still owned Solano Cellars in Albany, but had recently started making commercial wine. Now that's all he and his family do, very well I should say (https://www.terrerougewines.com). 1989 was not a "long distance" year for Northern California reds, and when I saw him and mentioned this wine a couple of years ago, Bill warned it may not have held up this long and we should open it.
As luck (and the general rule of big bottles aging better) would have it, it was old but not at all dead. A tawny red with moderate density in middle; totally mature earthy mellow fruits in the nose, with a cigarbox hint that gives way to mild Xmas spices; medium weight, soft melted tannin, figgy & plum pudding fruit, medium length. No old soy, iodine or wet earth flavors that I've encountered in many expired California reds. We left the festivities early, but my son reports that the wine held up for a couple of hours in more or less the same shape.
Red Rhone blend California (Sierra Foothills?) 1989, Domaine de la Terre Rouge - this wine was bought in a double magnum in celebration of my son's birth year, and he finally found the right occasion to open it. The wine is a blend of the holy southern Rhone trinity of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, raised in mostly or all older barrels if I recall rightly. It's labeled "California" but I suspect that the vineyards were all or mostly Sierra Foothills, perhaps some Contra Costa or Lodi.
Back when I purchased it, Bill Easton still owned Solano Cellars in Albany, but had recently started making commercial wine. Now that's all he and his family do, very well I should say (https://www.terrerougewines.com). 1989 was not a "long distance" year for Northern California reds, and when I saw him and mentioned this wine a couple of years ago, Bill warned it may not have held up this long and we should open it.
As luck (and the general rule of big bottles aging better) would have it, it was old but not at all dead. A tawny red with moderate density in middle; totally mature earthy mellow fruits in the nose, with a cigarbox hint that gives way to mild Xmas spices; medium weight, soft melted tannin, figgy & plum pudding fruit, medium length. No old soy, iodine or wet earth flavors that I've encountered in many expired California reds. We left the festivities early, but my son reports that the wine held up for a couple of hours in more or less the same shape.
