A long awaited 1985 Montebello plus a few other wines

J

Jay Miller

Jay Miller
NV Pierre Peters Blanc de Blanc - Lovely Champagne that disappeared quickly

2002 Thevenet Vire Clesse Quintaine 'Cuvee Tradition' - from the distributor closeout. Good wine, nothing really memorable. Great price though and I wouldn't rule out improvement with a few more years.

2002 Huet Le Mont Demi-Sec - Nice and rich, a bit sweeter than expected. I see why Brad likes this now but I won't open another '02 for a while.

2001 Hirtzberger Singerreidl - powerful and certainly not closed but this bottle at least not quite ready for drinking (I've heard reports of other bottles showing very well). Needs more time to settle down a bit more and relax.

2008 Le Temps des Cerises (Prufer) Vin de Table Avanti Popolo - I love this happy, happy wine. A little spritzy, bright flavors, a bit Puzelatish. Berries. At 17.95 I'll head back to Chambers for some more.

2007 Cos Sicilia IGT Frappato - an SFJoe recommendation. nuff said.

1985 Ridge Montebello - I've been waiting over 15 years to drink this wine. At some indeterminate date in the past I went to Cellar in the Sky with some friends back when all they served was one prix fixe menu with predermined wine matches. One of the wine pairings was a 1985 Ridge Montebello which I was really looking forward to tasting. Come the course and they tell us that they're all out of the Montebello and they're substituting a 1986 Jordan Cabernet instead. I've been (very mildly) annoyed about that ever since. I've occasionally bid on a bottle but always been outbid. The last year someone opened one for me and it was cooked. I finally won this bottle at auction and invited all the friends from that dinner with whom I'm still in contact over to my place for dinner. The wine was perfectly good CA Cabernet in an overly oaky idiom. Lots of coconut. Personally, I prefer the '86.
 
2008 Le Temps des Cerises (Prufer) Vin de Table Avanti Popolo - I love this happy, happy wine. A little spritzy, bright flavors, a bit Puzelatish. Berries. At 17.95 I'll head back to Chambers for some more.
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Nice that these wines are being imported. Do you remember who imports them?

I tasted a few of their earlier wines in France that were very quirky (in particular I remember a 2004 viognier that didn't ferment the way it was 'supposed to' but was delightful nonetheless and a few wine bars were very excited about pouring it) but promising.

At some indeterminate date in the past I went to Cellar in the Sky...
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At first I thought this was a poetic reference to heaven, but that didn't really make sense so Google cleared it up.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
2002 Thevenet Macon 'Tradition'
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The Vir-Cless, I presume?

2007 Cos Sicilia IGT Frappato
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Curious to hear a little more about this as I haven't tasted the straight frappato from here in some time.

Neither here nor there, but I tasted the '06 COS Cerasuolo di Vittoria & Pithos recently and thought both were very successful. For the Pithos, my favorite vintage so far, and for the regular CdV perhaps since the 2002. Although I probably missed one or two vintages in there.

I've sometimes felt these wines had hygiene issues and the newer releases seemed a bit cleaner, in a good way.

It looks like there is also now a 3rd Cerasuolo being bottled at COS, 'Comiso', named for one of the five communes in the DOCG. Either that or someone on cellartracker is cornfused.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
2008 Le Temps des Cerises (Prufer) Vin de Table Avanti Popolo - I love this happy, happy wine. A little spritzy, bright flavors, a bit Puzelatish. Berries. At 17.95 I'll head back to Chambers for some more.
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Nice that these wines are being imported. Do you remember who imports them?
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savio soares
 
Jay,
A recent 1991 Phelps, Eisele left me wanting, as well. Perhaps, we expect too much when we wait so long? Whatever, my aging cabernet days are over.
And a recent 01 Hrtizberger, Singerriedel showed quite young for me, too. Still, I loved it.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Jay,
A recent 1991 Phelps, Eisele left me wanting, as well. Perhaps, we expect too much when we wait so long? Whatever, my aging cabernet days are over.
And a recent 01 Hrtizberger, Singerriedel showed quite young for me, too. Still, I loved it.
Best, Jim
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I'm inclined to blame the wine as I've had the '84 and '86 within the last year and preferred both. This bottle seemed in very good condition and in the prime of its life but it was just too coconutty-oaky. Reminded me of an '05 that had managed to eat maybe a quarter of its oak or so (way too little). It's entirely possible that it's just too young and the oak will continue to be absorbed but while I like it I derived much more enjoyment from both the Cos and the Prufer. Which were, needless to say, much less expensive.

But I'm very happy to have finally had the chance to try it.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Jay,
A recent 1991 Phelps, Eisele left me wanting, as well. Perhaps, we expect too much when we wait so long? Whatever, my aging cabernet days are over.
And a recent 01 Hrtizberger, Singerriedel showed quite young for me, too. Still, I loved it.
Best, Jim
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I had a GREAT bottle of 1992 Laurel Glen on Friday.

Keep your eyes on the vlm-tr for details.
 
originally posted by slaton:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
2002 Thevenet Macon 'Tradition'
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The Vir-Cless, I presume?

2007 Cos Sicilia IGT Frappato
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Curious to hear a little more about this as I haven't tasted the straight frappato from here in some time.
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I wasn't taking notes and I was cooking and serving and it was the last wine opened so take this with a grain so salt but I remember a polished wine (in the same way Allemand can be described as polished though they have nothing else in common) and good pure cherry fruit. One of my guests took quite a liking to it and kept the bottle down at her end of the table :).
 
I just had confirmation that the original dinner was November 1989. So it only took me a little under 20 years to taste the wine.

Not that I was trying all that hard mind you. But it's nice to have that checked off the list.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
I just had confirmation that the original dinner was November 1989. So it only took me a little under 20 years to taste the wine.

Not that I was trying all that hard mind you. But it's nice to have that checked off the list.
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'Bucket wine', huh?
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
A warning to the sommeliers out there: do not substitute a pairing on Jay Miller.

Dude won't forget.
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Yeah, I know, I know. But it was going to be my very first Montebello and I had read about how that was one of best wines made in CA, etc., etc. And it got a lot more points than the wine they substituted. Surely that made the substitution unacceptable?
 
Ya know, the 2008 Clos Roche Blanche Pineau d'Aunis Rose might be even better now than it was over the summer. Just saying...
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
A warning to the sommeliers out there: do not substitute a pairing on Jay Miller.

Dude won't forget.
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Heh. Who do you think confirmed the date of the event for him?
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It's like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

And then the Albatross flew away with the last of the Montebello...
 
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