For the third year in a row, I had a wonderful Christmas dinner at Michel Aboods. On the menu last night was salt-baked prime rib, roasted potatoes, roasted medley of mushrooms and an onion and zucchini gratin. Christine Huang provided an amazing home made apple pie with red wine caramel. To wash down the delicious feast we had the following:
1987 Arrowood- Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County
This was very good, but not great. There was a strong aroma of soy from the get go that while it diminished somewhat with air, it never fully went away. To me this was an indication that maybe it wasn't a fully intact bottle. On the palate there's beautiful, rich black cherry fruit, herb and earth with a hint of soy that was slightly distracting. The fruit did grow with air, but the wine became a little chunky and coarse on the finish. With the prime rib the wine was lovely, though Im still not convinced that the wine was fully intact. The fill was well into the neck, though the cork crumbled on removal. Would love to try another bottle as I think one that may have been stored better would be pretty darn good as the wine still showed a lot under the soy. B+.
2004 Allemand- Cornas Chaillot
One of my favorite producers and this wine was gorgeous. Full of raspberry fruit, olive, black pepper and cloves, its more rustic in personality than the Rostaing that followed, but still showed that unique Allemand suaveness that no one else in Cornas has mastered as well. The wine is still quite primary with a firm structure. Delicious, but if I were holding onto some, Id let them rest to see some further development. A/A-.
2000 Rostaing- Cte-Rtie Cte Blonde
Quite a different character than the Allemand. This was all about sweet blackberry and boysenberry fruit, violets and spice. Its a showy and flirtatious wine, with the acidity providing more structure than tannins. In fact, if it wasn't for the pert acidity, the fruit would come off seeming a bit jammy. Drinking quite nicely now. While I do find it very tasty, I wish it showed a little bit more personality. A-.
1987 Arrowood- Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County
This was very good, but not great. There was a strong aroma of soy from the get go that while it diminished somewhat with air, it never fully went away. To me this was an indication that maybe it wasn't a fully intact bottle. On the palate there's beautiful, rich black cherry fruit, herb and earth with a hint of soy that was slightly distracting. The fruit did grow with air, but the wine became a little chunky and coarse on the finish. With the prime rib the wine was lovely, though Im still not convinced that the wine was fully intact. The fill was well into the neck, though the cork crumbled on removal. Would love to try another bottle as I think one that may have been stored better would be pretty darn good as the wine still showed a lot under the soy. B+.
2004 Allemand- Cornas Chaillot
One of my favorite producers and this wine was gorgeous. Full of raspberry fruit, olive, black pepper and cloves, its more rustic in personality than the Rostaing that followed, but still showed that unique Allemand suaveness that no one else in Cornas has mastered as well. The wine is still quite primary with a firm structure. Delicious, but if I were holding onto some, Id let them rest to see some further development. A/A-.
2000 Rostaing- Cte-Rtie Cte Blonde
Quite a different character than the Allemand. This was all about sweet blackberry and boysenberry fruit, violets and spice. Its a showy and flirtatious wine, with the acidity providing more structure than tannins. In fact, if it wasn't for the pert acidity, the fruit would come off seeming a bit jammy. Drinking quite nicely now. While I do find it very tasty, I wish it showed a little bit more personality. A-.