Tastelive Bacchus Selections Stock Your Cellar Holiday Tasting 11/8/11

Excited to taste this evening selections with the first 3 wines being french and this mammoth magnum of cabernet. French wines are rare in my cellar mostly due to my lack of knowledge of the wines. I found the first wines very different and concluded my palate was the issue (majority of wines consumed are california). Grateful for the opportunity to be taste them and I personally enjoyed them better on day 2. Bacchus Selections is a members only site for excellent wine offerings. Highy recommend signing up so you can enjoy great wine.

The first wine of the evening was the Maison Champy 2006 Premier Cru Hospices de Beaune and my favorite tonight. Huge wood, mushroom and spice aroma with hints of mocha and cherry. The flavor was plum dominant along with hints of expresso and dark cherry. I opened the wine 2 hours early and amazed at the difference from first uncorking till tasting time. Aromas and flavors are very appealing.

Next up the Chateau Pontet-Caillou 2008 Pessac-Leognan. The consensus by some of the tasters was "funk" smell. The aroma of fresh tobacco, leather, dusty earth, roasted herbs, hints of violet and clove with blackberries. Completely different on day 2 with the roasted herbs very mild. Plum, blackberry and earthy leather in the mouth. Many said the wine needs to age and will be even better. I am going to let a second bottle age at least 5 years and see if there is a difference.

Wine 3 was the Chateau Moulinet-Lasserre 2003 Pomerol.  Big dark chocolate aroma screams from the glass followed by dark jamy fruit, spice and a faint touch of oak. Juicy cherry along with fresh blackberry and a nice earthy spice. Little hint of cocoa in the middle. Decanted and aerated which greatly improved the wine.

The final wine of the evening Ridgeline Mountain Vineyards 2005 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (magnum). Aromas of milk chocolate, raspberry, creamy vanilla and blackberry. The wine was both juicy and chewey. Big blackberry in the mouth along with a huge spice. Hints of red raspberry and vanilla along with a powerful oak flavor.

I liked these wines much better on day 2 when they were allowed to open even more than the 2 hours before tasting. Many thanks to Cailyn at Tastelive, Kathleen at Baccus Selections and Joel from Creative Furnace for an opportunity to taste these french wines. For those readers who have tasted these wines I would love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers
Dan