Many a happy drunk soul in New Oreleans tonight, but here in Oregon we are just finishing dinner, seared scallops, butternut squash soup.  The matching wine tonight is a killer white Burgandy, (chardonnay).

 

Olivier Leflaive Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly 2006
This is a great example 1er cru wine versus a villiae wine, the appellation is Saint-Aubin. 
The premier cru vineyards of Saint Aubin are to the villages of Chassagne and Puligny.  It is 2 steps up from the Village wines of Puligny for about $20 more.  The wine is a pale sparkling straw color.  The nose is expressive, citrus, oak and brine.  The taste will grab you with sweet, citric, peach and tangerine fruit a good structure changes as you keep it on the tongue.  The finish is tart and acidic it went well with scallops, and butternut squash soup.  I'll be looking for other Saint-Aubin 2006 as well as the Puligny-Montrachet of the same vintage.  Of note this wine is sealed with a technical cork that seems to have worked quite well.  95 Best Chardonnay so far in 2010

 

Tonight was a slow roasted Buffalo Chuck Roast.  Cooked over 6 hours with shallots, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, in Cabernet Sauvignon.  Reduce the wine broth from the roast, saute sliced portabello mushooms and add the reduction.  To serve with this rich fair a bold full bodied well aged Zin.

 

This is a wonderful Russian River Valley Zinfandel from one of my favorite winery/vineyards in Sonoma county.  The nose berry, cedar, coffee, loam.  A dense perfume not overpowering, it develops as the wine opens up.  The taste is a bright fruit with nice tart acidic middle, numbing tannin that lasts and lasts.  94, Zin aging well.

 

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
he nose is a soft blackberry with a herbal overtone, charcoal.  The taste runs to a tart fruit with long tannin finish.  85 not my favorite silver oak.

Italian Sausage, shallots, asperegus:

 

The wines:

 

The Trimbach is a wine that grows on you as you drink it, the nose is very citric and tight, you can smell the tartness and acidic flavor to come.  The taste is citric and tart, long acidic finish, best drank with a rich food, or sweet fruit.  90 tart, interesting, fresh.

 

Those nose on this still young Zin is huge,  Blackberry, White Pepper, ripe fruit, Tobacco.  But the taste will wow you, sweet vibrant fruit, tart structure and solid finish that is long lasting and memorable.  93 My favorite Wilson Zin

 

The 2005 vintage of this cabernet is one of my favorite value Cabernet Sauvignons so little surprise that the 2006 is even better.  The nose is a light raspberry, loam and fresh fruit.  The taste is solid fruit, structured from beginning to end with a long tannin finish.  93, great value wine

The next night couple of new ones:

 

Avalon Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
The nose is rather closed , but the taste is not a nice full fruit, middle and tannin filled finish.  This value Cabernet is solid 88, drink it now and enjoy.

 

This is a light un-oaked chardonnay from Burgundy, very light colored with a nose of citrus, grass, acid.  The taste is sweet fruit to acidic finish tart and refreshing.  87, nice white burgundy value.

Dinner was Pork tenderlion and a old friend:

 

Argyle Spirit House Pinot Noir 2005. 

2nd taste 2/2/2010, this wine has cellared well, is well into the 94 rnage now.  Its taste sweet and suductive, ample fruit, chewey middle and long finish.

This Pinot Noir is suppose to be the best reserve Argyle makes.  The pour show a well aged wine with and orangish tint.  The nose is blackberry and cherry fruit, earth and dried flowers.  The taste is fruit forward, cherry and  , a tart middle with a long pepper finish. 

94, you'll like this if you can find it.

 

After dinner a Swanson Merlot rounded out the eveing

 

This Napa Merlot is inky purple with a thick and heavy body.  The nose floats to blackberry, cassis,  with a touch of pepper.  The taste is a full flavored fruit with an acidic middle, mild tannin but lasting finish running onto 30 seconds.  92, good buy, good flavors

Tonight was a bright villages White Burgundy

 

This is a nice French Village white Burgundy from the Southern Maccinnais area is un-oaked and very tasty.  The nose is citrus and tart sweet fruit.  Its taste is a tart acidic fruit, fresh, citrus, grapefruit.  This would be wonderful with shellfish, fruit, rich sweet white sauces.  88, nice inexpensive white Burgundy.

Lamb chops with a really nice Shiraz from down under

 

This is the upper end of the Penfolds Shiraz line, the wine is inky with a brown cast to it.  It has aged well and ready for drinking.  The nose is fruit, loam, berry, it is strong a vibrant.  The tasting shows a spicy tart fruit and a very long acidic finish with a mellow tannin.  It gets better and more open with each moment out of the bottle. 93 well worth a taste

After a nice dinner of top sirlion pepper steak and grilled Portabello mushrooms with my favorite Cabernet Sauvignon.  We pulled the cork on a bottle of Chateauneauf-du-Pape: Here's the review of both:

 

 

Mas de BoisLauzon Chateauneuf-du-pape 2007
This is a nice little French Grenache from Chateauneauf-du-Pape.  The nose is reserved and shows slightly green fruit, but the taste is well rounded and opens up as the wine gains breath.  It is fresh berry  with a smooth middle with a short tense tannin.  88, okay looking for better

 

The color denotes a well aged wine a lovely scarlet to purple.  The nose is black and red fruit with a touch of loam.  The taste is sweet smoothness with complexity of fruit, tannins and oak.  The finish is long full of tannins.  This is the best Californian cab I’ve had in awhile.  It’s crisp, memorable and well crafted. 98 My favorite Cabernet, worth every penny

We didn't have this with dinner tonight, which says a lot about this bright irresistable red.  It stands by itself but will shine even brighter with Steak or Lamb.  Here's the review, cheers.

 

This was one of the outstanding zins we tried on the winter wine road in Sonoma county.  This outstanding Zin is from a very small family vineyard in the Russian river valley.  The Davis family makes unique and wonderful wines, Alex Davis the wine hit the mark this year.  The nose of this Zinfandel is expansive, with a bright berry, pepper and earth.  The taste is a knockout for a young wine,  a sweet chewy fruit filled front end, with a huge acidic structure and a tannin and finish that stretches to a full minute.  Don’t expect to see this wine in stores, but the winery does sell direct.  94 I bought 3 bottles
 

Cracked open two of the wines from Sonoma tonight, really fine from very small winery/vinyard.  So here they are"

 

 

This is a really good syrah from the Russian River Valley.  We bought this bottle after tasting at the winery during the Winter Wine road festival.  It was even better at home paired with smoked/peppered salmon, sharp cheddar cheeses and seared sea scallops.  The nose is very expressive of berry, fresh fruit and sweetness.  The taste is a fruit up front wine with a very nice acidic middle and fine tannic ending.  The Balance of the syrah is close to perfection for the varietal, not like some of the fruit bombs that are out there, this refined and elegant, 173 cases produced  92, get it while they last. A Paula Favorite.

 

 

This wine was picked up at the winery at UNTI in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley.  The nose on this wine is slightly closed with a acid fruit, earthy .  The taste is a reserved fruit with acidic tart middle and finish.  Very nice  with strong cheddar cheeses, chocolate etc.  This is a Paula favorite.  88, well with the diversion.

 

Tonight we're doing flat iron steak, and the wine is a French merlot, cabernet franc from 2005, here's what I thought:

 

Chateau d'Aiguilhe Querre Cotes de Castillon Bordeaux 2005

 

This is a dark inky wine 80% merlot and 20% Cab Franc.  It needs to breath after opening for the nose to pick up.  The nose is mineral and berry, a touch of vanilla and loam.  The taste is a nice fruit with a structured middle, the tannin tingles the tongue and is very long lasting.  Nice merlot from bordeaux, 90 good but will ripen more with age.

Tonight was lamb chops grilled with steamed Veggies and green salad.  But the wine was special, a Chateau Montelena, The Montelena Estate Zinfandel 2004:  Here's the review:

 

This well aged Napa Valley Zin has a excellent nose of fresh berry and oak.  The color is a light garnet of a well aged red wine.  The tasting reveals a fruit forward wine, with tart cranberry type structure to a firm tannin finish that is both long lasting and begs for red meat, fatty salami, lamb, sharp cheese.  94, Most things this good are illegal.

 

Cheers

Just getting time to start updating the site again, lot's of things to start adding, and you may see format changes to the newest version of share point this year.  What's happening and new worth mentioning.  I've had two trips to Bandon Dunes already this year, a wine road weekend in Healdsburg tasting wine and buying what we liked.  I'll try to write these adventures up over the next month or so.  But until then I let you know my favorite wineries visited on the trip to Sonoma county.  Sunce Winery, Hook and Ladder, Porter Creek,  Sbragia, Wilson, Joseph Swann. 

 

To name a few.  

 

Until then

 

Cheers

Well I'm back from Chambers Bay outside Tacoma, the future site of the 2010 U.S. Amateur , 2015 U.S. Open and very highly rated new Public Course.  The course that is owned by Pierce County was created as a links style course in what remains of an old rock quarry pit.  The course is  against Chambers bay, with a great view of Mc Neil and Fox Islands.  Between the course and Chambers Bay itself is the Main rail line for Tacoma and Seattle.  When you play here expect to see several trains, including the Amtrak, Union Pacific and BNSF.

 

The course itself winds through huge dunes and up and down the landscape.  Robert Trent Jones II the architect had clean slate to start with so the entire landscape you are playing in is created.  Most of the time it feels quite natural as if it had always been there.  Though there are places on the course when the bulldozer blade marks are still clearly visible. 

 

There are some fantastic holes on this course and here are some of my favorites:

 

Hole 9 Olympus:
A 100 ft drop to a green sloping left to right into a huge bunker.  You can hit well left of the green and it will run on and across the green, but beware of that big bunker on the right side.  The views from the tee box are dramatic and incredible.  Its all matter of wind and club selection.

 

Hole 5 Free Fall
The tee is 80 feet above the fairway, there are 2 greens though the furthest is almost always the one in play.  A very tricky green complex with a pot bunker in front and mounding right of the green make chipping and the approach difficult.

 

Hole 13 Eagle Eye
This is a majestic Par 5 it actually plays level to downhill after the tee shot.  The highest point on the course and it is all downhill from here.  A very small green that slopes away from the fairway makes getting out of here with a birdie or par a good feeling.

This is noble little par 3 with some real teeth in its bunkers, a nice elevation drop and judging the wind elevation drop will make it play different even hour to hour.

 

Chambers Bay is a walking only course, with caddy services available.  The course is very walkable with a cart or carry bag but leave the big cart bag at home.  The greens on this course require Houdini type skills to read and putt.  They will improve as more years and grass matures on them.  This is truly a wonderful golf experience.