Minneapolis Wine Club Does Merlot
Gail's House
Tasted Saturday, January 28, 2012 by rocknroller with 568 views
Introduction
This event centered around California merlot with one right bank Bordeaux and a bonus Washington merlot. Most of these wines had some age on them and it was interesting to see that impact. For some that was good, and for others, not so much.
Flight 1 - Event Wines (9 Notes)
Flight 2 - Bonus Wines (2 Notes)
Closing
This was a fun and educational evening with some really nice food and wines.
Group WOTN was the 2005 Barnett Spring Mtn Merlot (12 pts), (my #1)
Group #2 WOTN was the 2005 Foley Merlot (8pts)
Group #3 (tie) were 2005 Beringer Bancroft Ranch (my #3) and the 2004 Paloma (my #2) (6pts)
2005 Barnett Vineyards Chardonnay Savoy Vineyard 88 Points
USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
Light gold color. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over 30 minutes. The nose shows light oak, citrus notes and some mineral. The palate was was balanced, consistent, had nice acid, and a medium finish. This was not nearly as expressive and flavorful as it was several years ago. So while it is very drinkable, I would not sit on these, drink up.
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2001 Provenance Vineyards Merlot Carneros 84 Points
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Very dark red color with some subtle bricking. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over an hour. Nose was a mixed bag with damp earth, somewhat stewed fruit of a pruney nature, olive. The nose was better than the palate here with this coming off as thin with little fruit, alcohol showing through. Rustic. Clearly this was over the hill. 84pts or less. An interesting contrast to the 2002 which had a lot of life left.
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2002 Provenance Vineyards Merlot Carneros 88 Points
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Very dark red color. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over 2 hours. Nose has a nice cedar quality with currants, blackberry, plum, and spices.The palate is dry with some stll firm tannins, consistent fruit, and a slightly green edge. Medium body. 88+pts.
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2005 Havens Wine Cellars Merlot Reserve 87 Points
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Dark red color, rather light for merlot. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over 2 hrs. 80% Beau Terrior and 20% Hyde Vineyards. Nose is very funky, red fruits of red currant, some strawberry, mint. The palate is quite spicy, wood, medium body, tart, tannins with sharp edges. I felt the fruit had faded a bit here and the palate was a little thin. While the drinking window should be longer, I find it questionable to hold.
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2005 Beringer Vineyards Merlot Bancroft Ranch 91 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
Very dark red color. Pop and pour, drank 1+ glass over 3 hours. Nose is very nice with sweet vanilla, ripe cassis, blueberry, earth, some plum and spices. The palate is soft with medium-full body, ripe consistent fruit, nice spice, good acid, and a long finish. This was elegant and very good. 91+ to 92 pts. My #3 WOTN and tied for group's third.
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2005 Robert Foley Merlot 91 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Very dark red-purple color. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over 2 hours. Nose quite herbal, oak, subtle earth, cassis, ripe blackberry, boysenberry, tobacco. The palate is medium-full bodied, ripe, rich, lush fruits dominated by cassis and boysenberry, hints of coffee, licorice, and tobacco linger on the long finish. Stylistically night and day from the Beringer, this beiing much more of a fruit forward, jammy style, but has the complexity to pull it off nicely. Group #2 WOTN. 91+pts.
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2005 Barnett Vineyards Merlot Spring Mountain District 94 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District
Very dark red-purple color. Decanted for 2+ hours, aerated 3 times in addition. This was tight as a drum after an hour of decanting, and after 2 hours was starting to open up, aerated back into the bottle for travel and then aerated into glasses. Drank 2 glasses over 3 hours. OK, Wow, this is what I've come to expect from this wine. Great nose with earth, blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, chocolate, spice. The palate is rich, concentrated, layered with consistent black fruits, adding pomegranite, licorice. Elegant and has a long finish. My and group WOTN.
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2004 Paloma Merlot 93 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District
Very dark red-purple color. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over 2 hours. Nose has a lovely dusty, cedary quality with distint clove notes, spices, tobacco, cassis, blackberry, black cherry. The palate is full bodied and rich with a lovely core of black fruit, oak, spices, tobacco. Very smooth and elegant, long finish. This was quite lovely and I suspect has lots of life left. My #2 WOTN and tied for group third.
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2005 Château La Grave a Pomerol Trigant de Boisset 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
Dark red color. Pop and pour, drank 1 glass over 30+ minutes. Nose is quite earthy, damp, funk, red fruits, oak. The palate is rather tart, tannic, lots of mineral, spice, oak. This still drinks really young and probably needs some decant time to show well.
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