Northwoods Wineapalooza

Boulder Junction, Wisconsin
Tasted Friday, September 7, 2007 - Sunday, September 9, 2007 by vanpe003 with 1,486 views

Introduction

A three day event, with friends both old and new flying in from around the country to enjoy early fall in Northern Wisconsin. A bit of the Wisconsin outdoors, and a lot of wine. Pinots on Friday, Champagne Saturday morning, Cabernets / Blends and Random Reds Saturday evening, and leftovers Sunday and throughout the weekend. While there was some belief that too many wines were opened, it was a fascinating chance to taste similar wines side-by-side.

Flight 1 - Pinot Flight (15 Notes)

Mostly young, mostly California and Oregon sourced. The exceptions were several nice Burgundies that Kim brought, as well as a Santa Cruz pinot he made himself, which might have been the surprise of the evening. It stood up quite nicely to the rest of the bottlings, probably finding more in common with the Burgundies than with the other California wines. Impressive!

Flight 2 - Champagne Saturday - Hair of the Dog (4 Notes)

Frank is a Champagne freak, so a time slot had to be carved out to do a bit of comparitive tasting. The only slot available was breakfast!

Flight 3 - Cabernet Blends (16 Notes)

Probably the most dischordant grouping, in that this group ran the gamut from nicely aged, traditionally crafted Cabernet to the fruit bombs more prevalent today. It was almost as though there were two distinct varietals participating in this flight. For future reference, mature wines should be separated into their own flight. Too many got lost in the crowd.

  • 2004 Robert Foley Claret

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. My #1 for the Saturday evening Cab tasting. Extracted but elegant, nicely balanced for a wine of this style.

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  • 2004 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. This and the '04 Metisse were slightly behind the '04 Foley on my card, but all three caught my attention.

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  • 2004 Melka Métisse Jumping Goat

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    On a different night a month or two ago, I preferred this slightly to the '04 Foley. These flipped in order this evening, with the Foley slightly ahead. However, my impressions of the Metisse is that it shades a bit more toward the traditional than does the Foley, and might be more versatile in a pairing with food. No matter what it's relative score, this is a fine bottle of wine.

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  • 2004 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. A very nice wine, probably a notch down from the top stuff, at least for my palate. This bottle supports the idea of "too many wines on the table". Any other night, this would be one of the stars.

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  • 2002 Ca'na Cabernet Sauvignon Logan's Run

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. An obvious step or two below the big dogs, but my hands-down winner for QPR cab blend @ $15/btl via auction.

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  • 2003 Frank Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Normally a fine bottle, but out of its league in this crowd.

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  • 1999 Merryvale Profile

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Didn't show well. Seemed tight against both the older stuff (Mondavi, Constant) and the younger (Darioush, Merus, Metisse, etc). "Nondescript" was used by one taster. While a bit harsh, it reflected the relative perception of the crowd of this bottle against its competition.

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  • 1999 Yalumba The Signature

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Didn't show particularly well against other cabs/blends....wonder if it wasn't slightly corked?

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  • 2002 Yalumba The Signature

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Not particularly memorable, in either a favorable or unfavorable way. Should not be poured on an evening with more full-bodied offerings, as it gets lost in the shuffle, finiding the middle ground between young, bold fruit bombs and the more mature bottlings served.

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  • 1986 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Wasted on an evening that featured young, full throttle stuff from Foley, Merus, Darioush, etc. Doesn't have the stuffing for that context, but similar notes to earlier pleasurable bottles.

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  • 1995 Constant Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain Vineyard

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Of the Cabs with age, I preferred this to the 86 Mondavi Reserve. But like that bottle, this one could have shown better on an evening with its peers, as opposed to being posted up against '04 fruit bombs.

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  • 1997 Del Bondio Cabernet Sauvignon

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Didn't make an impression one way or the other. Another one that suffered from being a little fish in a big pond.

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  • 1994 Sterling Vineyards SVR Reserve

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. One of my favorites of the "old guard" served along with the '95 Constant. Drinking well now.

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  • 1997 Château Léoville Las Cases

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    (9/8/2007)

    Wineapalooza Cab Night - no dtl'd notes. This one was disappointing to all involved, but was not a flawed bottle in any obvious way. Given other high ratings on this forum, it would seem that this was another bottle that deserved a more independent showing, and instead got crowded out by some more forward offerings. In terms of a "waste", this one took the prize, as in "how could you find a less optimal venue to display a 90+ score Bordeaux". There was some notion that too many bottles were opened. While in general I disagree, this is one of 3-4 that shouldn't have been opened, or at a minimum pulled off to form a separate and discrete flight.

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  • 2004 Savanna Samson Lazio Sogno Uno

    Italy, Latium, Lazio

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. The wine itself didn't show well against the other reds on Cab night, and was as such probably mismatched stylistically. On the other hand, it won "label of the night"!

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  • 1978 Monsecco Gattinara Flawed

    Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Gattinara

    (9/8/2007)

    Thin, insipid, gone.

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Flight 4 - Intermission - Some Whites (3 Notes)

After pounding the palate with a fine selection of Cabernet blends, a bit of a respite was required, and Kim was kind enough to break out a few very nice White Burgundies, and Frank threw in a few others for good measure.

Flight 5 - Ports (2 Notes)

Miker's forte, and he didn't disappoint. Some nice bottles to round out the evening.

  • NV Yalumba Antique Tawny Museum Release

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Other ports served were more refined, but this was hands down the thickest. Significant complexity and depth, albeit in a different style than the Vintage Ports poured.

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  • 1985 Fonseca Porto Vintage

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. I think this one was the port of the weekend. A 1991 Dalva was also good. As was the Dow's Boardroom. As was the Yalumba Antique Tawny. So....I guess they were all good, but this was the winner in terms of classic port experience. Still a bit young.

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Flight 6 - Sunday Evening Closing (1 Note)

Not many folks left on Sunday, but there were a whole bunch of leftovers from Friday and Saturday. Two bottles were opened, both very nice. The Dow's Boardroom doesn't have a tasting note below, but was a worthy bottle for closing up the event. Nicely done Miker!

  • 1996 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    (9/8/2007)

    No dtl'd notes. Marker for 3 day tasting @ Wineapalooza. Opened Sunday night, as things were winding down. I was surprised how well this was drinking given some of the earlier notes. Soft, fragrant, sweet. Little remaining CdP funk. Medium bodied. Would probably rate 88-90.

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Closing

By any rational assessment, a ridiculous amount of wine was opened for 7 participants. But, on balance, it provided a great opportunity to taste peer wines head-to-head. Compared to some of the other events I've seen posted on CT, this one could even be viewed as rational. In terms of total dollar outlay, it was relatively modest compared to some of the "Taste the Legends" events I've read about.

As a lesson for any future events, more care should be taken to avoid opening wines that are markedly dissimilar stylistically. In this case, the examples involved several older cabernets that probably would have been quite a treat on their own, or matched with other wines of similar maturity and/or character. But they were lost, and therefore wasted among the bolder Cabernet offerings. Interestingly, the same cannot be said of the aged Burgundies, which offered a nice counterpoint against the more youthful California / Oregon pinots served. Go figure!

Interestingly, I've read on several occasions that while heavier, extracted youthful Cailfornia Cabs may not provide the same intellectual experience that older, more traditional Cabs might, they are often the first bottles to be emptied at an open pour tasting. That certainly held true this weekend, but might not have been the case in a venue where food played a more prominent role.

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