A.C., ac, ac: The Report

Overall a successful and delightful tasting. Dave Wolf’s food was terrific and matched the wines well.

2005 Domaine de Petit Paris Monbazillac
Wow, what a way to start! Americans have an irrational aversion to sweet wine, and it’s almost unknown here to serve them as an aperitif. Europeans do so much more often – the French drink ruby port as an aperitif – and often serve cheese with sweet wines. With wines like this, you could see why. A honeyed, liquorous nectar that both satisfied and whetted the appetite. Rich nose of mead, wildflower and caramel, tropical fruit and peach and clover honey on the palate, endless flavor with acidity to support the richness, long, long finish of apricot tossed with vanilla. Improved as it breathed into the kind of nectar you could imagine Odysseus sipping on Ithaca. Heavenly – almost as deep and luscious as a really good Sauternes and better than some lesser Sauternes I have had. This wine also shows why vintages matter – I have had this house’s 2002 vintage and it was racy, dryish, short, not nearly as lush and sweet. 2005 was a glorious year all over France – this wine shows why. At $18, an utter steal, bargain of the year. Don’t serve too cold, but it needs a good chill. Went well with Gorgonzola dolce from Italy, a creamy blue cheese. ****3/4

2006 Domaine de Petit Paris Bergerac Sec
Semillon/Sauvignon blend, never sees oak, meant to be crisp and refreshing and basic and it is all of that. Pineappley, citrusy, nose covered by too much chill, eventually opened up as limey and tart. Good acidity keeps the semillion’s lusciousness in check, a little quince and grapefruit on the palate and zippy, clean if a tad short on the finish. Pleasant without being especially memorable, but, at $11, it’s a solid everyday wine with seafood, lighter cheeses, chicken, salads, even Caesar salad. Would be superb with simple fish dishes and ethnic cuisine as well. Paired well, if not perfectly, with a rich crabcake (sole, say, would have been better). Good bistro wine. **1/2

2006 Domaine de Petit Paris Bergerac Rouge
A clunker. Grassy, stalky, wet-leaves nose, bitter and unripe on first tasting, not much fruit, hot, jammy, short, bitterish, chemical finish. A shock after the first two wines. Mostly Merlot, which makes one wonder if the merlot did not ripen, how green was the Cabernet Sauvignon that went into this? Yikes. Mellowed slightly in the glass but never gained the sweetness and plumpness good Bergerac Rouge can have. Alcoholic, not in good balance. $11. Not worth it. Fortunately the beef daube with pearl onions survived anyway. *

NV Jean Filloux COQ Grande Champagne Cognac
One Cognac fan called this the best one he’d ever had. I wouldn’t go that far but it is surely, easily the best $38 Cognac I have ever had. Filloux uses no artificial colorings or additives common in industrial Cognacs and his grapes are situated in the best part of Cognac. Deep nose, not hot at all, a hint of creaminess on the palate, bracing, nutty, and a lovely, warm but not hot finish that went on and on. Well-balanced. The first Cognac I have had that you could call refreshing. Perhaps not a Cognac to go with a full-bodied cigar but with a lighter stogie (Dunhill, say) it would be fine. Because of its lightness and crispness, an outstanding digestif. Filloux also made the Pineau de Charentes that was a big hit at the rose tastings. He also makes Cognacs of higher grade than this, including some high-end ones that mist be spectacular. This could hardly be bettered; you can spend a lot more and get nothing as tasty as this. ****

Big California Reds: The Report

NB: Reviews employ Broadbent 5-star scoring system.

2006 Folie A Deux Menage a Trois
This is 60 percent zin, 20 percent Cab Sauv, 20 percent Merlot. Dark wine right to the rim. Limpid, almost too-soft mouthfeel - the Cab helps prevent it being flabby - with sweet cherry flavors and aroma first. Then a nice lusciousness, lighter than most Zins. Decent structure, some Cab elements sticking through, Merlot adds body. More, tons of, berries and some cassis on a pleasant if not dramatic finish. Nice, easy-drinking red, about 14 percent alcohol. Nothing dramatic or special, but if you like Zins but don’t like that heavy Zin aftertaste or high alcohols, this could be for you. Good with grilled meat, could even handle béarnaise or the like on meat, excellent hamburger wine. $11 in state stores. Big hit with the customers, several asked where to get it. *** (of its type)

2004 Pedroncelli Dry Creek Valley Alto Vineyards
Sangiovese. 13.9 alcohol. I had low expectations here ($9 at state stores and they won’t sell it in the specialty shops, only in the neighborhoods, so one wonders what they are hiding ...) but was delightfully surprised. More raisiny and racy than any Chianti, also lacked heaviness and bitterness of low-level Tuscan reds. Pale color, almost Pinot Noir-pale. Pleasant aroma. Earthy, hearty initial flavor, some raisiny fruit mid-palate, a hint of depth, some oak but not bad, refreshing, clear-the-palate finish. Maybe a touch baked overall. But for the price, not at all bad. Good with old-fashioned red-sauce Italian dishes, or Meditteranean foods. We served with broiled portobellos topped with mozzarella and red pepper. Customers enjoyed it but few remarks **1/2

2005 Edna Valley Syrah Paragon Vineyard
Paragon of everything I dislike in California wines, that is. Too hot (14.9 percent), rampant vanilla, strawberry and raspberry, oak assault, deadening to the palate, even smelled too heavy. Then add in Syrah’s natural aggressiveness to the winemaking style and the result was, well, a leaden fruit bomb. “Wine as cocktail”; I deliberately did not serve food with this one. One customer called it a “flat wine” and had me POUR OUT their glass (!); flat, dull, too heavy were other words I heard. Some customers liked it, but most did not. I left some in a glass and came back to it an hour later - now just harshly boozy and oaky. Yuck. $15 in state stores. 1/2*

2000 Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
Actually more like a Bordeaux blend, 78 Cab Sauv (Calif wine law allows use of varietal name if wine is 75 percent or more that grape), 13 merlot, 7 Cab Franc, 2 Malbec. The most divisive wine of the night. Some raves, some pans, everything in between. Wonderful spicy and floral aroma, easily the best aroma of the night, got better with air (lots of swirling). Decanted 80 minutes before serving and served at old-fashioned room temp (P&P heater on last legs). Of course no Bordeaux earthiness and none of that magic aroma and flavor of a Left Bank wine, but nice cassis and fruit, flowery fragrance, rich and deep mid-palate with nice structure (classy winemaking shows) and some tobacco (not enough for me) but a bit lumpy on the finish, odd aftertaste to me, strange. Then another sip or two, again, lovely at first, less so on finish. Left some in glass 2 hours, not all that much different. There may have been bottle variation here as some people adored it and some really violently did not. One customer shrugged their shoulders and said “OK”. Many shocked at pricing. Served with high-grade meatloaf; we thought about small steaks but too expensive. Good wine, but somehow a tad lacking ... *** 1/2 (just)