Taste 1985 Silver Oak Bonny's Vineyard

Taste the Best in the World
Saturday - September 20, 2008
11am-8pm

I'm getting kinda tired of my cellar, truth be told. It's not that I don't like the wines down there in the basement, but I'm tired of looking at them. More specifically, I'm tired of looking at them and not having enough excuses to open them. My kids are teenagers, my wife and I are broke down busy, and I have plenty enough wines that I'm supposed to taste and write about that I never really get to the stuff in the basement.

So it sits there and I just feel guilty. That's why one of the wines we're drinking at the High End Tasting is 1985 Silver Oak Bonny’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a legendary bottle and it's been in my cellar for two decades a-slumbering and I'm not going to get to it anytime soon. So it's your turn.

2005 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape - I made the bold (and probably asinine) statement that the 2005 Beaucastel may be the best bottle of wine they have ever produced. Of course, I will add the caveat that I was tasting it out of barrel and I was excepting any of their Hommage bottles. I wonder how it's tasting now?

We've got a couple of other brilliant Chateaneufs for the tasting as well, just in case it turns out that I was clueless about the Beaucastel (I'm feeling pretty confident) but the 2006 Domaine Janasse Chateauneuf-du-Pape Vielles Vignes (Old Vines) and the 2005 Giraud Chateauneuf-du-Pape les Grenaches de Pierre should fill in nicely for any inadequacies. Still needing a Grenache fix? The 2004 Clos Des Fees La Petite Siberie (this was even too over the top for Robert Parker) from southern France is available too.

Lots of other frighteningly heralded wines in the upcoming High End Tasting: Robert Foley's 2006 Claret for one. His Claret bottles are Bordeaux-styled blends that have as much oomph and power as a locomotive and the grace of a dancer.

Finca Villacreces produces delectable Ribera del Duero; their 2005 Nebro (only 200 bottles brought into the United States) bottling has escaped my grasp so far. Not for lack of trying: I'm a huge fan and these old vines growing next door to Vega Sicilia once went into that benchmark winery's top bottlings. 2005 is a great vintage, so I'm expecting, uhm, how should I put it, sex?

Oh, what? You wanted Vega Sicilia? Okay, fine, We're opening the 2001 Vega Sicilia "Valbuena 5 ano". So there.

Besides being the name of a Simpsons episode, Large Marge was a ghostly character in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. There's a very large Priorate wine called Marge. I like that wine a lot, and Marge has a big brother by the name of Roquers de Porrera. The 2005 bottling is likely to be gargantuan.

A gem from Italy as well: 2005 Montevetrano is one of the many fantastic wines that Ricardo Cottarello oversees. A blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Aglianico, this too is powerful stuff.

2006 Marcoux Vielles Vignes
A fat and fullish styled year, and indeed one that some consider superior to 2005 (not this guy but never mind), 2006 has fruit to spare. Consider this a guaranteed winner in the cellar or on the table tonight. Simply put, just hurry up and buy it.

2006 Brewer Clifton Pinot Noir "Mount Carmel"
Brewer Clifton is rightly considered one of the top producers in the Santa Barbara region. Their Pinot Noirs are huge, in the big and rich style that has held sway in the last several years.

Other wines of juicy goodness:
2005 Elyse Vineyards "Morisoli" Zinfandel

2005 Tofanelli Zinfandel

Happy Tasting and we'll see you Saturday!

Doug Frost, MS MW
Master Sommelier & Master of Wine