Taste 07 Beaucastel, 07 Caymus Special Select, 07 El Nido and More!

Taste the World's Best!

Saturday December 5th, 2009
11am - 8pm
All Day Long!

Back in September we got crazy with some high-end wines. In truth, I think a lot of us expected the other economic shoe to drop before we saw September and October in the rear-view, but it didn't happen. It STILL hasn't happened. Heck, maybe everything's okay!! Maybe it's time to, if not party like it's 1999, maybe we can party like it's 2007 or some other time when we thought that any bubble that popped would simply be replaced by another, and all we had to do was to just keep running to the next financial trinket, and, oh, there I go again. It's the holidays, people! Let's focus on the good stuff! We have our health and our families and friends and all, and even if we don't have our jobs, in the immortal words from the film Raising Arizona (spoken as career advice to a young Nicholas Cage), "You're young. You've got your health. What do you need a job for?" This Saturday, we've got some wines you just have to try, even if buying such wines becomes a matter of parsing bottles, rather than cases. For one, we've got the 2007 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauenuf-du-Pape and, yes, everything you've heard about the 2007's is true. Just because the clueless people who thought 2003 was a great vintage are saying it, that doesn't make it a lie. The 2007's are gorgeous, just like the 2005's were, and the 2004's and 2006's ain't that bad either. But for now, you can wallow in the lushly layered fruit of 2007 from Beaucastel, a benchmark for Chateauneuf and, maybe some people would say, THE benchmark for Chateauneuf. Caymus Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon has always been rich and powerful but these days it seems more like a graceful Napa Cab than most of the newly minted names in Napa. And this is from the 2007 vintage: up there with 2002 and 2005 (in my pantheon) as one of the three vintages that will probably matter when the dust settles from this decade. Then there's the 2007 El Nido, which is a whole 'nother level of jam, even if it probably lacks the complexity and certainly lacks the balance of Beaucastel. You know what? Stuff like balance really doesn't become important for five to ten to fifteen years from now, so WHO CARES?? We're drinking it Saturday. Anybody who reads these occasional missives knows I love AALTO. Great Ribera del Duero is something very different than great Jumilla like El Nido (I still feel funny typing the words "great Jumilla" but then El Nido winemaker Chris Ringland has been good at re-defining expectations): there is a nobility in amongst the rich and powerful blue fruits, and, oh, yes, balance. In 2006, a sense of balance that can seem like a sense of grace. But over in the Ebro River Valley, Rioja's version of the Tempranillo grape is less explosive than Ribera del Duero, if even more graceful. The 2001 Muga Prado Enea is a wine from a winery (Muga) that is confounding, but in a good way. The Torre Muga is super ripe, uber-international in style. Muga's Rioja Riserva has a strongly traditional feel to it; Prado Enea is something in between. And 2001 is a great, great vintage. Finally, we allow France's Languedoc to get into the act: 2005 La Peira Terrasses du Larzac is one of the many wines that wise taster David Schildknecht has turned a lot of us onto. A blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre, count yourself lucky to have found some 2005, a vintage the rest of the country has run out of. There will be more treats like 2007 Alto Moncayo but you'll have to stop by to see all the goodies we are pulling out. Happy Tasting and we'll see you Saturday!! Cheers, Doug Frost, MS MW Master Sommelier & Master of Wine