The #1 Cult Cab in the World
High End Tasting featuring Harlan Estate, Shafer Hillside Select and more!
Saturday September 26, 2009
11am - 8pm
| It's time to get crazy again, isn't it? I mean, it's nearly the end of September and no markets have crashed and no new wars declared. Heck, let's celebrate!! Like last March (was it that long ago?), we need some crazy wine. This time, we won't have any old Yquem. I mean, old wine, what kinda fun is that?
No, this time, we're pulling out the Harlan. That's right, you heard me. Harlan Estate 2005, the wine everyone wants to have bragged that they have tasted from the winery everyone wishes would put them on their mailing list. I'm convinced that a lotta people like to say they've had Harlan, when they really haven't. But now they can. And if they're acting the part of the real wine snob, they'll be sure to insist that the last one they had was better. Cuz that's what wine people do, right?
Well, some of them anyway. The rest of us just like to taste good wine, no matter what it's called. So some of us might be focused upon the 2004 Clos D’Agon, a wine from legendary
Italy is represented by Fattoria Petrolo's Galatrona Tuscany 2005, a big ooey-gooey Italian Merlot; California by Whetstone Jon Boat Pinot Noir 2006, a low quantity Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir with lots of richness and French oak, and by Biale's Hill Climber Syrah 2005, an Alexander Valley Syrah. Production of that one is limited to 150 cases. Maybe the production isn't that small on Shafer's Hillside Select 2005, but the quality is superb. Indeed, as high as the media praise is for Shafer Hillside, the wine performs at a even higher level than that praise might suggest.
Make no mistake about it; the wine you want to brag about trying is the Harlan. But don't forget the important part: when you're done, be sure to say, "It's not that good. I thought the ____________ (and here you just fill in the blank) was a lot better and for half the money. NOW, you're talking like a real wine person.
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Spanish vintner Peter Sisseck (he does this little wine called Pingus you might have heard about). Clos d'Agon is his newer project near the French/Spanish border in the region known as Emporda. Others Spanish wine lovers among us might as well look to Benjamin Romeo's la Cueva del Contador 2006: it's a crazy ripe Spanish Rioja from that inveterate crazy Spanish importer Jorge Ordonez. Or maybe the Torre Muga 2005, the uber-ripest of all Riojas from one of the most consistent and multi-faceted of all Rioja producers. Or if you're like me, you'll be pushing somebody out of the way to get to the 2005 Muga Aro; it's aother Muga wine but this is less bombastic than the Torre Muga and seemingly just as intense, heck, maybe it might be more intense deep down inside itself.
But it's not all big Spanish wine at this high-end tasting. Winestore will be pouring Robert Chevillon's Nuits St Georges 2005, just because it's lush and seductive. There's also Nicholas Potel's Echezeaux Grand Cru 2006. Do you drink enough Grand Cru Burgundy? I know I don't. Or maybe you prefer a bit more pepper to your French wine so the Auguste Clape Cornas 2005 should lift your skirts, in a manner of speaking.
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