Kept it simple this past weekend. Honestly didn’t had any plans to open a bottle so, I didn’t. But I visited the old man and most of the time there is something either just opened or from the night before. It’s like Cheers, where everybody DOES know my name, but I don’t have to pay my tab.
So went head on for the Chard. It was a Franciscan Estate Napa Valley Chardonnay 2009. I’ve had Franciscan before but not a white wine. This was surprisingly good. My first question to the old man was, really? 2009? Isn’t that a little past its prime? Considering not so long ago I had a bad experience with an aged not made for aging Chardonnay I was expecting the same behavior. But I must say it was fine. Wine Spectator gave it 87 points and said its prime was back in 2014. So like I always say, guidance.
It had a pale yellow color and its acidity present, the citrus aromas where there, with a hint of butter and a normal finish. Apparently this wine normally goes for $16 but they don’t sell it in Puerto Rico. So that’s that.
The next wine, I’ve had before and it’s always well received. Foley Estates 2002 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir. Even on a year like this one when it
was given 85-88 ratings across the board I can appreciate it’s nuances. For someone that hasn’t tried this wine but knows a little bit about wines, right front and center in the label, the last line is an eye catcher. It says “Block 4D Pommard Clone”. Now I”m barely learning about Burgundy in depth (I’m all the way up to 4% of understanding) but my palate knows Pommard. It’s funny because just today I saw a video posted by GuildSomm that talked about clones.
This wine has very little descriptions online but it has a nice bouquet after it’s been open a bit, with 16 years in it’s back it seems mature and with some nose of spice which I’m going out on a limb and say cardamom not because I know that’s what it is but because by association is what I’ve taken before from other wines and been told that’s what that scent is. Meanwhile on mouth it was a tart and expressed nicely while finish was moderate.
This is one of those nice little power purchases for me because the market has not embraced it fully to give it above 90 points but they don’t go below 87 which means it’s just ‘tasters prerogative’ at this point. I would buy it no questions asked.
One thing I noticed after this weekend is that I need some sensible way to keep tabs of what I’m drinking and start examining colors and other things so I bought myself a wine journal. I am a tech guy so you would assume I would do it on my phone, but I am also a Gen X’er so…I like writing things down by pen. Helps my memory. So moving forward I really want to start taking better notes and keep my own tabs on points I give to wines. So looking forward to that.
