Nomadic Wines

Casual Dinner at Slow Club (Slow Club, San Francisco, CA)

November 10, 2006
After pressing the 2006 LeFavre Alder Springs Syrah, Jon and I checked out the Slow Club for dinner. I had invited Jamie Kutch and he joined us after the appetizers. Jon and I decided to focus on Pinots, so he brought the '99 Alder Springs in honor of the LeFavre A.S. He also generously bought/brought a beautiful aged Burgundy that he purchased from Premier Cru that day.

• 1966 Maison Leroy Corton - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Aloxe-Corton
  : A beautiful wine. Served blind, I never would have guessed it was 40 years old. The nose was fresh and full of lively cherry scents. The Mouth was all cherries, earth, and some spice. Great acidity... drinking this wine was unadulterated pleasure. Many thanks to Jon for buying and sharing this wine. This wine was so good that I talked him out of buying more, under the assumption that the next bottle could not live up to this experience.



• 2001 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
  : Lots of acidity and minerality, lime, and melon. This wasn't a mindblowing wine next to the Corton - there was just a touch of sourness that turned me off. I think it was probably mismatched in this tasting... will save it for more appropriate pairings in the future.



• 1999 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Alder Springs Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County
  : This was the weakest Pinot... just disjointed and overly alcoholic at this stage in its evolution. It had the blue and black fruit, along with some oaky/woody aspect, but the wine just didn't come together. Would not have rated over 85 points on that night.



• 2005 Lucia Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  : Very SLH-style Pinot - lots of black fruit and spice. The mouthfeel was more full than the Corton, but it lacked the sexiness. I think this is a better value than many of the $40 Pinots, but not sure if I would run out to by a bunch of it.



• 2004 Peay Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
  : I think this shows how my preferences eventually lean towards the true Sonoma Coast style of Pinot. The Lucia was very well-made and showing nicely for such a young wine, but I preferred this wine even though it clearly too early. Cold-climate Pinot nose - very nice. Upon tasting, it was just tight as anything. We only drank about 1/3 of the bottle, and I brought the rest home. Raspberries and spice the next day.

The Slow Club was very generous with corkage, only charging us $20 for all five bottles. I hope this was due to our sharing of the Leroy with the manager. In terms of the wines, we probably didn't need to open the Pur Sang - it didn't show well in this setting, with these foods/accompanying wines. The food was very good in a comfort sort of way. The Leroy Corton was a beautiful wine. I talked Jon out of purchasing another one, because I couldn't imagine a better wine experience.

posted by nomadfromcincy @ 1:38 PM