Nomadic Wines

Low key dinner with big California Rhone varietals

Dinner with Tony Velebil at LaneSplitter in Temescal, Oakland, CA. Great New York style pizza to go with a couple of California Rhone rangers.

2004 Saxum James Berry Vineyard Cuvée - crushed raspberry liqueur, wet stones, and creamy texture.

2004 Outpost Howell Mountain Grenache - nose filled with mint and sage, then the mouth hits you with chocolate and caramel... a much bigger finish compared to the Saxum.

I mixed up the glasses and could really just identify them based on the noses. The Outpost had a more stemmy/sagey/minty nose... while the Saxum was all crushed raspberry fruit. It was also interesting that the Outpost had more chocolate-like undertones; I would have expected that from the Saxum (which is about one-third Syrah). Tonight I would give the nod to the Outpost for its performance start-to-finish, but both wines were very good. I also agree with Joe that the high alcohol in the Saxum was only apparent when I stood up at the end of the night.

posted by nomadfromcincy @ 10:36 PM