Nomadic Wines

New Year's Eve with the 'rents

Yesterday, as my wife is ~2 weeks from her due date, we decided to take it easy for New Year's Eve. I started in the afternoon by opening a Garagiste selection (the Pasanau) with some cheese and salume. I'm not sure if it is a great wine, but I would consider it a successful purchase.

2003 Pasanau Priorat Ceps Nous - Spain, Catalunya, Priorat (12/31/2006)
Fresh and focused like a good Cotes du Rhone. Aromas of berries and bacon, with a palate that is lush with cherries and some kirsch. There is minerality on the finish, which lasts about 10 seconds. (On the second day, it is still holding up with some black pepper really shining through).

With dinner of bluenose bass (with ginger-shitaki sauce), green beens, and mashed potatoes... we opened a special old bottle of champagne. Overall it was more youthful than I expected but not quite a wow wine.

1976 Bollinger Champagne Grand Année Rosé - France, Champagne (12/31/2006)
Youthful, full-bodied champagne. The color is pink/brown color and there was a lot of sediment. Sweet red fruit (strawberry, cherry) but not cloying. It showed a lot of breadiness. Complex wine but not sure it was coming together well at this stage; it probably could have benefited from the right food pairing.

As we were finishing dinner, I opened another Garagiste purchase.

2002 Porter's Pinot Noir - New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough (12/31/2006)
Intense, modern, delicious Pinot Noir from NZ. Big ripe strawberries and some cherry undertones... that's about as much complexity as I could identify at this time. My mom asked if this was really Pinot, but both she and my dad really enjoyed this modern NZ Pinot. This wine could have been Chambolle from a ripe vintage, so it was somewhere between the big Cali Pinots and ripe Burgundies. It had some acidity and structure, so I will let the other 2 bottles sleep for another year.

The second day, the Porter's had maintained the sweet red fruit but some secondary characteristics developed - sour cherry, tobacco, and a little earthiness. I don't think it has the stuffing to age but it is very pleasurable for wine drinkers that like the style.

posted by nomadfromcincy @ 8:05 PM