right bank love...bond style

lots of tasting of incredible wines this week at the castle... some beautiful right bank action, a little meursault, cote-rotie, and right as i wanted to give up on california, a napa valley wine that gave me some hope... working at a Relais Chateau may be turning me into a french wine whore, but it is quite an exciting opportunity... here are five divine wines i discovered this week.

 

 

Chateau L'Evangile Pomerol 1985

Merlot dominant with a small percentage of Cabernet Franc
RP 95
WS 92
($250-$300)

Starting with the small pomerol area of only 1,846 acres (compared to medoc of 40,199 acres).
Everyone agrees there is lots of earth truffle and definitely smoke all over this wine.  When I drank it, it was giving off the most unique spicy hot pepper/peperoncino notes.  heaps of smoke, some leather, tobacco. The nose and palate being very similar.  Beautifully balanced, stimulating, intriguing....

 tonight i tasted two wines together...this 1992 napa, and a cheateau angelus....

Dalla Valle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 1992

First produced in 1986
Blendid with a small amount of Cabernet Franc
Aged in 50% to 60% new french oak barrels
($130-$200)

I could sum this wine up in one word, rye.... I felt like i was standing outside of a rye bread factory tasting this wine.  in a good way. beautiful rye nose.. a little on the palate as well, nice fruits acidity... not too Napa'd out. Some good earth..
So many Napa wines I found have a lack of interesting or enjoyable components for my palate...
this wine gets all my respect....enjoying Calfornia on this one...

Chateau Angelus St-Emilion 1995

RP 95
WS 94
Merlot dominant with a small percentage of Cabernet Franc
($220-$280)

A deep wine, palate staining dark cherry, attractive manure notes for sure. very enjoyable and to put it simply do bianchi style, poop and fruit in a glass!

Sommelier Luc Chevalier reminded me of a Casino Royale scene with a 1982 Chateau Angèlus....

Vesper Lynd, and James Bond enjoying a Chateau Angelus, on the train to Montenegrò.

 Domaine Leflaive Meursault 1er Cru Sous Le Dos De Ane 2004
100% Chardonnay
($120-$150)

This beautiful wine reminded me of tasting the 2005 DRC Montrachet, in the sense of how much your getting from this bottle for a hundred dollars, compared to dropping bank on a DRC... but we wont get into that!

This nose full of that beautiful burnt hair complexity that I describe my burgundy white wines with. Some hazelnuts, long, flinty, mineraly... the fruit not coming out so much at the moment, but beautiful and elegant nonetheless.

E. Guigal Cote-Rotie Brune Et Blonde 2003

RP 93
WS 92
($70-$80)

This wine not nearly as complex as the reviews I have seen for it.  Boat load of Acidity which makes it not so enjoyable without food.  Some fruit is there, and a nice mushroom element coming out.

below i included a shot i took of the main room as you arrive into blantyre..

Main Room. Blantyre Castle, Lenox Massachusetts.