7 - 1 = GOOD

5 Chardonnays

1 Cabernet

1 Mysterious Bordeaux

It's fun when a bunch of passionate wine geeks get together to taste wines. It is how your wine knowledge and taste buds evolve. I have been looking for a group like this for years. A get together that can broaden my love and passion for this little fruit. Years of tasting wine have only taught me 1 thing. That I have years and years of education to go. So you have to taste wines over and over on a weekly basis. Personal opinions matter even if we disagree. That is half the fun of it. I will thank the "Padres Panel" for taking me under there wing and I look forward to sharing more great wines in the future.

TODAY'S LESSON

Is a simple one! Don't hold onto a wine to long. As we learned from tasting 1996 Kistler it's a bad idea. Sorry Padres Panel, I had to go back just one more time for another sip and dream that it would get better. It didn't! and I cried inside! There is hope though for California Chardonnay and there ageing probabilities. Tasting 1999 Kendal Jackson Great Estates helped the cause. Surprisingly holding its own, this wine had a good amount of both Oak and Butter that I love so much in a good Chardonnay. The wine had a good heavy feeling on the palate and was tasting really good even 2 hours later when my wife got the rest of it. I had to quiz her on the Varietal which she got right. Good Job Honey! I knew that some of my craziness would rub off on you eventually.

We also had the pleasure of tasting 3 more Chardonnays. 2007 Lincourt, 2005 Windbreak, and 2006 Landmark. In the process of tasting all three of these makes me again say how I am not a huge fan of Chardonnay. All three showed different levels of oak and butter and complexity that turn me off to having them with a meal. Relaxing with some friends and having a glass is OK, but pairing the wines with food would make my head spin. If I had to put them in order, it would be Landmark, Windbreak then the Lincourt would be the final results. Landmark had good amounts of balanced fruit, oak and butter that kept me interested in coming back. The Windbreak had to much butter that overwhelmed my senses a bit and the Lincourt just came up short on both oak and butter with heavy concentrations on mineral. If I had tasted this wine blind, I probably would of been fooled into believing it to be a Sauvignon Blanc.

Which leads us into the Red Wines. It is a great treat to have the chance of tasting a "Grand Cru" Bordeaux. With the price of some wines reaching $200 to $500 per bottle these days or more. They are well out of reach for this wino, so getting a chance to be apart of tasting 1989 Chateau Angelus is a great honor. I only have a few bottles of Bordeaux in my collection left. My thoughts are to save them for my most memorable moments yet to come in my life like my 50Th wedding anniversary in 29 years or maybe the birth of my first grandchild a million years from now :-) There is no problem in French wines lasting that long as is the wine presented in front of me today. I was the first person to pour the wine into my glass and the first words out of my mouth were "Look at that color!" My first experience with Bordeaux wines was over a decade ago. I believe that today, I would be able to distinguish the difference from a California to French wine just on the color. French wines will always have that dirty crimson, brick color. And if the wine was poured in BLACK GLASS! No problem, because the french wines carry so much leather, oak, earth and tobacco notes to separate them from California wines. There are but a few California wines that I have tasted that mimic a pure expression of a French Bordeaux. May we continue to try though! The 1989 Angelus was perfectly aged and well balanced. The wine would of benefited from a fat piece of steak or lamb. The characteristics would of been even more significant.

Oh and there was the 1999 BV Georges De Latour that we taste as well. I almost forgot because I am still in a French Coma! Let this wine be a lesson to all serious wine collectors. I tasted an 03 or 04 De Latour a few years back and my thoughts were that it was a great wine but at too high a price. Knowing that Greg bought cases of this wine years ago for around $20.00 per bottles is exactly what any wine geek should do. It is also what this wino has failed to do over the last decade. Buy a lot of 1 wine instead a 2 bottles of 3 or 4 different ones. The wine has developed very nicely with good amounts of fruit coming forward for a 10 year old wine. If I were to taste this wine blind, it probably would of ended up toward the top of the list. Great little treat to taste a solid wine that didn't break the bank with a few years under it's belt.

I have always said that I don't collect wines, but rather that I collect memories of wines that I have shared with friends and family.

I can't wait to make more!

Cheers!