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Brian Pasch Expert Wine Reviews

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Cult Cabernet's Ruled The Day

Last night I had 12 guests in my wine cellar, a wine tasting party that I donated at a charity auction last year. The party consistent of two hours of hors d'oeuvres donated by The Fromagerie restaurant in Rumson along with a selection of wines from my cellar. After the initial tasting, we sat down at a friends house for a full dinner prepared by the Fromagerie. The food was excellent!

We started off with some 1995 Dom Perignon Champagne (RP-94) and Vincent Giradin 2002 Batard-Montrachet (RP 94-96). Then we quickly moved to red wines, selected by the guests depending on their tasting preferences.

We tasted two Brunellos, a 1997 Valdicava Reserve (RP-92) and a 1995 Biondi Santi. The highlight of the Brunellos of the 1995 Biondi Santi which was light, and elegant like a fine Burgundy. The California and Oregon Pinots were disappointing (2000 J. Rochioli Reserve Pinot - West Block from California and the 2002 Soter - Beacon Hill from Oregon) so we moved quickly to a blockbuster: 1996 Domaine Romanee Conti "La Tache". Though the wine was still young, its nose and elegance were appreciated by everyone. Oddly enough, the Biondi Santi and the DRC "La Tache" had equally beautiful coloring in the glass.

Here is what Pierre Rovani had to say about the "La Tache" on August 1998 in the Wine Advocate newsletter, when he scored it 94-97 points:

This blockbuster wine possesses a profound nose. It exhibits awesomely ripe red and black fruits, raw meat, and Asian spices, all of which are encased in sweet toasty oak. This full-bodied, wide, thick, focused, harmonious, and intense wine releases amazingly powerful layers of candied black cherries and blackberries. It is structured, totally precise, pure, and possesses an exceptionally long finish loaded with abundant sweet tannins. It will require patience. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2020.

We needed to step up the flavor intensity and so we decided to taste Chateaneuf du Pape's from France. We opened two bottles from the 1998 vintage, both great scoring wines but they were closed down and not appealing that night. One of the two that were closed was the Pierre Usseglio "Cuvee de mon Aieul" which was rated 98 points. So we took out a sure winner. That wine was the "Cuvee da Capo" from Domaine Pegau. This is an amazing wine of great concentration and balance.

Here is what Robert Parker had to say about this wine on December 2001 in his Wine Advocate newsletter, when he scored it 100 points:

The debut release of 1998 "Cuvee da Capo" (made from incredibly low yields of 90% Grenache and 10% the other twelve permitted varietals) is profound. The color is a dense, thick-looking, ruby/garnet/purple. The aromas begin slowly, but then roar from the glass like an out-of-control locomotive, offering up a smorgasbord of candied black fruits, pepper, garrigue, earth, and truffles. Enormously thick and rich, but, amazingly, not heavy, this blockbuster, full-bodied Chateauneuf du Pape is still youthful, but should age gracefully for three decades. The Cuvee da Capo is frightfully expensive by Chateauneuf du Pape standards, but if quality like this existed in Burgundy, consumers would be willing to pay $500 a bottle.

We took a quick tasting stop for Super Tuscans and we enjoyed the 1998 Solaia and the 1998 Sassicaia but both wines needs a few hours to open up. After the initial tasting, we put them aside to enjoy with dinner. They were completed consumed by the end of the night!

Then we started with the California Cult Cabernets! The highlight of my night was the 1992 Maya, which in a blind tasting could pass for a great Bordeaux! The 1995 Maya was still a bit backward and needed about 4 hours to open up, which we later enjoyed with dinner. The 1995 Araujo was pleasant but not fantastic. The 1993 Colgin was a perfect wine, smooth, bursting with refined flavors and a hint of blueberry. The 1992 Maya and 1993 Colgin should be in any serious collectors cellar.

Needless to say, we went through about 20+ bottles to find 12 great bottles and everyone had a wonderful night!!

Brian Pasch - October 1, 2005