Wine(s!) of the Night
Whoa - a great wine night - totally!
The Ski Boy and I had dinner with friends at Jens. Our wine choice of the evening was the 1998 Beringer Alluvium - we had two bottles, both of which we had decanted - still too young to stand on its own. What a wonderful meritage. It's mainly merlot: 75% - surprising that the Slat Rat would be such a fan. But it also has Cabernet Sauvingon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. All of which combine to give the wine the merlot smoothness plus body, the right amount of interesting spice, and a deep color. A truly super bottle. Whatta treat
A friend of mine was also dining at Jens - she was on a date. Turns out "the date" is a real wine guy. I had sent over two glasses of the Alluvium to their table. In response, they sent over two glasses of a 1996 Stangeland Pinot Noir. What a perfectly wonderful Pinot - nice light berry Pinot color with a - rare - hefty Pinot taste that was not over oaked. It's tricky - tasting a Pinot after a big wine like the Alluvium can be real disaster - the poor Pinot can get subsumed by the big meritage. But I could still easily taste the quality of the Stangeland - nice level of tanins anf fruit and much more robust than your average run of the mill Pinot. Of course, Stangeland is a boutique winery - which means that other than going to the winery itself or getting on the mailing list or knowing someone, you'll never have an opportunity to get one of their wines. sigh...
The "date" also had a bottle of the non-vintage "Rob Roy" Pinot from the same vineyard - oh my. Another nice little perfect pinot with a friendly alcohol level: 12.5%. Perfect for us wimpy Slat Rats. A very well made smaller wine. Unfortunately I can't add more to that description - the wine just came too late in the evening...
10:28:24 PM 
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