Cold and snowy here and I have the weekend to myself, so time to do a little cooking and drink some wine. Heres the weekend VanDamage so far.
2005 Dunham Cabernet XI, Columbia Valley
Enjoyed this on Friday night with steak and frites. So Im a little bias on this one. We distribute the Dunham wines and I know the winemaker/owner very well. Due to this I have had the cab 40+ times in various vintages and done full verticals several times. That being said, I was very impressed with this bottle. Extremely clean aromatics of dark cassis and oak, rich and dense in the mouth with more black fruit, a touch of sweet oak and a light herbal note. The oak and the tannins are already well integrated and the acidity is very fine. This was a realy great bottle of wine and I feel like one of the best Dunham cabs to date. Showing great compared to my last tasting 3mos ago. If you want to know what Washington tastes like, this would be a great bottle to try.
1998 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Cuvee Fonteneau
Drank with ground buffalo burgers. What could be better than 10yr old Bandol? Well, lots of things but this is still pretty good. The importer offered us 10cs of this aged stock earlier this year, and after we opened a bottle, well lets just say, very little of it made it into the marketplace. Owned by the Bronzo brothers who also have Chateau des Baumelles in their stable, the Cuvee Fonteneau is usualy 100% Mourvedre but im not exactly sure on this vintage. Initialy the nose was a touch tight, with red cherry and raspberry aromas with a touch of medicinal cough drop scent. Medium weight in the mouth, more red fruit with anticeptic or bandaid notes on the back end. The tannin structure here is just massive, you dont feel it on the midpalate but after you swallow your mouth completely dries out and puckers up. This is not overwhelming but i cannot image that there will be any fruit left by the time the tannins are completly resolved on this wine. Still, very nice. I have six bottles left and will be interested to see how this wine is over the next five or so years.
Cheers
~Vitis