Boy’s Night with Fine Wines

I don’t often get the chance to drink older fine wines so our boy’s night out at Dave Russian’s home with our friend, Steve Maxood, was a real treat. 

We started off with a really smooth and fragrant  2005 Do Ferreiro Albarino with appetizers and the evening progressed from there.  I’m not a big white wine fan so I often forget to make notes about the ones I drink. However, other appetizer wines included a 2006 Cayuse God Only Knows Grenache Armada Vineyard and  2005 Domaine De Cristia Cuvee Renaissance.

Our first flight of 3 wines before dinner was courtesy of Dr. Maxood and included a  2003 Blankiet Merlot which I almost mistaked for a fruit forward Cab, a 2004 Montsant Espectacle which was a 99 rated wine and finally a 2002 Harlan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon—a 100 point cult wine. These were all big, bold, masculine wines that really took my taste buds on a wild ride.  What a pleasure and privilege to be able to drink some really spectacular wines.

Our second flight of 3 included some notable Petite Sirahs. They were a 2001 Sirius Petite Sirah from Winemaker Sean Thackery, a 2003 Switchback Petite Sirah and a 2004 Scholium Project Babylon Tenbrink Vineyards. I liked them all and I couldn’t pick any apparent winner out of this group. Petite Sirah is a varietal that I really enjoy but is too often overshadowed by more glamourous varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Pinot Noir.

After tasting all these wines, Dave served up a delicious pork roast with a wine reduction and fingerling potatoes to so that we could see how they paired with food. Immediately after dinner, we raided Dave’s cellar and eventually came up with a 1989 Cos D’Estournel (St. Estephe) Bordeaux.  Still young but very good.

For dessert we had a 2005 Spirale Passerille a l’Äncienne, An “unctuous dessert wine from Arbois made from grapes dried on straw mats.”