Well, actually his brother is Coudert's BIL, so sue me. Anyway, he was
over from France so we had him over for dinner as we owed him for many
favors lavished upon us through his good agency.

With a salad of heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil:

2001 Cazin Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles
Iodine, grapefruit, honey and a nice bracing acidity. I like it, but my
wife Jean initally hates it because of her aversion to aged white wines,
but comes around as it sees some air. It's a known quantity to our
guest Christophe, so he just sucks it down while complaining about his job.

With herb-rubbed grilled leg of lamb (thanks for the recipe, Joe!):

2003 Williams-Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Christophe belatedly tells us of his fondness for Burgundy, so we pull
out this to further his education re CA Pinots. It's a wine of medium
body, silky texture, smoky, earthy, just a hint of oakiness and filled
with bright red fruit. No one will ever confuse this for Burgundy,
especially with 14.1% ABV (not at all noticeable until we try to stand,
though) but it's a very pretty example of a CA Pinot Noir that doesn't
try to be Syrah.

1990 Dunn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Since we recalled that Christophe had spent his 7 years in the US
frantically collecting CalCabs, we decided to open up this bottle from
the cellar. Christophe initially asked "Has this got Merlot in it?"
Once the raucous laughter had subsided, he decided that it actually
resembled a St. Julien, a subject he knows more about than I do, having
drunk many '37s and '45s in his youth. What I do note is that the
tannins are fully resolved, that it's still quite primary with good
cassis fruit and only a slight mineral element to complicate things. My
last mouthful is the best, at which point the wine had picked up some
leather, earth and tobacco notes. Even I began to see some Medoc-like
character to the wine.

Since he brought a bottle of his brother's 2005 Fleurie and Coudert's
2004 Fleurie, Christophe's welcome in our house for perpetuity has been
assured. All in all, a great evening with a good friend, with
conversation ranging from chemistry to politics to France to wine and
food and back again.

Mark Lipton

In article > ,
Mark Lipton > wrote:

> Well, actually his brother is Coudert's BIL, so sue me. Anyway, he was
> over from France so we had him over for dinner as we owed him for many
> favors lavished upon us through his good agency.
>
> With a salad of heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil:
>
> 2001 Cazin Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles
> Iodine, grapefruit, honey and a nice bracing acidity. I like it, but my
> wife Jean initally hates it because of her aversion to aged white wines,
> but comes around as it sees some air. It's a known quantity to our
> guest Christophe, so he just sucks it down while complaining about his job.
>
> With herb-rubbed grilled leg of lamb (thanks for the recipe, Joe!):
>
> 2003 Williams-Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
> Christophe belatedly tells us of his fondness for Burgundy, so we pull
> out this to further his education re CA Pinots. It's a wine of medium
> body, silky texture, smoky, earthy, just a hint of oakiness and filled
> with bright red fruit. No one will ever confuse this for Burgundy,
> especially with 14.1% ABV (not at all noticeable until we try to stand,
> though) but it's a very pretty example of a CA Pinot Noir that doesn't
> try to be Syrah.
>
> 1990 Dunn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
> Since we recalled that Christophe had spent his 7 years in the US
> frantically collecting CalCabs, we decided to open up this bottle from
> the cellar. Christophe initially asked "Has this got Merlot in it?"
> Once the raucous laughter had subsided, he decided that it actually
> resembled a St. Julien, a subject he knows more about than I do, having
> drunk many '37s and '45s in his youth. What I do note is that the
> tannins are fully resolved, that it's still quite primary with good
> cassis fruit and only a slight mineral element to complicate things. My
> last mouthful is the best, at which point the wine had picked up some
> leather, earth and tobacco notes. Even I began to see some Medoc-like
> character to the wine.
>
> Since he brought a bottle of his brother's 2005 Fleurie and Coudert's
> 2004 Fleurie, Christophe's welcome in our house for perpetuity has been
> assured. All in all, a great evening with a good friend, with
> conversation ranging from chemistry to politics to France to wine and
> food and back again.
>
> Mark Lipton

Mark, Dunn bottlings are one of my absolute favorite Cabernets. I have
not had the '90 and mine are all from '96 on a mix of Napa Valley and
Howell Mountain. They are truly one of the best producers of fine
cabernets in all of California. It was too bad that they weren't
included in the re-tasting of the '76 competition.

Thanks for notes. The 2001 wasn't my favorite Cazin, but still a nice
wine. The '04 Coudert was the regular bottling?

DaleW wrote:
> Thanks for notes. The 2001 wasn't my favorite Cazin, but still a nice
> wine. The '04 Coudert was the regular bottling?

Yup. It was regular. As for the Cazin, I was just so excited to find it
in Indiana that I had to go for it. I'm sure the '02 was in a different
league.

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton wrote:
The '04 Coudert was the regular bottling?
>
> Yup. It was regular.

I actually prefer to the tardives, in both 2002 and 2004

Lawrence Leichtman wrote:

> Mark, Dunn bottlings are one of my absolute favorite Cabernets. I have
> not had the '90 and mine are all from '96 on a mix of Napa Valley and
> Howell Mountain. They are truly one of the best producers of fine
> cabernets in all of California. It was too bad that they weren't
> included in the re-tasting of the '76 competition.

Yes, these days Randy Dunn's wines are a veritable bargain in CA, as
well as a reminder of what winemaking there used to be like. The Napa
bottlings are a lot more approachable than the Howell Mountains, so be
sure to write yours into your will (sorry for the morbidity). I've got
the '94, '95 and '99 Howells and don't hold out much hope for seeing any
of them to maturity. These days, Dunn cabs, along with Ridge, Phelps
and Chateau Montelena, are about the only ones I buy, sad to say.

Mark Lipton

In article > ,
Mark Lipton > wrote:

> Lawrence Leichtman wrote:
>
> > Mark, Dunn bottlings are one of my absolute favorite Cabernets. I have
> > not had the '90 and mine are all from '96 on a mix of Napa Valley and
> > Howell Mountain. They are truly one of the best producers of fine
> > cabernets in all of California. It was too bad that they weren't
> > included in the re-tasting of the '76 competition.
>
> Yes, these days Randy Dunn's wines are a veritable bargain in CA, as
> well as a reminder of what winemaking there used to be like. The Napa
> bottlings are a lot more approachable than the Howell Mountains, so be
> sure to write yours into your will (sorry for the morbidity). I've got
> the '94, '95 and '99 Howells and don't hold out much hope for seeing any
> of them to maturity. These days, Dunn cabs, along with Ridge, Phelps
> and Chateau Montelena, are about the only ones I buy, sad to say.
>
> Mark Lipton

I haven't opened any since '94. I'm not sure any of my kids would
appreciate them.

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:45:07 -0400, Mark Lipton >
wrote:
>
>2003 Williams-Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
>Christophe belatedly tells us of his fondness for Burgundy, so we pull
>out this to further his education re CA Pinots. It's a wine of medium
>body, silky texture, smoky, earthy, just a hint of oakiness and filled
>with bright red fruit. No one will ever confuse this for Burgundy,
>especially with 14.1% ABV (not at all noticeable until we try to stand,
>though) but it's a very pretty example of a CA Pinot Noir that doesn't
>try to be Syrah.
>
>Mark Lipton

I had to check what I've got in the rack for vintage, since I'm a
newbie to Williams Selyem ownership. Turns out I've got the most
recent release, which is the '04. Here's what I said about it:

>Dark burgundy color. Nice aroma of dark cherry and nutmeg. Warm toasty mouth feel with good black fruit flavors. My style of PN.

Dunno if the '03 was lighter and brighter, but so far I've found the
W-S Pinots to be more toward a Burgundian style than a lot of Oregon
iterations of the varietal. I like the dark and brooding ones and
really don't get into what I call the Strawberry Kool-aid toned,
textured and taste pinots.

Interestingly enough, I also checked the W-S Sonoma County (vice
"Coast") from '04 and found this:

>Thin, bright red color. Sweet cherry notes. Slight bitterness. Very much in the Kool-aid style of PN.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com