Birthday Wines

Shane’s Notes

2005 Loring “Rosella’s Vineyard” Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
$46.99

Guilliams 2002 Spring Mountain Napa Cabernet
$39.99

2000 Recioto della Valpolicella, “Le Brugnine” Venturini
$37.99/500 ml

I usually drink Rhone and Port on special occasions, but I thought it would be fun to try some wines we don’t usually buy. We love the massive concentration of the Santa Highlands Pinots but since they are expensive, they can’t be everyday purchases. As far as Napa wines, I am always defending them yet we rarely drink them. While we like Napa wines, we just think that most are overpriced, especially the infamous cult cabs. We have had a few of these high priced war horses (Insignia and Opus One) and found them quite nice, but we certainly wouldn’t pay the sticker price for them. I decided to try a less famous Napa Cab from a (hopefully) distinctive region: Spring Mountain. I have also been very curious about Recioto so used this as an opportunity to try one.

Jen and I had the Loring for our private celebration. The Loring reminded me a lot of the Roar. These are powerful pinots that would never be confused with Burgundy. The aroma from the Loring exudes cherry and licorice. The palate boats a massive blueberry flavor and is meaty and roasty. Loring deserves a lot of credit for crafting this massive wine and keeping it in balance. I was afraid it would be hot but it wasn’t. The palate was mildly complex and elegant. The texture was light and not Syrah-like as seems to be popular these days. The finish was quite long. I don’t often say this about wines in the $40 range but this was easily worth the price.

We drank the Guilliams at my parent’s house as an accompaniment to my mom’s meatloaf. We didn’t bring the decanter so we poured a few huge glasses (The decanter size glasses given out at Silver Oak’s release party are perfect for this type of occasion) and let the wine sit for a half an hour. It was the most massively concentrated cab I’ve had yet it was well balanced. It wasn’t hot and the tannins were easily manageable. Concentrated, sweet, red fruit flavors dominate the palate and in a blind tasting, I might have guessed it was a Southern Rhone. It was an amazingly distinctive cab and was well worth the price.

After dinner, we retired to the living room and sat by the fire. My parents actually have a real fire place that burns real wood, and I always enjoyed our Friday night fires when I was a kid. Once the fire was blazing, we opened the Recioto. It was rich and had a heavy, sweet raisinated taste. I was in such a good mood that I even let my mom try a few drops. She really enjoyed it.

All of these powerful wines were excellent but drinking them back to back to back left my palate a little fatigued. These wines were a great change of pace but they would be a bit much if you drank them every day.