The Eyrie Vineyards

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• Sep 26

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  July 2009

  The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Blanc 2006

  Snoothrank:

  Nice sweetness at first with more tannic flavors on the finish.

  Wine review by spencerforeezy

  
  
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  July 2009

  Eyrie Pinot Gris 2007

  Snoothrank:

  Fragrant pear, apple, and citrus on the nose. Medium bodied with notes of pear, lime, and rind. Refreshing, crisp flavors and a well structured wine that paired well with flavorful Spanish fare.

  Wine review by ftezen

  
  
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  June 2009

  The Eyrie Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Reserve 2002

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by tylermi

  
  
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  June 2009

  Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir Daphne Vineyard 2001

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by tylermi

  
  
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  June 2009

  Eyrie Pinot Noir Reserve 2001

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by tylermi

  
  
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  June 2009

  Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir Reserve 2000

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by tylermi

  
  

• June 2009

  Last night was Snooth-a -thon II and we celebrated in style with some classy ... with a pair of whites: 1993 Eyrie Oregon Chardonnay - This had a lovely waxy nose with notes of golden raspberries, cashews and hazelnuts. In the mouth the fruit remains sweet and expansive with bright... Read moreLast night was Snooth-a -thon II and we celebrated in style with some classy ... with a pair of whites: 1993 Eyrie Oregon Chardonnay - This had a lovely waxy nose with notes of golden raspberries, cashews and hazelnuts. In the mouth the fruit remains sweet and expansive with bright acids backing up the dried apple fruit tones that lead to a finish with inner mouth aromatics of tobacco and cocoa powder and piercing minerality on the finale. Drink em if you can find them but this is holding superbly. 92pts 1997 Kalin Sauvignon Blanc - With it's unusual nose of clay and dried fruity marshmallows and minty herbs this was intriguing to smell if totally outside or expectations, but that's what Kalin does so well. This was rich and quite viscous in the mouth with great tension between the sparkling minerailty and the green gage plum fruit tones that had great resonance. 90pts After these two starters we were off to the races. I poured a magnum as we took our seats to peruse the menu. 1978 BV Claret from magnum -  This was dusty and ashy on the nose with light cherry fruit and hints of leather and tobacco. It retains a bright, juicy character and may be simple but is so fresh and simply enjoyable that this was a bit of a surprise. Even at the end of the night, as we scavenged around for remaining wine this retained a lovely roasted berry/cranberry fruitiness that made it so easy to drink, and enjoy. Nothing earthshaking but a very solid bottle. 87pts 1941 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon bottled in 1947 - I have already gone into detail regarding this bottling and you can read more about it here. Tonight we had a bottle that lacked the depth of the better bottles that I've had of this wine  with a nose that showed fraying at the seams but still offered up a bit of poopy beet root, black pepper, and deep smoky tones with lots of cigar box and tobacco. In the mouth the acid drew this out and highlighted the small core of slightly chunky fruit with some slightly gritty tannins giving a bit of structure to the wine. It's fading in the glass but remains a treat to try and completely drinkable. 86pts. 1974 Stag's Leap  Cabernet Sauvignon - This was rocking this evening with a sweetly earthy nose full of sweet middle eastern spice tones, green olive, beef broth and dark berry fruit. This is still superbly fresh on the palate with silky smooth polished tannins that float across a sweetly fruited black cassis and olive toned mid-palate with a hint of rusticity that shows itself in the slight animale tones that lead to the long finish. A brilliant wine 95pts 1985 Charles Krug Vintage Selection Cabernet Sauvignon - From magnum- This was pumping out pure black currant fruit with a deeply herbaceous almost grassy edge and notes of ace bandage adding complexity. For all it's herbal tones on the nose the palate showed masses of bright, juicy intense fruit with fairly substantial tannins backing up all that richness. The finish is nice and long with black raspberry tones and while this really is a bit simple it is so exuberantly fruity you have to love it if you love Cabernet! 91pts Next up was a horizontal from 1986. In general I am a big fan of these wines, they are great examples of California Cabernet in their prime and along with 1985 offer some of the greatest values on the market today. 1986 Inglenook Cask Selection - This was very pungent, brothy and evolved on the nose with like flavors in the mouth. Past peak and a victim of mishandling along the way. 1986 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon - A nice dose as ass leather great the nose but behind it this is very clear and pure with black currants, eucalyptus, and soil tones.  It's dense and chewy in the mouth with solid supporting acidity and tannins that remain slightly chalky. It's got great length and comes off as a particularly sinewy, muscular example of Sonoma Mountain Cabernet that may benefit from another several years in the cellar. 91pts 1986 Rutherford Hill XVS Cabernet Sauvignon - This still has a touch of vanillin on the nose along with black raspberry tones, mint, a hint of stemminess and a touch of wood spice. In the mouth this is incredibly vibrant with a very precise, chiseled feel and lovely rosemary stem tones that help frame the black berry fruits. the tannins are mostly resolved but add support to the fruit giving the wine nice volume in the mouth. A great time to drink this! 91pts After the great 1986's we took a bit of a detour with two wines on their own. 1989 Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace - From what is widely regarded as a crappy vintage comes this surprisingly appealing wine that speaks more of Diamond creek than the crappy vintage. Lightly gamy on the nose with some nice iron tones and deeply spicy earth tones that translate to a lean, focused palate presence with lots of leathery tones but nice dark, dried cherry fruit and tea notes as well.  Neither a power house nor a sweetly fruited wine but rather a wine built on Bordelais sensibilities. 89pts 1995 Teldeschi Zinfandel - This provided a real break in the action with it's sweetly fruited nose that retained a bit of nougat and spice from the wood but had great, spicy brambly blackberry fruit. Big, round and plush in the mouth with lots of slightly roasted plummy fruit up front and a great spicy, peppery follow through. Great with my duck breast in port reduction! 90pts The 1995 Teldeschi moved us from the past into the almost present as we now were faced with some big, badass wines that had a lot of evolving to do! 1996 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon - Much like the 86 this had a wonderful nose with cassis and herb in harmony and gentle backing tones of wood spice and eucalyptus. Big and chewy in the mouth with superbly refreshing acidity that prevented this from becoming ponderous. This seems a touch hot and short at this moment though the wine is packed with fruit and tannin that are very well managed so this should have a long life ahead but tonight it is a touch diffuse. 90pts 1995 Cornerstone Beatty Cabernet Sauvignon - This has a huge chocolate and raspberry nose with tons of backing spice/gingerbread notes and integrated french oak tones.  Rich and polished in the mouth yet at the same time this is restrained and transparent like fine strawberry jelly. Impeccably  well balanced for such a fruit driven wine. Really fabulous modern Cali Cab with mouthfilling sweet patisserie notes and a long, spicy finish with lingering hints of ginger and vanillin. 94pts 1999 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon -  Smoky and deep on the nose with alot of oak showing but lots of muscular, extracted fruit too. This is super TIGHT in the mouth with big structure showing excellent balance but this is all about potential at this point so I'll give it a conservative 90pts with the warning not to touch this for another 5 years at bare minimum! My finale wines of the night were two great vintages of Chateau Montelena which shared such a resemblance that they became quite the topic of conversation! 1990 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon- This is just classic Montelena with it's notes of seared black cassis mingled with spiced oak tones and a hint of green anise seed. In the mouth it's smooth and seamless with full, ripe round tannins and gentle hints of tomato leaf and herb framing the deep black fruit tones. Lovely wine and with a bright future. 92pts 1999 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon  - This is very young and still heavily marked by oak on the nose with a fudgy quality that detracts from the rich, jammy fruit. In the mouth this has great balance with good mineral cut on the finish but the wood intrudes here as well offering a bit of bitter tannin on the finale that needs several years to resolve itself. Nothing wrong here just too young. Give this another 5 years or so and it should reveal much better definition to the fruit. 91pts. And that was our night, well most of it anyway. Some of us ventured out into the evening for a few additional drinks where the conversation turned to hiccups, oral indiscretions and hookers but that's a story for another night! I just want to thank everyone who came and contributed to making this another great evening. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again. Well actually give me a few days to recover but I'll be ready soon enough. In fact I have to run now to a business dinner where we'll have to drink 1997 Fontallorro, 1997 Flaccianello, 1996 Oddero Vigna Rionda Barolo, 1996 Pira Marneca Barolo... That one hardworing Gregory Dal Piaz Community Manager Snooth Photos by Brooklynwino - Thanks Steph    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Snooth celebrates with some... by Gregory Dal Piaz

  
  
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  June 2009

  Eyrie Chardonnay 1993

  Snoothrank:

  This had a lovely waxy nose with notes of golden raspberries, cashews and hazelnuts. In the mouth the fruit remains sweet and expansive with bright acids backing up the dried apple fruit tones that lead to a finish with inner mouth aromatics of tobaco and cocoa powder and piercing... Read moreThis had a lovely waxy nose with notes of golden raspberries, cashews and hazelnuts. In the mouth the fruit remains sweet and expansive with bright acids backing up the dried apple fruit tones that lead to a finish with inner mouth aromatics of tobaco and cocoa powder and piercing minerality on the finale. Drink em if you can find them but this is holding superbly. 92pts    (hide)

  Wine review by Gregory Dal Piaz

  
  

• March 2009

  After much anticipation Snooth’s OTBN was apon us! We were meeting in the ... something like this: 1991 Eyrie Chardonnay Willamette Valley Reserve – This was such a treat and in incredibly fine shape with gentle fruit and perfectly proportioned soil and wood spice tones adding... Read more After much anticipation Snooth’s OTBN was apon us! We were meeting in the ... something like this: 1991 Eyrie Chardonnay Willamette Valley Reserve - This was such a treat and in incredibly fine shape with gentle fruit and perfectly proportioned soil and wood spice tones adding complexity. The acidity has kept this wonderfully vibrant and delicious. My white wine of the night! 1999 Verget Chablis Grand Cru Bougros - I would have guessed this was new world and the Eyrie old if I had to! Lovely crisp apple fruit is winning the battle with the oak and this is in a bit of a strange place right now as the wood is still adding a bit of sweetness but that acid and minerality powers through on the crisp, cleansing finish. 2003 Pfaffenheim Muscat - Wow, can you smell the Key Lime pie? Redolent of fresh lime zest and cut grass this smelled sweet but was dry and rich on the palate with nice lemon drop fruit. 2007 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Riesling Spätlese - Insane! This is my third time with this wine and it’s as impressive as ever with real power and superb balance. Great Reisling. Nuff said! Tied for my second place white WOTN! 1994 Gunter Steinmetz Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Spätlese - As much as I loved the Donnhoff, and I love Donnhoff, this took things to another level with diesel, mineral and honey notes on the nose that made you think this was mature but an amazingly rich, vibrant, and drippingly fruited palate that let you know this zesty wine has years of life ahead of it.! Tied for my second place white WOTN! With the whites out of the way I moved on to the reds and this is really were all hell broke loose. No matter how many glasses I had I always seemed to be one or two short but I did my best to keep up with the overwhelming flow and this is how I did it. 1983 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Stag's Leap Vineyards Napa Valley- From magnum this was just great with all the complexities one can get from older California Cabernet and the classic dusty velvet texture that makes these wines so much fun to drink. I loved this wine and for me it was Wine Of The Night! 1993 Lucien Boillot Volnay Les Caillerets - This had a wonderful tension in the mouth between bitter cherry fruit and a lovely gamy, nutty nuance. As expected it got lost a little between all the big fruit and tannin bombs but was memorable for it’s elegance. 1993 Armand Comte Pommard Clos des Epeneaux - from magnum - This on the other hand was pretty damn powerful, and a bit tight and short on the palate but it had an effusive perfume of sweet spice, woodsy aromas and black cherry fruit. I’ll check back in on this in 5 years if I can! 2003 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir Beaux Frères Vineyard - I thought this was a little older than 2003 but it was still captivating with a gentle yet sweet nose and a lovely, lithe feel that is almost impossible to find in domestic pinot. I want to find more of this! 2006 ROAR Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands - I tasted this just briefly and it had some spritz so I put it aside to let it dissipate but II never got back to trying it. Darn! 2006 Moric Neckenmarkter Blaufrankisch - This was crazy good wine. Delicate yet precise with such detail and balance. I loved it and can’t wait till the next time me and this wild blackberry beauty have a chance to get to know each other a little better. Tied for my second WOTN! By this time my lamb had arrived so fortunately I had a foil for some of the larger scaled wines to come. And boy did I need it! One after the other great wines appeared only to be replaced by another set of great wines. I was in heaven! 1987 Kistler Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Valley Kistler Vineyard - I have never smelled such a floral California Cabernet before and this was captivating. Great green olive and cassis notes as well and with the seductive texture only aged California Cabernet can have! 2004 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Backus - This was a bruiser but beat you with the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove! Great iron flecked crème de cassis fruit in a seamless velvety package. A great wine from one of my favorite vineyards! 2002 Vergelegen Estate Red - This was just gorgeous on the nose with smoky, green chile, cassis and oak tones all layered and in balance. It’s a bit simple still on the palate but this flagship South African red has the stuffing to turn into something special! 1991 Carmenet Vin de Garde Reserve Selection - This was a bit peppery and stern and reminded me a bit of 1986 Bordeaux with it’s powerful expression of tobacco tinged fruit. This is an old style of California Cabernet that one rarely encounters today. Can you say Dunn Howell Mountain? New world? Old world? The lines can get blurry sometimes and nowhere is that truer than in Spain these days. I’ll be posting my impressions from an old Rioja tasting soon and along with the notes is my take on Tempranillo these days. I go off on a lot of producers who are trying to make Tempranillo in to something it’s not and while I genuinely believe that sometimes the results make me reconsider my position, for a little while at least! 2004 CVNE Pagos De Viña Real - No mistaking this for anything but a huge, modern Rioja but the black raspberry and vanilla tones are in balance and the wine is big yet so smooth and polished that you can’t help but like it, just give it a few years in the cellar. 2004 Buil & Giné Montsant Baboix - This is another decidedly modern Spanish bruiser and it’s packed with lovely herbal, mineral and spice tones embedded in rich cassis and blackberry fruit. It’s intensely spicy and really deserves something rich and spicy to cut through! As modern as the last pair was I moved back into two classics from France, Bordeaux and Chateauneuf. Both were real treats and matched perfectly with my lamb chops. 1989 Clos du Mont Olivet Chateauneuf du Pape la Cuvee du Papet - Who wants the funk? Bring on the funk! And black olives, leather, lavender, mushrooms, you got it all on the nose and while the palate was wonderful with lovely truffly edges this had started to thin out a bit but was still fabulous. 1982 Château Grand Puy Lacoste - Classic freaking Bordeaux! This had that restrained power and endless layers of flavor that only Bordeaux can offer. As much as I love the texture of mature California Cabernet the elegance and complexity of Bordeaux can bring things to an entirely different level. Tied for my second WOTN And then I was left in my happy place; surrounded by Barolo! As you might know Nebbiolo to me is magical and while none of the Barolos tonight made it in to my top five wines I was thrilled to be ending my night with them! 1997 Paolo Scavino Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata Riserva - And as much as I love Barolo I didn’t feel the love here. While the nose offered up nice mushroom, rose and licorce scents there were loosing the battle with the spicy wood. Pretty much the same in the mouth, the fruit was intact and nice but all the complexity came from the wood so I didn’t get much depth here. 1982 Brovia Barolo Rocche Dei Brovia - This was great in it’s own way. A very good wine, but just a great glass to drink at the end of the night. Lacking some complexity as well, but just so bright and balanced with fine red berry fruits and a slightly gamy twang on the finish. I was refreshed! 1989 Marchese di Barolo Cannubi Barolo - While I preferred the Brovia to this I can’t say one is better than the other, just different. This had more complexity and deeper fruit but was a bit less elegant and refreshing. It’s still a delicious glass of big black cherry fruit. We spent the night trying to Twitter our notes as we participated in Twitter Taste Live with our virtual drinking companions but it was not with much success. Connectivity, in the virtual sense, was limited in the dining room but that didn't prevent us from trying! There was one bottle that I missed the 2005 Turley Howell Mountain Zinfandel. Can anyone let me know what it’s like? And with that I was left with the 2 dessert wines. First up was the rather crappy bottle of 1985 Warres Port. Alcoholic, disjointed and volatile it’s only redeeming feature was that it was marginally sweet and smelled faintly of fruit. I chose to move on an end my night with the fairly remarkable 2005 Feiler-Artinger - Ruster Ausbruch Essenz. Intense and intensely sweet yet with such incredible acidity that this never became cloying and the mineral notes on the finish cut right through the remaining fresh fruity sweetness so it never became over-powering or boring either. Simply a great sip with which to end a brilliant evening. I want to thank everyone who helped make this evening so special. Thanks to Wilson Daniels for their support and generous contributions Thanks to North Square for taking such good care of us. And thanks to everyone who made this such a special evening with their generous contributions and brilliant company. I can’t wait to do this again. Do you really want to wait an entire year? I know I don’t! Gregory Dal Piaz is the Community Manager at Snooth, an avid Wine Geek with a passion for things Italian, and a long suffering Mets fan.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Open That Bottle Night 2009... by Gregory Dal Piaz

  
  
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  March 2009

  Eyrie Chardonnay Willamette Valley Reserve 1991

  Snoothrank:

  Beautiful, well aged chardonnay that has retained an incredible amount of fruit considering its age. Very complex, oily, smokey and with incredible finesse. A real treat.

  Wine review by Philip

  
  

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