Lunch blind tasting notes.
Cruse Winery Ricci Vineyard Sparkling St. Laurent huge fizz (presumably not method Champenoise) pale pink, peach nose, slightly sweet finish, cidery impression. Interesting.
2003 Zind Humbrecht Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain petrol Riesling nose, considerable colour mid amber, smooth and dry, lacking fruit and slightly angular in the finish. Past its prime.
1990 Ch. Pibran this Pauillac cru Bourgeois still shows good colour, lighter at the rim, a very good cedar and plum claret nose, with very good fruit and vanilla, balanced and finishing medium long with clean acidity. Good showing for a modest wine.
2006 Arcadian Pisoni Vd. Pinot Noir medium colour, varietal nose, soft round and pleasant, with decent length.
2006 Ch. St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon Eighty-Five Fifty-Five cab, merlot, petit verdot Malbec and syrah. Still purple even at the rim, a tad simple in the mouth and primary in the nose, and lots of ripe cherry at the finish.
2000 Ch. Pontet Chappaz another cru bourgeois, this time a Margaux and one I had never heard of. Dark, balanced and ripe, it acquitted itself well. Solid mid-pack bourgeois.
Some of us retired to my place to wait out the traffic and we opened another bottle:
2006 Arcadian Stolpman Syrah wow wine of the day for me. Slightly vegetal nose but in a positive way, Red fruit and berry notes, with a French tone rather than American. Pretty wine with elegant nose, an American Cote Rotie? Probably needs drinking as I dont think it will develop much from where it is now..