August 19th Wine Tasting Review

You know you have superior wines when you taste them three days after the wine tasting and they show better than on the night of the event. Actually the two dry whites, Renaud Pouilly Fuisse and Chateau du Trignon Roussanne Rhone, showed quite well Friday evening, as did the 2008 Domaine Houchart Cotes de Provence Red. The Washington State reds from Dusted Valley of Walla Walla were the major disappointments, but like I said, they were good today. The M Trignon Muscat de Beaumes de Venise was also quite nice today and I regret I didn't taste it Friday.

Mike Miller of M Squared Brokerage, our winetasting presenter, admitted well into our tasting that he should have opened the Boomtown Merlot and Dusted Valley Cabernet Sauvignon earlier. C'est la vie. These are both reserve quality reds even though "Boomtown" Merlot is a second label. My feeling is most any above average Washington State Merlot is reserve quality compared to most Merlot sourced elsewhere. These two were both 2008 vintage and should show well for ten more years. If the truth be known, they were still a little tight today.

Speaking of vintages, the two dry whites were both 2009, the vintage of a lifetime according to Georges DuBoeuf. I cannot emphasize enough the quality of this vintage and I encourage all to try 2009 vintage european wines. The two from Friday night were probably equally good but the Pouilly Fuisse, being a relatively expensive Chardonnay, opened up more in the glass. The Rhone was flat-out in-your-face apricots and peaches to perfection. The Rhone with poultry; the Pouilly with seafood, I would say.

Chateau Houchart red was our best seller Friday night, I'm sure because of its moderate price. It was a tasty little all purpose red though.

M Trignon was luscious. The nose was orange; the taste was very sweet; the body was round but not heavy; the finish was moderate. This is fine dessert wine for lovers of that kind of thing.

So I've gone on and on about a tasting that was not particularly successful. I guess there are alternative definitions of success. Stop in before the end of the month for a 20% discount on these wines when using cash or personal check. What the heck, extend that discount over cheese and the wine glasses we are offering by citing this article through the end of the month.