Hosts: Bob & Sandy Simoni
Danville
For this month, we had a very unique tasting where members brought an old wine from their collection to share with the other members. Wines needed to be from Year 2000 or earlier. Members stepped up and provided 8 red wines for the main tasting ranging in years from 1964 to 2000. As could be expected, demand to attend this special tasting was high but because some people were willing to share a tasting we were able to accommodate 25 tasters and 28 guests overall.
The wines in the competition are shown below in order of their group rank. Despite what one might think that older is better, there was general consensus that the 2 youngest wines (1993 Silver Oak Cab and 2000 Chateau St. Georges) were #1 and #3, and the 2 oldest wines (1964 Concannon Cab and 1969 Martini Pinot Noir) were the least favorite at #7 and #8. One wine that bucked the trend that younger is better was the 1976 Heitz Cellar Cab that finished #2, just 4 points behind the winner. It’s hard to draw too much from this small sample, but it might indicate that if you’ve been holding bottles in your cellar hoping that they’d continue to get better with age, maybe it’s time to open them! Based on input received from attendees, they are definitely interested in having another tasting like this in the future.
The contenders shown by group vote from left to right
| Rank | Points | Wine | Bottle |
| 1 | 46 | 1993 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon | 8 |
| 2 | 50 | 1976 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon | 5 |
| 3 | 70 | 2000 Chateau St. Georges | 7 |
| 4 | 85 | 1986 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande | 6 |
| 5 | 100 | 1978 La Rioja Alta | 4 |
| 6 | 105 | 1980 Acacia Pinot Noir | 2 |
| 7 | 128 | 1964 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon | 3 |
| 8 | 136 | 1969 Martini Pinot Noir | 1 |
Individual votes:
| Rank | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Total Points | 136 | 105 | 128 | 100 | 50 | 85 | 70 | 46 |
| Your Name | Btl 1 | Btl 2 | Btl 3 | Btl 4 | Btl 5 | Btl 6 | Btl 7 | Btl 8 |
| Indra | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Vince | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Diane K | 8 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| Laura Wilson | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| Karen C. | 6 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Phyllis | 8 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Suzi mills | 8 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Sandy Simoni | 7 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Lisa | 6 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Richard | 5 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| Marie Coppola | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Bob | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Rick T | 8 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| David Hsu | 7 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Ed | 7 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Genie | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Chris Wood | 7 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Bob Collins | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| John Henry | 8 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Steve Smith | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
Besides the main tasting, there were several unique wines for the pre-taste as well as post-taste provided mainly by Steve Smith and also John Henry. Since not everybody had a chance to taste these wines, Steve Smith provided these very informative tasting notes for them:
- 1980 Veedercrest White Riesling Mt. Veeder District
Lovely old California Riesling character. Low acid, but nice sweet fruit. However, the fruit faded and the remaining flavors were not very pleasing. Very enjoyable if drunk between about 6PM and 6:15. - 1989 Inniskillin Late Harvest Riesling (Canada)
Soft and delicate but well balanced with nice Riesling flavors and just enough acid. This was opened at about 6:30 and the fruit was so strong that this was still very enjoyable at 9:30. - 1996 Mondavi Reserve Chardonnay
Opened at about 6PM and it took 10 or 15 minutes for the fruit to come out. Just enough acid to be drinkable. Subtle Chardonnay fruit but the flavors are dominated by the oak which adds vanilla and a cinnamon spiciness. Up until 6:30 or 6:45 this was a very nice super-mature California Chardonnay; after that the fruit was fading and difficult to detect. Very enjoyable if you like oaky Chardonnay. - 1986 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay
Opened at about 6PM and it took 10 or 15 minutes for the fruit to come out. Not enough acid for most people, but tolerable for lovers of old California wine. Subtle Chardonnay fruit but the flavors are dominated by the oak. Up until about 6:30 or 6:45 this was a nice over-mature California Chardonnay; after that the fruit had faded so much that only the oak was left. Probably enjoyable only if you like old California Chardonnay. - 1964 Krohn White Colheita Port
Colheita Port can be either red or white. Both are Tawny Ports because they are aged in barrels and allowed to oxidize giving them rich burnt sugar and nutty flavors. Red Colheitas are usually sweet but the whites, just like White `Port that is bottled young before it has a chance to oxidize, are dry. Because of the oxidation, White Colheita Port is usually a rich amber color as this wine is. Normal Tawny Port is a blend of Port from different vintages to achieve a desired flavor. Colheita must be from a single vintage, but it can be young or old when bottled. Unlike Vintage Port, Colheitas do not improve much after bottling and do not have any sediment. This wine was bottled in 2007 making it 43 years old. It is the oldest White Port I have ever heard of and is a rare treat. The flavors are so complex they are hard for me to describe. For my palate, this wine had very rich flavors of black and golden raisins with burnt sugar and hazelnuts.
After the tasting, a buffet style meal was served by Loveable Feast who has catered for our club several times previously at events hosted by the Feltons. Everybody seemed happy with the quality and quantity of the food. Total cost per person for the event including the caterer, table and chair rentals, and bread and cheese was $80.
Cellar Society of San Francisco 