Cinq Cépages Vertical

Our store recently held a six-year Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cépages tasting. This wine gained popularity, of course, when it was named “Wine of the Year” by Wine Spectator in 1999, at a surprising suggested retail of $28. Of course, the price has more than doubled since then, but then again a lot of prices have gone up. At any rate, most of the six vintages of Cinq Cépages that we tasted would value in around the $60 asking price, still a value considering some of the (overpriced?) competition on the market today. Winemaker Margot Van Staaveren was there to walk us through the different years.

Here are the notes I scribbled onto my placemat, translated from my sloppy and secretive cursive:

1996

Brick red color. Bright fruit on the nose. Very slight tannins, berry fruit and a hint of bitter chocolate. Full but not overwhelming. Certainly my favorite of the tasting.

1999

A nose of red pepper (?!), with dust and tiny amounts of fruit. A little warm on the mouth with an herbal presence. Interesting, if not great.

2000

Deep brick with a much dustier nose with much more subtle fruit. More fruit on the palate but still balanced. Softer, less pronounced.

2001

Softer, less details on the nose. Warm, mild fruit (light berries) and some spice. This wine lacks firm tannins. (Margo claimed this vintage as her “current favorite. I thought it was a little shy.)

2002

Nose full of jam and tight, young berries. It has seen less age, and is tannic with darker fruits and berries on the palate.

2003

More young fruit but less jammy sweetness on the nose. Big and tannic with some herb and dark chocolate. Obviously needs some aging.

Rosenblum Makes Great Zinfandel

Had a brief in-store tasting with the a representative from Rosenblum. These guys are putting out some amazing wines at decent prices, and even get consistently high ratings from Spectator and Parker. Here are the wines we tried:

North Coast Rose 2005

A funny hint of what the representative referred to as "the white rine." That is, the watermelon without the sweetness. I disagree; I thought it was closer to watermelon Jolly Ranchers. A bit overpriced, but an interesting rose. 70% Gamay, 30% Grenache.

North Coast Zinfandel 2005

A good blend of zinfandel from Rosenblum's North Coast vineyards. Not as jammy and extracted as the San Francisco Bay, but still quite good. 2005 is even better than 2004.

Carla's Vineyard Zinfandel 2004

Planchon Vineyard Zinfandel 2004

Eagle Point Vineyard Zinfandel 2004

Aparicio Vineyard Zinfandel 2004

To be honest, these zins sort of blur together now. According to my notes, the Planchon had a bit more burnt raisin extraction, and the Eagle Point had noteable mineral tones that lingered for quite a while. All these wines were incredible and are highly recommended. While they do have minor differences, they are consistenly heavy with reasonably high alcohol balanced with huge body and fair amounts of sugar, without overdoing the jam or sweetness.

Rhodes Vineyard Petite Syrah 2004

This wine was incredibly dark in the glass. Heavy with a very full mouthfeel, practically coating the palate. Intense. Very good.