We happy that Bernard, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Bernard writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Bernard writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Bernard's notes from June 24, 2002:

With the first course, I enjoyed the 2000 Mas d’En Compte Blanco (60% Grenache Blanc, plus Picpoul and another oddball Spanish varietal whose name I missed). Rhonish nose of hay, animal fur, stone fruit. Some oak. Bitter almond, grapefruit, white peach, sweet honeyed fruit, pineapple. Tastes like Chateauneuf-du-Pape blanc. Needs food. Excellent. About 92 points.

The “serious” wines started with the roasted duck breast. The 98 Capafons Mas de Masos is an old school wine. Primarily Grenache, with some carignan and cabernet sauvignon. Dark ruby color. Black cherry liqueur bouquet. Huge, intense fruit, blackberry, blueberry, cocoa. Huge dusty tannins that soften on the finish. High alcohol, bit of a drop in mid-palate, and a very long finish. Top notch. Needs 5+ years. 93(+?)

With slow-braised Lamb Shank Ragout over Crispy Mascarpone Polenta we had 99 Capçanes Cabrida (from Zona Falset, Tarragona, just outside the Priorat boundary). Pure garnacha from 104 year old vines. French oak. Very dark, rich, intense, sweet black and blue berries. Very fine tannin, well-integrated. Complete wine. Winderful. Needs 5-8 years. 93-94.

A variety of Spanish cheeses (Mahon, Garrotxa, Idiazabal, Valdeon) were superb. The dessert wine, 99 Mas Doix, was a tough match to the cheeses, but only somewhat better with the chocolate truffles served later. Mas Doix has a sweet oak nose with black cherry. Extremely tannic, high alcohol. It’s hard to fathom a good food match at this point, but what will it age to? About 80 points now, maybe 90+ in 15-20 years. 

We and others brought additional wines to the dinner, including a couple standouts from Priorat. My bottle of 95 Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofí matched really well with the red meats. Good balance, elegant. Sweet red cherry, supple, integrated oak. Terrific balance and finish. 94-95. 

Howard and Rhoda’s 95 Dolc de l’Obac fit in where the Mas Doix disappointed. Terrific, intense, medium sweet Grenache (not unlike a young Banyuls). Not very tannic. Excellent stuff. 94

Other wines we sampled from other tables included:

99 Paloma Syrah—Lavish French oak nose, sweet fruit. Stylized, Parkeresque. I liked it, even though it was obvious.

70 Beaucastel—Smells cheesy (maybe from the cheese plates), but in wonderful shape. Slightly corked, we think, pungent, complex, smooth. Tertiary development stage. Some oxidation, stewed cherry. Quality dropped after about 8 minutes in glass, but 90 points initially.

98 Joseph’s Estate Vidal Ice Wine (Niagra on the Lake). Tom Hill was sure he read the label as “Viagra on the Make”, but he was having delusions of codpiece grandeur… This was a fabulous dessert wine. Excellent aromas of cinnamon, spices. Tastes of butterscotch, orange. Unusual and unusually seductive. 94