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 November 14, 1998:

Wines were bagged and served double blind before dinner. As I've written before, the Hitching Post serves excellent grilled steaks, smoked duck, quail and other wine friendly foods. Their house wines, Hartley-Ostini, feature excellent pinot noirs from Santa Barbara County. More recently they've branched off into Zin and Petite Sirah, but the PN are still best.

Aside from the first wine (pink), all were red and primarily grenache.
 

96 Alma Garnacha Navarra, Spain--Medium red. Earthy, oaky, red fruit nose with slight corkiness. Modest fruit, high acid, thin middle. Tart finish. A quick trip to the dump bucket. 83

96 Chateau de Montmirail Gigondas--Darker Burgundy red. Gamy, gunpowder, closed. Sweet red cherry, very tannic, very long. Plum skin, earthy. Very young, needs 3-6 years. Fairly high acid, fruit falls off in finish. 90+

95 Domaine du Trapadis Rasteau--Rather obscure Cotes du Rhone Village. Dark purple. Lovely blackberry, plum nose. Spicy, black pepper, berry. Very big tannins, long stinging tannins, slightly astringent finish. Could be sweeter. Iron, tar on finish. Seems like American oak (before the wine was revealed). Needs 4-6 years. Tastes like some syrah in mix. 91+

96 Alban Grenache--Very dark inky purple. Spicy, earthy, toasted oak. Beautifully balanced, complex, big tannins. Long finish. Blackberry, plum, minerally. Needs 4-8 years. 95+

97 Rosemount Grenache/Shiraz (65/35)--Medium ruby. Closed nose with some strawberry, earth. Luscious, sweet, intense, almost cherry cough syrup, raspberry. Long finish, big tannins. 2-4 years. Rather simple flavor profile. 90+

96 Zaca Mesa Grenache Chapel Vineyard--Medium ruby. Closed toasty oak nose with red fruit. Bouquet opens fairly quickly with a bit of swirling. Very lovely cherry tobacco, some herbal notes on finish. Very complex. Needs 3-4 years. 94+

96 Coriole Lalla Rookh (Australia)--Dark Burgundy. Bizarre petrol, varnish, black cherry nose. Very rich, sweet, incredibly concentrated, intense, big stinging tannins with astringent, burnt rubber finish. (Seemed like a Ch. du-Pape with mouvedre qualities.) 88+?

96 Chateau Rayas--Medium ruby. Closed nose showing some strawberry. Light weight, sweet strawberry, cherry. Moderate tannin, drying finish. Needs 5-8 years. 91+

95 Bonny Doon Le Cigar Volant--Dark purple. Earthy, black cherry, toasty oak. Wonderful, rich, deep complex flavors: Black cherry, tobacco, earth, toast, cocoa. Long finish, fine tannins. 3-5 years. 93+

96 Domaine Hortus Pic St. Loup (Grenache/Syrah/Mouvedre, 40/40/20)-- Dark Burgundy. Deep toasty oak, black cherry. Black raspberry, blueberry, fairly simple mid-palate. Drying tannic finish. 2-4 years. 89

96 Basedow Grenache (Barossa, Grenache/Cab, 90/10, American Oak)-- Medium red. Strawberry, earthy. Sweet cherry, strawberry fruit. Moderate tannins. Smooth, good balance, fine finish. Fairly simple flavors. Needs 2-3 years. 89

90 Chateau La Nerthe Cuvee des Cadettes (Chateauneuf du-Pape, Magnum)-- Dark red. Funky, bretty, stinky. Round, balanced, smooth. Complex, old viney, minerals, plum, iron, black fruit. Long, rich, complete. Definitely older CdP. Is it the 90 Beaucastel? 95 points.

Musings from the bloody damn pulpit, in case Tom Hill is watching...

The group ratings agreed with my top two preferrences: the Alban and the La Nerthe. I'm proud to say they rated the 3 reds I contributed at the very bottom of the pack (from worst): the Alma, Coriole, and Rayas (tied for 8th). No surprise on the Alma, corked and thin. The Coriole had that strange off-putting smell, different from the other times I've had it, but still incredibly intense, tannic and concentrated. At $17 a bottle, it is incredible QPR, but the wine is worth holding for a few years until the tannins subside.

The 96 Rayas, which I brought, was practically a give away from its light color in the glass. At $80, this is horrible QPR. One is buying legacy in this bottle and not much more. Although pleasant enough to sip, it really lacks the power that Rayas can deliver in excellent vintages. The 96 even pales compared to the 92 vintage which had decent structure if not much in the way of fruit. The 96 reflects the problems with rain during harvest, lacking the concentration to deliver much oomph. I may have over-rated this wine at 91+, but I am hoping that some bottle age will bring out some complexity that the wine currently lacks. Maybe a better score now would be 87.

The John Alban may just have made the best grenache anywhere in 1996. This bottle is fantastic, all together, big, rich, ripe, complex, powerful. It more than doubled the score of its nearest competitor in this tasting, with 24 points (3-2-1 system) to 11 for La Nerthe. This is John's best grenache since the 93, and may indeed outshow it in a few years.

Bonny Doon's showing was not a surprise. Long a leader in CA Rhone varietals, Randall Grahm's grenache has a long track record in delivering complex, black fruit intensity to a varietal often presented on the simple strawberry end of the spectrum by CA producers.

The Zaca Mesa was the biggest surprise. I'd never had the ZM grenache. This rendition apparently was produced in such small quantity that it was only available direct from the winery. I wish I had a few bottles to track its development.

The La Nerthe's smell was a dead giveaway that it was CdP, and though this wine is predominantly grenache, I was suspect that the wine might have been an inadvertent ringer, e.g. Beaucastel, with only a small part grenache. Nevertheless, this was really, really good, probably the best of the wines in matching the smokey grilled NY strip. It is as mature as it needs to be to enjoy now, but it should hang on for another 6-10 years.