Chappaqua Wine Club Pinots night

First dinner of the Chappaqua Wine Club featured Pinot Noir from the US and France at the Kittle House.  Nine attendants, great wines, excellent food and good banter.  Here are the details:

The Menu:
A salad of beets with pistachios (we asked to leave out the goat cheese and grapefruit as it would interfere with the wines)
Lobster and leeks stew
Consomme of duck and chestnuts
Steak tartare (yummy)
Loin of lamb with peas
Cheese platter
Chocolate peanut butter cake

Flight 1
2000 Robert Groffier Chambolle Musigny les Amoureuses Burgundy
My number two, group's wine of the night; great dark color, earthy nose, delicious fruit.  The wine is in a good place right now but it's not as elegant as most Amoureuses I've had.  Tasted chewy and a bit rustic but has great complexity. In a blind tasting, I would have easily mistaken it for a Gevrey Chambertin.

2004 Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin Combe Aux Moines Burgundy
Good vibrant color, quite tannic and closed, no green meanies at all, but nothing much is happening at this point.  Needs years.


2003 Williams-Selyem Rochioli Riverblock Sonoma Russian River, CA
My number three, beautiful wine, focused and bright. Balanced with gorgeous red fruits an a long finish.

Flight 2
2007 Saintsbury Carneros, CA
A solid wine that I would love to drink any time, nothing spectacular, though, a little lost in this company.

2007 Siduri Pinot Noir Sapphire Hill Sonoma Russian River, CA
Group's number three Darker color than I expected, layered and complex with a spicy finish according to some.


2006 Williams-Selyem Central Coastlands San Benito County, CA
Very nice, color and flavor reminiscent of it's older sibling, a little less complex and the finish is a bit diluted, still a delightful wine.

Flight 3
2005 Sea Smoke Ten Santa Rita Hills, CA
My number one, group's number two. A stunning effort, rich, complex, seamless, I was afraid it would be a tad monolithic but it keeps evolving and adding layers of complexity.  Amazing wine with a long finish.

2007 Kosta-Browne Keefer Ranch Sonoma Russian River, CA
Sweet on the entry and complex on the finish, exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be, a delicious wine with more minerals and herbs than candy.  Would have gotten into the top three on any other night.

2006 St. Innocent, Seven Springs Vineyard Willamette, OR
The most balanced of the New World wines. Beautiful vibrant color, focused flavors, good complexity,  a very good effort.

That last flight was amazing and we could have stopped there but there were two backups that we opened with the cheeses:

2003 Robert Groffier Chambolle Musigny les Amoureuses Burgundy
The earthiness is there but so is a ripeness uncommon in Burgundies in general and in Chambolle Amoureuses in particular. A metallic finish, in an unbalance package. I wasn't crazy about it.

2004 Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin "Les Cherbaudes" Burgundy
A strong bretty nose at first but it blows off quickly, I like it after the initial whiff but it's tannic and it needs time.  Still good focus and length.

A great time with new and old friends, snow on the ground as we're leaving the Kittle House, roads were tough, but hopefully everyone got home ok.