3 wine tasting

[VouvrayHead]

These are the 3.

Michel Parraud 2000 Cornas cuvee "Sarah"

Jean Garaudet 2002 Monthelie

Napa Wine Company 2001 Napa Valley Zinfandel

3 people brought a wine each to go with mushrooms, roasted taters, and a salad.

2 people ranked the Cornas (my wine) highest, one person ranked the Burgundy highest. Everyone ranked the Zin last.

My notes:

Cornas: Really gamey at first, but blew off after 20 minutes of decanting. Still, lots of earthy meatiness, some dark very ripe fruit, too. Dry, mature, and very good. 92 ($28)

Monthelie: Beautiful nose, almost textured. Dark raspberries and forest floor. The mouthfeel is silky with raspberry, strawberry, and wet tree-forest earth. Rich in flavor saturation, but not heavy. 90 ($20)

Zin: Very nice mouthfeel, lots of blueberry and blackberry fruit, some vanilla and other oak notes. Maybe a bit past its prime judging by lack of spice. Still, very nice. 88 ($17)

Average subjective scores of the 3 of us:

Cornas 92
Burg 91.66
Zin 89.34

The person that ranked the Burg very high (94) is knowledgable about wine but had never had a burgundy the really shows terroir. This was his first and maybe he was a bit overenthusiastic (if such a thing can be said towards Burgundy)... Glad he liked it so well, though. It was nice wine.