2020 Château Laurou 'Les Complices' Fronton

Well, I got a lot of chores done today, laundry, mowing, and I broke out the leaf vacuum, as I had some leaves come down in the front yard from a recent storm, but fall is rapidly approaching, so it's good practice!  At any rate, I'm now ready for a nice dinner on my labor day weekend, and a nice bottle of wine!  Tonight, I've opened a bottle of 2020 Château Laurou 'Les Complices' Fronton that I purchased a month or two ago from Wines Till Sold Out.  This wine has a new varietal for me, as it's a blend of Negrette and Syrah from the southwest of France.  So, let's see what this wine has to offer!

The wine is a deep ruby color in the glass, with nice clarity.  The nose presents a wonderful fruity, floral presence, with aromas of blackberry intermingled with violet and rose petals the grab your attention.  The first sip is trip, with the floral notes continuing amid some tart cherry and earthy peat notes, amid robust tannins that coat your palate.  The finish is very dry, with a continuation of the floral notes resulting in an elegant complexity.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's a wonderfully drinking wine, but the floral and earthy notes were a bit too much for me.  This wine would pair well with rich foods, much like the foods of France, with lots of heavy cream sauces, like a seafood Newburg, or filet mignon topped with Béarnaise.  Tonight, I am enjoying this wine with a long tradition of Labor Day meals, steamed Maine lobster with drawn butter and corn on the cob.  This meal dates back to my sophomore year of college, when the Civil Air Patrol had their annual fall fundraiser selling lobsters for $5 each!  So, a bunch of my fraternity brothers would each pitch in $10 and we would have a feast!  I still have the lobster pot I bought to cook them in, and thus a tradition was born, though the price has changed a bit.  Cheers!

2016 Château Sénéjac Haut-Médoc

Well, it's Sunday and I've spent the day lounging around the house as it's been snowing much of the day, but that's okay, since sometimes you just need a day to relax.  And with relaxation often comes a bit of wine and tonight I've opened a bottle that I picked up at Costco yesterday, the 2016 Château Sénéjac Haut-Médoc.  Now when I first learned to love red wine it was in Paris, where I was working for three weeks, and the office receptionist was kind enough to give me a primer on Bordeaux and the subtleties of each type (surely I had to get some Margaux, as that was the best, but don't forget the Saint-Emilion, Saint-Estephe and Pomerol!).  I still have a bottle of '86 Margaux that I brought back from that trip amidst the case of wine I carried back on the plane.  But when I got home I really fell in love with some nice Haut-Médoc wines, likely due to their reliance on Cabernet in the blend.  This particular wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (51%), Merlot (36%), Cabernet Franc (9%) and Petit Verdot (4%), so let's see how this is shaping up!

The wine is a deep ruby color in the glass, classic coloration for the Cabernet heavy blend.  The nose is a refreshing breath of fresh Gironde left-bank air, with aromas of leather, cherry and blackberry with hints of toasted vanilla over the top.  The taste is a rush of ripe red fruit, cherry, currant and cassis that transitions nicely to some earthy aromas of dusty limestone and smoke midpalate.  The silky smooth tannins provide the ideal base for a classically dry Bordeaux finish that is at once elegant and muscular.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as it's been some time since I've been able to enjoy a nice Bordeaux, and at just $17, this was also a solid value.  This wine would pair well with a broad range of dishes, from pasta to steak, lamb to seafood, or just sipping with friends and family.  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a lemon pepper wild Alaskan salmon filet along with a Meyer lemon and dill cream sauce, some oven roasted purple carrots and jasmine rice.  Cheers!

2014 Mark Ryan Lost Soul Syrah

Happy New Year!  Okay, maybe I jumped the gun by a few hours, but given my track record over the past few New Year's Eves, I will be lucky if I'm not asleep by 10 pm tonight, so enjoy my well wishes a bit early.  Tonight I've decided to make a special dinner since I was lucky enough to go to Chicago and bring back some wonderful meat and fish from Eataly, and given my dinner tonight is fish, I decided to go with a nice Syrah, the 2014 Mark Ryan Lost Soul Syrah, a 100% Syrah from the Red Willow Vineyard in the Yakima Valley of Washington.  So let's see how the last wine of the decade is tasting!

The wine is a deep ruby color in the glass, with nice clarity.  The nose is a veritable party of ripe black fruit aromas dancing with violets, smoke, with an occasional romp of black pepper spice.  The taste is classic Syrah, with a rush of lush black fruit, blackberry, currant and cassis, that bows to some earthy flavors of tar, and pipe tobacco before a wave of peppery spice comes at you toward the finish.  The tannins are polished and well structured, providing for an elegant and very dry finish that lingers for a minute or more.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as it's a classic representation of the varietal, and perhaps the nicest Syrah I've tasted this year.  This wine would pair well with a variety of dishes, from steaks and chops, to venison and short ribs or earthy mushroom dishes.  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with an oven roasted filet of red snapper with a Meyer lemon sauce I read about on epicurious.com (get the simple recipe here), along with some oven roasted purple carrots and some mushroom risotto.  Cheers!

2013 Reininger Cima

Well this has been a sunny Sunday, so I took advantage and spent the last five hours blowing and raking leaves!  Ironically enough I think that may be more time than I spent enjoying the shade of said leaves this past summer!  So after that fun I am ready to relax with a nice glass of wine, and tonight it's a wine that's been six years in the making, though it only arrived within the last couple weeks, the 2013 Reininger Cima.  Cima means peak in Italian, and this super Tuscan style wine is an ode to Chuck Reininger's mountaineering days and is crafted of Sangiovese and Bordeaux varietals with an extended time aging in barrel before release, similar to many of the best known Italian wines.  This vintage is a blend of Sangiovese (41%), Cabernet Sauvignon (27%), Merlot (27%) and Petit Verdot (5%) from the Pepper Bridge, Seven Hills and XL Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington.  I had a chance to barrel taste this vintage on a visit to Reininger in 2017 (see here: 2017 Vacation to Walla Walla Wine Country - Day 2) and it's been waiting six years, let's see how this wine tastes!

The wine is a lovely ruby color in the glass, with nice clarity, a tribute to the heavy emphasis of Sangiovese in the blend.  The nose is a lovely tribute to Tuscany, with aromas of leather, smoke, dried violets and pipe tobacco amid ripe berry fruit.  The taste is a rush of cool fruit, cherry, plum, black raspberry and loganberry that just dance around your palate before easing into notes of Asian spice and vanilla bean midpalate.  The soft tannins and bright acidity provide for a velvety mouthfeel and an elegant dry finish that lingers for a minute or more.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as this one is certainly on par with the 2006 and 2007 vintages, and extends the streak from 2011 and 2012.  This wine would pair well with a variety of hearty fall dishes, from roast beef to stew to hearty steaks and mushroom risotto.  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a wonderful Italian dinner of linguine with mussels simmered in red wine and San Marzano tomatoes.  Cheers!