Cornucopia 2009 - Wines for a Blue Moon

Check out these notes forma very special once-in-a-blue-moon wine tasting at Whistler's 2009 Cornucopia festival.

Wines for a Blue Moon

This year ended with a blue moon – the second full moon in a month, which comes along ever 17 years, always on New Years Eve. Depending on your budget, you may have some of these special wines just as rarely. If you’re like me, your taste tends to out-pace your budget, so tastings like this at about $35 are a great way to try about $900 worth of wines. Vancouver’s three favourite wine guys: Sid Cross, Anthony Gismondi and David Schoelfield dug these gems out of the cellar.

Krug Grand Cuvee NV $255
All those times we enjoyed crisp good-value bubbly were just a warm up to the Krug. Complex, with deep, full, low notes of toast, yeast, dried apricots, cashews, soft butter, cream and dried fig. Krug is blended from as many as 50 wines from three grape varieties, 20-25 growths, and 6-10 vintage years. If you’re lucky enough to have a glass (or heck a bottle) keep going back to it and marvel at how it evolves.

William Fevre, Chablis, 1er Cru, Montee de Tonnerre 2006
Very gentle, spohoisticated and subtle with stony minerality and gentle pear and apple. Fresh and juicy with plenty of acidity, this will pair easily or you could cellar it. A touch of oak, but generally there’s been little intervention.

Marcel Lapierre Morgon Cuvee MMVII (2007) $62
Morgon is a top producer in Beaujolais with impeccably managed vineyards, and ’07 was an epic year, according to our trio of tasting experts, but $62 for a bottle of Gamay?

Bouchard Pere, 1er Cru, Baune de Chateau 2005 $42
This one’s going to be great. There’s lots of potential here with flavours of fall leaves, tobacco, cherry, spice and wood. Right now though, it’s a bit young, closed and tannic.

Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2003 $88
Ahhh, the moment I’ve been waiting for. Just amazing. Really complex, and landing somewhere between old world and new world in terms of style. It’s leafy and vegetal with dried cherry, black pepper and well-integrated tannins. Somehow, Felton Road is albe to get their Pinot Noir skins to ripen before the juice, which means they’re able to pick at a lower sugar level, which, in turn, gives a wine with less alcohol. They’re also farming biodynamically, and David Schoelfield swears they play Schubert piano concertos in the cellar. As in, they play it to the wine in the vats. Seriously, whatever works, and this works.

Piaggia “Il Sasso” Carmignano, Italy 2006 $62
70% Sangiovese, 20% Cabertnet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. Floral and smooth with plenty of red and black fruit and solid, dusty, integrated tannins.

Guado al Tasso, Bolgheri, Italy 2006 $80
A blend of Cab Sauv, Merot and Syrah produced by Antinori. The nose id minty form the Cab, but overall it smells like Italy. There’s no mistaking that sour cherry, cassis and earth. It’s dense, and dark to nearly opaque. This is a big boy - chunky, juicy and tannic.

Mission Hill Quatrain $45
This is Mission Hill’s big red answer to what followers of their Occulus can buy from them now to enoy without waiting 10 years. It’s more Syrah-based, with delicious mocha and coffee notes. Sorry, not sure if this was the 2005 or the 2006, which was also available at the time of the tasting.

Rhone Gang “Hold-Up” 2007 $22
Hey, what’s this $22 bottle doing at their fancy tasting? Who cares; it’s good. Loads of acidity, really red, bright, crisp and light-medium bodied. It needs food, and would work well chilled just a little. Make this your go-to red for summer 2010.

Domaine de Cristia, Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2006 $105
Red and black fruit, which is typical of CdP, but here it’s super ripe. It’s earthy, meaty, balanced and smooth – what a combo. The red fruit comes from the Granache in the blend, here it’s 80% along with 15% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre. David Schoelfield called it a new-fangled Robert Parker CdP. I think his point is that there’s a certain power that comes from a lack of restraint or wish to please a certain type of palate, as opposed to following a more traditional, and perhaps restrictive style.

Sadie Family, Columella, Swartland, South Africa 2005 $80
Un-freaking believable, says Gismondi. Smoky, fruity, ripe, earthy, smooth and rich with good tannins, says Solomon. It’s complex to the point that no one grape stands out, but it’s 80% Syrah and 20% Mourvedre. So aside from this being a fantastic wine, there’s some great stuff going on behind the scenes. The winemaker’s a young guy – about 35 – and he’s trying to get back to rudimentary techniques. This year his goal is to make wine without electricity. Talk about old school.