Once again I’ve got a nice little mix in the bi-monthly shipment, with both wines being “new releases.” For the sparkling I received a 2006 Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine, and for the red its a 2008 Domaine Carneros Dijon 115 – Clonal Series Pinot Noir. Below is the write-up for the Pinot Noir, and I’m really excited to give this unfiltered Pinot Noir a try. I’ve also attached a scan of the newsletter page with the write-ups of all four wines available for this shipment.

The 2008 vintage marks the debut of our new Clonal Series. Each year we will put the spotlight on one of the 12 different Pinot Noir clones grown at Domaine Carneros by bottling it separately. In this first edition, the Dijon 115, was a stellar candidate from the beginning. Sourced from two different estate sites, the final blend ventures into new stylistic territory for Domaine Carneros. Along with the full complement of fruit that one has come to expect from the Chateau, this clonal wine leads with an exciting aromatic profile featuring earthy forest floor, saddle leather, tobacco box, roasted coffee and a wisp of smoke. tasting reveals delicate anise spice, baked cherry, and a silky texture.Enjoy this limited wine and Club exclusive. 500 cases bottled without filtration.

Newsletter Page

This months shipment is an interesting mix of wines, from the brim to the dregs (so to speak) for Domaine Carneros. For the sparkling it’s a 2004 Le Reve Blanc de Blancs and the red is a 2008 Avant-Garde Pinot Noir with both wines being new releases.

They must make a lot of wine for the Avant-Garde series (Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay), since it seems like I have at least 6 bottles from that line in the basement. While the Le Rev is usually the wine that Carneros ships out for the higher end subscription that they have available. But every once in a while, they somehow include a bottle for the basic subscription category. Bottoms up!

I ended up getting these wines from UPS the day before leaving on Christmas break, and a couple of minutes before UPS’ 7pm guarantee delivery deadline. So you know it must have been a busy Christmas for UPS, when they have to push the delivery to the every end of the delivery window.

I’m pretty excited about both bottles, more so for the Ultra Brut since it goes great with seafood (oysters in particular.)

Here are some notes from the Shipment newsletter about each wine:

2005 Ultra Brut

Ultra Brut is a rarely-produced specialty style. It is a very dry and brisk, and for that reason serves as a superb aperitif. It enlivens and refreshes the palate, stimulating the appetite for the pleasures of the meal ahead. This is wine is composed of 64% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay and 2% Pinot Blanc. The incredibly fine mousse gently delivers the aromas of baked apple, pear, key-lime with an overlay of toasty nuttiness. The wine is beautifully round and long. Ready for immediate enjoyment, it is also a very ago-worthy wine. It will complement and shellfish, smoked fish or mushroom hors d’oeuvres.

2007 Le Terre Promise Pinot Noir

This is the second vintage from out newest estate vineyard, La Terre Promise Vineyard, planted next to the landmark Stornetta Dairy on the Carneros Highway. We selected this site for its rolling hills and exceptional soils, and planted it between 2002 and 2005 to an array of clones, some of them new to us. This second release is very representative of the ripe 2007 vintage. Extremely expressive of its terroir, it is redolent of pomegranate, raspberries, cherries, vanilla and Asian spices. You can enjoy this wine now, and look forward to future developments from this exceptional vineyard site.

When I first saw this wine after Halloween at Costco I thought that I had plenty of time to pick up a couple of bottles. Part of it being that they had a whole pallet of the stuff. Well I guess word got out about this years batch of wine being good. Because when I went to Costco before Christmas to get a couple of bottles, all that was left was 4 cases. Yikes! I only ended up getting 3 bottles, since I can only drink so much wine in one sitting. But I was glad to get some before it was sold out.

One deal that peaked my interest is their Thanksgiving Trio of the following three bottles for $110: 2002 Late Disgorged Brut, 2007 Avant-Garde Chardonnay, 2006 La Terre Promise Pinot Noir. But I don’t think that I’ll be ordering anything extra then my normal club shipments this year, seeing how I still have over 12 bottles of Carneros wine just sitting in the basement from this years shipments. Plus I still have another regularly scheduled shipment coming in a couple of weeks, of a 2005 Ultra Brut and a 2007 La Terre Promise Pinot Noir. So I think I’ll be bringing some wine for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner this year.

From reading Domaine Carneros’ flyer this month, I guess that this is only the second time that they have released a Blanc de Noir, which is basically a white wine made from black grapes. There first release of Blanc de Noir was in 2001, but it seemed more like an experiment from a stand out Pinot Noir Cuveé. It wasn’t until 2006 that they had another Pinot Noir Cuveé that to quote them “wanted its own recognition.” So I’m pretty excited to give this sparkling wine a try, and at a list price of $33 and a club price of $29.99 a bottle (even lower when getting half case and up), a pretty reasonable price point to boot.

In some other exciting wine news, in about 2-3 weeks I should be getting my Magnum Society shipment for the year. I’ll post more info in that shipment when it arrives.

The sparkling this shipment is a 2003 Late Disgorged Brut Vintage Cuvee, which has had an extra 3 years of aging before being released. And the red is a 2007 The Famous Gate Pinot Noir.

In other wine news, this past week when having dinner at a relative’s house I had a couple of glasses of some 1985 Mondavi Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Rating: 95, Wine Spectator, 11/01/1989). At first it was a little bit musty in smell, but after some airtime in the decanter it started to open up and stretch its legs. It wasn’t big and bold like some younger Cabs, more of a mature but fading smoothness from start to finish that only comes with some age (or a lot of age!). This wine is basically at the tale end of its ideal drinking age (1995-2005), so it was probably a good thing that we imbibed when we did. Because the end is near.

Bottoms up!

The sparkling this shipment is a 2003 Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs, which is a blend of 98% Chardonnay and 2% Pinot Blanc. And the red is a 2007 Domaine Carneros Estate Pinot Noir.

One interesting item that I noticed in this shipments newsletter, were all the large format bottles that they have available, at pretty reasonable prices compared to their range of 750ml bottles. For Vintage Brut they have a Magnum(1.5L), Jéroboam(3.0L) and Methuselah (6.0L). For reds, they only have a Pinot Noir as a Magnum. It would be pretty sweet to get the Methuselah, 8 normal sized bottles in one very large bottle. Now thats a party!

The way that I currently have my subscription set up is that I take part in the mixed club as well as the Magnum Society. For the mixed club, every two months I receive a bottle of red and a bottle of sparkling. Then for the Magunm Society, they send me a Magnum bottle of either red or sparkling wine right around Christmas time.

For the April/May period shipment, the red is the Domaine Carneros 2006 Avant-Garde Merlot. And the sparkling is Domaine Carneros Cuvée de la Pompadour Brut Rosé.

Bottoms Up!