What We Drank Yesterday 7/27/19 Edition

Yesterday was a bit of a reunion with co-pilot!  We hadn’t been out and about in quite some time, and today was our day!

We had a plan that our first stop would be Stone Tower.  You know me, you’ve read my thoughts.  Every time it comes time to pick up a package I step back and think “Gosh, maybe I should let this club go.”  Then I go, I taste the wines, and I’m re-hooked.  And so it was today.

We got there at 11:20, and it was crowded.  There was a wedding party coming in too, but there were still so many people at the main tasting bar, and we snuck into the club member only room.  That bar was full but there was a ton of seating.

We found our way to the bar and had quite a tasting, given that Autumn gave us the full flight plus a lot of other wines, including the wines in the package.  Co-pilot even noted that she was one of the more knowledgeable and interesting tasting bar folks we’ve had.

She tasted us through their menu, with some nice extras included:

• the new Blanc de Noir with grapes from their French property (it was in the package and so went home with me),
• the Wild Boar Sauvignon Blanc, which was flowers in the forefront,
• the Estate Sauvignon Blanc with a little semillon in it (I liked it less),
• the 2018 Estate Rosé which is their first wine with their new winemaker (co-pilot noted that Autumn stated that the new winemaker really showed restraint, whereas the old winemaker was more into BOLD wines),
• the 2018 Wild Boar Chardonnay (nice, clean, light and airy)
• the 2017 Estate Chardonnay (creamy underneath it all), and then…..
• the 2017 Bourgogne Pinot Noir.  Now we’re in an interesting spot here – this was a tough one to drink – it was a 2017 and young, very tannic – but I liked it.  We talked about an experiment of getting three bottles, drinking one now, one in a year, and one in two years, and writing that up as a blog post.

I doubt I’d wait two years to drink it.

• On to the 2016 Wild BoarCab Franc – co-pilot’s winner of show, I liked it – smooth with simple fruit
• the 2016 Wild Boar Cab Sauv – stronger and oakier with clove in it maybe
• the 2016 Wild Boar Petit Verdot – standard petit verdot – could stand to wait another year to mellow out a little more
• the 2016 Wild Boar Sanglier NOble – I still have a 2015 here at home, so some comparison can happen – this was in the package and we took it home
• the last on the menu sample was the Windswept Hill blend – sooooo nice, but so expensive
• of course, we had some Hogback Mountain too because it was open – apparently early Saturday is THE time to come because you can get more bottles that were still open from Friday night and get more wines to taste “off the menu…”

Co-pilot and I split a pizza and had a glass each of Blanc de Noir. At this point it was getting crowded and busy in the club room and people were packing the property.  We enjoyed our wine, I picked up the club package, and co-pilot got a bottle of blanc de noir for a party she was headed to soon.

Off to Slater Run.  The new tasting room is open and I had not yet been.  I was at the storefront in the fall, and had mixed reaction to the wines then.

The new tasting room facility is gorgeous.

The right side is where the future production room will go.  We tasted through their menu, and found ourselves not in love with anything.

I’m not into sweet wine, so neither of the Kailin wines work for me at all.  The tasting bar guy warned me that the chardonnay had a mineral feel – and to be frank, I felt like I was sipping mineral water – I poured it right away.  The rosé was ok, but knowing I was heading to pick up the best rosé of 2019 on Sunday, I refrained.  Co-pilot and I both felt the Cab Franc had a nice tone of plum in it, and it was light.

First Bridge and Roots were tremendous, but at a high price point for our day.  I did get a glass of roots for the patio, which was lovely.

We didn’t take anything home, but did enjoy the beautiful space and energy.  If Slater Run does that two merlot styles again, I’ll be back, but otherwise, I was not overjoyed by this stop.

And so it went last Saturday – a gorgeous day with a nice Stone Tower haul. Next up – stay tuned for Sunday’s exciting haul!