On May 21st, I found myself driving back from Four Gates Winery, where I crashed a wine tasting of Alice Feiring and Benyamin Cantz, and came away with a couple of bottles of wine to boot!  My wife made her usual Lemon & Red pepper roasted chicken, and we had leftover ribs from Shavuot.  We made some fresh green salad and Quinoa, to go along with the meat.

To pair with the meat, I had used the two wines that Benyo so gratuitously let me have; a 1996 non-sulfite Chardonnay and an N.V. Pinot Noir.  The Pinot Noir tastes consistent with the last time I tasted it.

The wine notes follow below:

N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz CA – Score: A-
The nose on this ruby colored wine, with a hint of orange, is rich with oak, raspberry, Kirsch cherry, coffee, and a hint of plum. The mouth on this medium bodied wine rounds out nicely, after an hour of air, and the tannins are nicely integrated, giving the wine a full velvety mouth.  The mouth is also concentrated with a lovely tart cherry, raspberry, and oak.  The mid palate is balanced with nice acidity, integrated tannins, oak, and coffee.  The finish is super long with tart Kirsch cherry, along with acidity, oak, coffee, and lovely tannins.  A rounded flavor of oak and tart Kirsch cherry lingers on the palate long after the wine is gone.

1996 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: B+ to A- (not for sale but great wine all the same)
The nose on this cloudy gold colored wine was hopping with bright summer fruit, melon, lemon, sweet oak, and crazy amounts of butterscotch.  The butterscotch was so powerful – I thought someone had opened a box of butterscotch candies. The mouth on this full bodied wine is hopping with oak, lemon, butterscotch, and melon.  The wine is concentrated with these flavors and fresh.  The mid palate flows nicely from the mouth with more oak and lemon.  The finish is super long and lovely with oak, lemon, and butterscotch.  A wonderful wine that is special and different and one that only comes with time in the cellar and good structure.