Second Flight

Last saturday I had the chance to attend a vertical tasting of Screaming Eagle. Well, actually it wasn't Screaming Eagle exactly,  rather it was the wineries much awaited new label release: Second Flight.

Back in 2006 Screaming Eagle was sold, which is a shame in my opinion, but then again, it is Napa. A once great wine region that's now the stomping grounds of corporate entities, bank holdings, the super rich elite, and the ridiculously one-dimensional people of perceived wealth who wear tacky jewelry and lap cougar juice from Riedel saucers in houses on cul-de-sacs all across America. ... Not that I'm opinionated or anything.

The tasting was the Oakville cabernet sauvignon from 2006 - 2009, each bottle retailing for $450 - $500. And I have to tell you, the '06 &'07 are uniquely different. Tight and stony with deep dark fruit notes. The '06 a hint more aromatic than the '07 as I recall, vibrant in color with a thick viscosity that coated the glass in deep garnet. Aging beautifully, the '06 is showing nice structure and balance with a delightfully complex old world style. The notes are more subtle and delicate causing the enthusiast to consider each note and flavor that creeps along the palate. There was a somewhat significant difference between them all, from the '06 and '07 to the '08 and '09 it's as if you're drinking two completely different wines from different producers and different vineyards. . . but I guess that's the point.

The '08 was a fruit bomb. Thick and sticky, with aromatics that seemed to burst from the glass with blackberry and cherry, cocoa and a bit of cedar note. Jammy on the palate with a good amount of tannin still holding the true flavors together. The '09 on the other hand, while young, had a better color and a more vibrant nose.  Now I know anyone who might read this will be thinking: obviously it has better color, it's younger. But one year won't make that big a difference, and the deep opaque purple color and sticky viscosity were intense. And there was something on the nose that was indeed, dare I say, smoky. A smoky quality in the '09 leads me to suspect that there might have been some '08 juice blended into the cab soup, and that '08 juice saw a little smoke contact from the wild fires that ravaged in that summer. I could be wrong, but it's my blog so it's my opinion. Aside form the smokiness on the nose the mouth feel was truly unusual. For a bottle this young that wasn't decanted it had an oddly oily mouth feel. Fatty and weighty, but not overtly cloying. There were hefty tannins, but nothing too unusual.  (None of the bottles had been decanted. They were all a bit tight. If the tasting hosts weren't going to be decant a couple of hours before hand, the bottles should have at least been opened one day prior to the tasting.)

Now, truth be told, I lost my tasting notes and I'm going off of memory.  But isn't that the best way to experience a wine?  I'm a fan of notes. I like jotting down my thoughts in the moment, or using a voice recorder for later, especially when I'm tasting a few different producers, but I always go back to the bottles that stick with me, and what has stuck with me most is the extreme difference between the '06 and the '08 & '09. The main difference is, obviously, Heidi Peterson Barrett.

It was Barrett who made the '06, and by '08 it's my understanding that the vines had all been re-grafted, and there was a new sheriff in town. Different vines + different winemaker = different wine. Will they continue to command the price of the famous '92 Screaming Eagle? I guess we'll have to see what the great RP has to say. If he taps his magic wine thief on the vertical Second Flight case, then yes. If not, no.