Bond and Burgers! - Again!

We couldn't possibly be together with my folks and not have burgers at Morton's. It's a staple for us. Through its many phases - "Bordeaux and Burgers", "Cab and Cow", "Bond and Burgers", "Harlan and Hamburgers" and other alliterative combinations as well - we decided to revisit Bond and Burgers because of Kara's love for the winery on this trip.

To begin, we tried the new release of Luc Morlet's Chardonnay 'Ma Douce' 2009. While good, I found it somewhat underwhelming. It showed terrific balance and control, but fell into a small trap between the lines of Burgundian and Californian style that left me unclear as to what Luc was going for. None of us really commented on the wine, which lead me to believe that none of us really thought much of it. I do like these wines, but I hope the higher end efforts express more character and hook.

With the burgers, we broke into a Caymus 'Special Selection' 1999 and a Bond 'St. Eden' 2003. The Caymus was drinking great, but I think it's right in its window now. Lots of spice on the nose and palate with present but softening fruit on the palate. When you taste current vintages of Caymus, you realize, in comparison, how quickly the fruit in these wines fade and when your preferred window of drinking might be. This 1999 was right there for me - maybe a hair past even. On the flip side of the soft spicy Caymus, was the Bond: Super-ripe and less characteristic of my favorite Bond bottling than I had hoped. Aromatically, it smelled of freshly crushed Cabernet grapes and stems. I know that sounds weird - but I once crushed grapes in my kitchen with the stems and this was precisely the same compound. I think this bottle showed a little more oxidation than most might - there was an edge of Port-iness to it that I found off-putting, but it was a delicious drink and lent a tremendous amount of juiciness to the burger. There are better vintages of St. Eden and I would not really recommend this one as an introduction to the vineyard or Bond style based on the showing of this particular bottle.

Another episode of Morton's burgers under our belt, we returned victorious to the house, making plans for a lighter dinner on our last night. I think we need to stock up on some more white wines...