The Sum is Greater Than the Parts

When I'm dining out, if the food is average, but the service great and my overall impression is stellar, I'll be going back over and over. One of the greatest pieces of advice I've ever gotten and it's something I base my service on, is "What would you like to experience?". It's not just a meal, it's an adventure. If you give someone an amazing experience, they will remember it forever. Oh yeah, almost forgot about the wine... 1997 Ramonet Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, Grand Cru, Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy. This wild, toasty, melon-infused lemon & mineral bomb was tremendous. The finish was so nice and long... beautiful powerful White Burgundy, though I've had better BBMs.

A New Wine Label...

You know what it is J... DG. Anyway, great wine again last night. That makes 3 in a row. First, a beautiful, mature, silky 1976 Joseph Phelps Insignia. What a great bottle of wine! So cedary, with lots of dried leaves, sweet cherry and currants. Long, fabulous finish. Then, 1989 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion. I've had this wine several times in the past, one of those bottles even made my favorite wines I've ever had list. Unfortunately, this bottle does not. It was beautifully balanced, nice concentration of classic Bordeaux fruit, but this bottle didn't have the amazing depth and backbone that I've experienced in the past. With that being said, it was still a spectacular wine. Looooong finish, just wish there was more there. Last night after work we had a discussion, as we often do, about the 1855 Classification in Bordeaux (doesn't everyone?). If I had my way, I'd drop Mouton down to Second Growth, and I'd bring in La Mission Haut Brion and Pichon-Lalande as first growths. They deserve it. Also, had the 1996 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac. Wow. Wow. Wow!!! One hell of a wine here... It only took, oh 3-4 hours to start to open. But, when it did. Oh my. The makings of a classic wine... Amazing intensity, but not over-done. Fabulous balance and amazing length. What a round, powerful, elegant, bold wine. While not the 1982, it sure is close and certainly the best Pichon in that time frame. Grab one if you can find one and put it away for another 10 years. Classic Pichon-Lalande.

Tis the season...

Walk into work... a huge Christmas tree in the bar... wreaths and garland everywhere. Beautiful. Made me smile. So did some great news about a friend - Congratulations to C & W! On to the... 1998 Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino - ready to drink, but a nice Brunello. Nothing compared to the 1996 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape! What a stinky, barnyard nose full of garrigue, decaying leaves, black plums, and wild strawberry. The palate was so powerful right up front, then just slowly died away. A great wine. Could go for a while, but drinking nicely right now if it's decanted. Now, I wish I could have tried the Les Pavots that I had Thursday against the 2001 Pahlmeyer Red Wine that I had last night... While the Pahlmeyer was lighter (if you can believe anything is heavier than the wines they make), it had that same sort of rich-vanilla, fruit-driven, dried leaf nose. Clearly from the same breeding. In the words of R - "It's pretty frickin good!". Cheers!

Turkey...

The bird, not the country... Hope everyone had something good to drink on Thanksgiving. Here's what I had... 2002 Bouchard Pouilly-Fuisse made into Kirs! So tasty... then a 1/2 bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose (perhaps the best non-vintage rose champagne out there), and finally 2002 De Ponte Cellars Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon (not much to say about it except I wish the alcohol would have been in balance with the rest of the wine - 14.4% - come on, that's a little high for a Pinot isn't it?). At the restaurant last night... 1995 Joseph Phelps Insignia - beautiful. Wonderful classic Insignia cedar/black licorice nose with wonderful black fruit. A great wine, but it's not even close to the 1994... 1997 Silverado Limited Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - a great wine, but starting to show it's age. If you have them, drink up. 2001 Cain Five - a huge wine, beautiful classic coffee bean/vanilla Cain nose. One to lay down for a while. This is the 5th time I've tasted this wine and it's starting to close perhaps just a touch. And finally, the best wine of the night, 2001 Peter Michael Les Pavots... this is one hell of a wine. Hugely powerful, with the richness of Bryant Family, but clearly a wine all its own. None of the sweetness that comes with Harlan, but along the lines of Shafer Hillside or Colgin. Rich vanilla, cassis, black currants, black plums, hints of mushrooms with tons of clove. This is a WS 98, RP 95 point wine and I think they hit it right on the head. It's a classic wine on all accounts, but it's missing just a little bit of the depth that makes a wine magical. Close... I'd love to try it again in a few years to see what's happened to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well, it's time for Turkey! And others of us have to work... well, anyway J&J - we'll miss the Jones Family - a Thanksgiving tradition to be revived someday... Anyway, nothing special last night. The 1999 Meyer Muenchberg is still drinking superbly. Wish the 2002 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape was... Light in body, light in flavor. It was ok. There is just so little of anything in the 2002 Southern Rhone reds... the whites are generally excellent. Anyway, everyone enjoy!

Sometimes you feel like a nut...

Sometimes not... sometimes you just feel like having a nice glass of wine. Like, the 1999 Julien Meyer Riesling Grand Cru Muenchberg Grand Cru with its incredibly oily texture and beautiful length. Or perhaps its the 2002 Domaine Serene Chardonnay Cote Sud easily confused with a Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru. Or perhaps its a monolithic bottle of 2000 Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge? Could be your in the mood for a 1993 Opus One - showing a nice bit of classic Opus cedar and anise. Maybe instead the 2002 Kruger-Rumpf Munster Dautenpflanzer Riesling Spatlese with it's mindblowing melony-stoniness. All are great choices. Or perhaps it's just a glass of Krug MV. Oh, something older? 1990 Robert Ampeau Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru though starting to fade, still has tons of toasty oak on the nose. Too old? The 1994 Ampeau Meursault? 1994 Ampeau Auxey-Duresses Rouge? 1994 Chateau Pichon-Longeuville Baron? 2001 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet Chenevottes 1er Cru? 1996 Conterno Barolo "Cascina Francia" and all of the classic power from Serralunga d'Alba? Enough for one night? What about adding in Tattinger La Francaisse in magnum? 1996 Chateau Cos d'Estournel, 2nd Growth, St.-Estephe (tight and powerful)? 1999 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley? Or was it the last wine of the weekend, one of the great wines of the 1990 Bordeaux vintage? The 1990 Chateau L'Evangile was spectacular after being opened for 2 hours. It was at first a wash of cedary-chocolate. Then, after 30 minutes, the beautiful fruit started to really shine. Black plums, graphite, and that classic cocoa. Great earth. A wonderful wine. Yup. Had all of them, over 2 nights. Outstanding! Last night had a 2002 Girardin Santenay 1er Cru "Les Maladieres" that was fruity with a great deal of earth. A nice burgundy. Not bad for a birthday weekend... plus had 29 various California roses, whites, and reds at a tasting today. I'll put up the goods tomorrow.

Pinot Rocks!

Not just any Pinot mind you... but Pinot Noir. Specifically, Pinot Noir from Burgundy. Where else in the world do you get wines that are just so darn expressive! They let you know about where they've been, how they were made - and they are wines you can not fake. It's either you made it correctly or you didn't. As the wines ages, the truth becomes even more evident. Wow. 1976 Dom. Leroy Pommard- Arvelets. It's the stuff. I've gone on and on about my love of Mde. Bize-Leroy and her family's wines, so I won't continue. Lets just say, for people that know their wines, this is an unbelievable glass of earth. Wet wool, raw meat, black-fruits and sweet cedar. Dried earth, dried barnyard, cranberries. And the power - wow. Even at almost 30 years of age, this wine has the power of Pommard. That's not something you can fake. Had 3 different bottles last night of this. All of them were very similar - very profound. Would make it the 4th time I've tasted it. Anyone have one? Drink up.... Cheers.

Tequila!

When your friend asks what you'd like to drink... it's never a good idea to say "whatever"... anyway... some interesting wine (finally!) last night. Started out with J having us taste (blind) a 2000 Helmut Lang Chardonnay Trockenbeerenauslese, Neusiedlersee, Austria. Not too fond of it. It had quite a botrysized nose, but lacked any defining minerality or depth. 1998 Domaine Serene Cote Sud Chardonnay was spectacular. Who says high-quality American Chardonnay doesn't age well? Even more stunning and Chassagne-Montrachet like than the 1999, this is a spectacular Chardonnay. While certainly new world (lush tropical fruit), there is certainly an underlying richness and minerality, along with some ruggedness that makes this drink like a Premier-Cru. Really beautiful stuff... The 1999 Pride Cabernet Sauvignon was killer... a beautifully-massive, jammy, mature Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. This is mountain fruit, but in a completely different style than perhaps Dunn or Diamond Creek. A great, great wine. Too bad it was the last bottle. Also, 2002 Etude Pinot Noir vs. 2003 Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir - wow, what a difference. Tasting these two side-by-side was a nice exercise. While both had lush ripe fruits, the Etude was much more of the ripe cherry and strawberry variety, while the Cloudy Bay was so black and earthy and rugged. Both great Pinots, both entirely different. That's why Pinot is the best... and then it can be part of Krug... Every day this week. A few sips is all I need. I am never dissapointed.

Bordeaux fever

I wouldn't really call it "Bordeaux fever" but my creativity is at such a low right now, I couldn't come up with anything else to say... Only thing creative this week that went out was a 1995 Lynch-Bages that after 4 hours started to open. It was a beautiful wine, perhaps not quite as powerful and massive as the '89 we had on Sunday, but it was still much bigger than most of the other Lynch-Bages I've had (perhaps including the 2000). It was just starting to show some bottle aromas - cedary leather, sweet cherry fruit, etc. This wine was classic Pauillac - power matched with amazing elegance. St.-Estephe gives you raw earthy-power, Margaux is much more floral, very seductive; St.-Julien is round and elegant; but only Pauillac has the power with elegance. Oh yeah, had a little Krug every night this week... LOVE IT!

Celebrate!

For the first time since R passed his Advanced Exam and since I passed mine, the group of us hard-nosed wine geeks got together to do some heavy celebrating... and celebrate we did. Hangover? Absolutely. Worth it? Without a doubt. There were a total of 6, plus J showed up at the end after work for a few minutes to taste through the wines. Here we go... Started off with a pure varietal Xarel-lo from the Penedes region of Spain. A nice, clean, slightly spicy, oaky white wine. Nice stuff - it goes into the odd-ball bin. Couldn't tell you the producer... I'll ask R. Had a bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte Brut (This is NOT Brut Champagne! It's not Brut!) to toast with! After the bubbles the heavy-hitters came out, and we tasted them all blind - a task that gets increasingly funnier and more difficult as the evening wears on (as alas, there is no spitting). First was a 1983 Dr. Thannisch Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese, Mosel Saar-Ruwer. Guesses were Germany and Alsace, and settled on Alsace, due to the percieved lack of sugar. I've had this wine on several occasions, but never like this. The cork was slightly moldy and imparted a slightly off-odor into the wine. I decanted it and it made all the difference. Though slightly off-dry, this wine did not have the super-slate/petrol smell that usually comes in these great old Germans. It had tons of fruit - melons, green apples, etc. A great bottle of wine! To counter, D pulled out a 2000 Monbousquat Blanc. Now, I've had some great white Bordeaux, but 99.9% of it has been from Pessac-Leognan in Graves. This was a first. A white wine from St.-Emilion! This mostly Sauvignon-Blanc was huge. Tons of new oak - clove, cinnamon, vanilla (guesses were mostly confined to the old world, with Chardonnay being completely ruled out). This wine could have lasted for years... but after 15 minutes, we wanted RED! The first red of the evening? 1990 Trotanoy, Pomerol. This wine had the classic marking of right-bank Bordeaux and was quickly identified as a Pomerol from 1990. Cocoa and dark chocolate always brings me to Merlot, and the cedary-nose put it right into Bordeaux. A great wine. Was so young... Next was a great treat from T - 1983 Haut-Brion. I love Haut-Brion. It may not have the power of Latour nor the elegance of Margaux, but more often than not in blind tastings, I always put this at the top. It's just such a decadent wine! Guessed this one right on... but thought it was a 1990! Another guess of a 1990 was the 1989 Lynch-Bages, Pauillac. This was thought to be of the more tannic 1990 vintage, but was correctly guessed as a Pauillac. The power - the color. This wine was ink-black and beautiful! I can't wait to try it again in 10 years... it needs the time. After that came a nice closer to the Bordeaux reds of the evening... 1996 Ch. Palmer, Margaux. 1st, 5th, and now a 3rd(!). Way too young, this wine was tight and closed. Beautiful violet, the guesses started getting outlandish right now (Kekfrankos?), Fabulous structure. Another great wine. It was alas onto cake! And with the delicious cake... 1988 Ch. Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sauternes (Bommes, as R pointed out, much impressing us all - it's amazing how clear the wine-induced mind becomes, if only about wine). Opened BEFORE the hurricane several weeks ago, this wine was simply incredible! The nose was so botrytis-layden it wasn't even funny. So beautifully balanced. An unbelievable wine! Ok, you can probably do the math at this point... 7 people, 9 bottles. That's a lot. But that's not all... You know how at the end of a really long, great-wine/great-friends evening you just start opening your really great bottles that you shouldn't open? Well... we did. But we should have opened them. I almost appreciated it more. 2001 Dom. Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen Grand Cru Tokay Pinot Gris. For me, very possibly the wine of the night. A touch of sweetness, beautiful flowers, spices, melon, tropical fruits - it was lush, overpowering, but amazing balance and a huge finish. Glad we drank it. As a nightcap, we then opened one last bottle... 1987 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hills Cabernet Sauvingon. What a great way to end the night! Black and tannic, full of fruit and life. This was a tremendous wine! What a night... as we all said - we need to do this again soon! So the grand total - 11 bottles. It was worth it.

Viva Las Vegas - the reviews part II - Monday

JS really outdid himself this evening... Thank you to DE and RS for a great evening, along with JC, C&SL, The C's, The S's, and everyone else... especially to my parents for letting my wife and I tag along on their fabulous few days in Las Vegas. Dinner was at Picasso... Everyone I work with thinks I am a "foodie", well, I guess I am, but no more than a "wino". Since we pour Jacquesson Cuvee 728 at my restaurant, I was very familiar with the name, however, the 1995 Signature Rose was outstanding. Beautiful strawberry nose and just a slightly pinkish-hue. Tiny bubbles. Nice. Very Nice. First course saw two wines, one of which I am extremely familiar - 2003 Bodegas Godeval Godello, Spain - a great, simple starter wine. Not quite as crisp as Rias Biaxas, not quite as intense as Rueda, but a great seafood wine nonetheless. Also, was the 2002 Dom. JM Boully St. Aubin 1er Cru Pitangerets... Just to the west of PM and CM, this is an oft-overlooked area, but can produce good, if not stellar, wines. Minerals aplenty, but most just a nice white burgundy. Great with seafood... Next up, one of the stars of the trip (you'll notice pretty much the rest of them are) - 2002 Domaine Michelot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrieres - WOW. What a wine. This is what Chardonnay is all about - as good, if not better, than many Grand Crus (and widely rumored to be the next one), Perrieres is intense, nutty, buttery immensely powerful. Charmes is good, Clos de Richemont outstanding, but they are far below what an incredible Perrierers can be. This amazing white was better 2 hours later than when it was first poured. Classic minerals with nuttiness, a touch of oak spices, and a little bit of richness. Wish I had a few bottles in my cellar! To top it if, the pairing with the decadent Lobster and Corn Flan could be the best dish I've ever had... (I'm still clinging on to the White and Dark Chocolate cake I had to Paris all those years ago). The lobster was buttery and delicious, but the Corn Flan was to die for - and put the two together - blockbuster! Moving on... 2002 Dom. Labreuil Savigny-Les-Beanue 1er Cru Liards - while I prefer the SLB Serpentieres we had the night before, I this was a nice choice with the Pigeon. Could go a few years, but I think it's delicious now! Now, the big boys... 2002 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru, Morey-St.-Denis. I must admit, my love of Burgundy often propels me to become quite harsh on wines that are simply "spectacular" rather than "mind-blowing". While impressed, and certainly a better bottle than I had previously encountered, on it's own, it was a great wine. It had classic MSD elegance, with a nice touch of tannic power. This was extremely approachable from the outset, with some nice dried earth, dried cranberry, wild strawberries, and plums. Not too tannic, I would gladly enjoy this wine any chance I could. But it was alas far outshone by the last two wines of the evening.
You could say I'm more of a Chambolle-Musigny/Vosne-Romanee guy than Chambertin/Pommard/Corton (except for Corton-Charlemagne - don't even get me started! - but I am talking red here). I prefer the elegance with understated power rather than the sheer brute force. I don't think that this wine changed any of that - nor did the 85 I had last night... As far as Chambertin Grand Cru's go, I often do prefer Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos de Beze, and Mazis-Chambertin generally over Charmes-Chambertin, as well as the other 4 Grand Crus. But, when a 2002 Dupont-Tisserandot Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru is put in front of you, you're going to drink it. If you don't, I will! Wow. Certainly the finest Charmes-Chambertin, and perhaps the finest of any of the Chambertin Grand Crus, I've ever had. Compared to the Lambrays, this was a monster. Hugely tannic, but round, ripe tannins. Amazing earthiness, but nicely balanced with the dark cherry, wild berry fruit. The power of Chambertin came rushing out of the glass - and all you wanted to do was smile! If I didn't drink any other wine this trip, this one was worth the effort. While not nearly as approachable as the Lambrays, I think in 5, 10, 15, 20+ years, this will go down as one of the great 2002 Red Burgundies. It clearly has the depth and balance to last that long or longer. I can only imagine... Last "wine" - I say that because it's technically not a wine, though it is made from grapes, and it has sort of been fermented... the 1993 Chateau Pajzos Tojaki Esszencia (there are 4 levels of Tokaji - Szasmorandi (dry), Aszu (sweet - measured in the number of puttonyas added to a gonc), Aszu Esszencia (super-sweet, a little of the gonc added to a puttonya), and then Esszencia (basically, the puttonya - completely free run juice)) was a mind-blowing syrup. Prunes? Figs? Botrytis? Oxidation? Sweet Cherry? All of the above and more... The finish isn't measured in seconds with Esszensia - it's minutes. Roughly 2.5-3.5% ABV (you can never really be sure as it's still fermenting and will do so for decades), this Furmint-Harslevelu-Muskatoly-Oremus Hungarian nectar is the stuff of the gods. How long will it last? Well, lets just say that my grandkids grandkids might have kids old enough to see it perhaps mature - and that's long before I will, as I always feel like a kid in a candy store.

Oustanding... may I offer you a to-go cup?

Seems like no one finished their wine last night! Interesting choice, as the bottles were spectacular?!? Also, R had a spectacular idea last night... of which we quickly got the support of the managers - 86 the Cordial Trolly (which was time-consuming and clumsy at best) and turn it into a decanting station! I love it! We just need to bring in an Ah-so, and we'll be all set! I love it! On to the wine... 1985 Remoissenet Charmes-Chambertin was a cigar-box, sweet cherry, earthy tannin monster! While the fruit was dying at the 3 hour mark, it was a simply spectacular bottle of wine! I think the 02 I had in LV will end up even better! Also, had a half-glass of a nice older bottle of Krug Grand Cuvee MV... I made the comment to a regular table last night that if I could drink Krug every night, I would almost give up any other wine (note the almost)... truth is, I do get to have a sip of Krug just about every night... It's wonderful stuff. MV Krug ages so well. You see that it's non-vintage, so perhaps it's not quite as good as other Cuvee de Prestige? No way. Krug is it. Give me Zind-Humbrecht, Raveneau, or Domaine Leflaive for white wines, Leroy for reds, Krug for Champagne, and of course d'Yquem for desert, and I'd be a happy man. Would make for a spectacular wine dinner, no? I digress... the Krug was so dense, yeasty, and beautiful! A light gold (darker than most Champagne, mind you), with unbelievably tiny bubble, golden delicious apples, peaches and pears. A long, long, long finish. The best!

Viva Las Vegas - the reviews part 1 - Sunday

So many wines, so little time... I obviously can't post about EVERY wine, but here are my favorites/dissapointments. Sunday... Tasting with Rudi Wiest, the great German Wine importer... had 27 different Rieslings - a tremendous tasting - and yes, I spit (most of them, anyway). Favorites? 2002 Robert Weil Kiedricher Grafenberg Riesling Erstes Gewachs ("First Growth"), Rheingau - this was a stunner. A beautiful oily nose with tremendous minerality, peaches, and tropical fruits. This was like licking a wet stone - one of the best 2002's I've had. The 2004 Fritz-Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett, Mosel Saar-Ruwer - Apply, fruits, melon, lemon peel, slightly off-dry, slatey. A gorgeous young Riesling. These 04's were tremendous... very terroir-driven. Next, the 2003 Robert Weil Kiedricher Grafenberg Riesling Spatlese, Rheingau was one of the few 03's that I thought could be drunk now, or layed down for a while. This was an extremely floral, melony, peachy, semi-sweet, VIBRANT wine that showed some nice minerals, but really needs time.
A quick word about the 2003 vintage in general in Germany and Burgundy (because the question will come up)... It was HOT. Very hot. Lots of water stress on the vines = Concentrated wines. The problem I'm finding with the whites is that in general, it seems that a few winesmakers got very scared of acid levels (which helps act as a preservative), and added excess amounts of SO2 to their wines in hopes of giving them a longer life. Well, all that really seems to have done is to create a reductive/overly-sulphurous nose on a good number of otherwise great wines. Excess sulphur is a fault in my book. It may "taste" fine, but they certainly don't smell like they should - clean, mineraly, and rich. The good news is that the sulfur should eventually come out of the wine - provided it's not in a screwcap (this is the downside to screwcaps - a conversation for a later date) - and the wines will show in all of their glory in a few years. I certainly hope so.
I digress... back to the wine! Three greats to finish the tasting... 1964 Karthauserhof Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Kronenberg feinste Auslese Riesling, Mosel Saar-Ruwer (got all that ?)... wow. What a wine. If people aren't aging their Rieslings anymore, they miss out on wines like this. While the majority of the fruit was gone, there was so much non-fruit, it was crazy! Like drinking a can of diesel (that color!)... deep golden, bright, wet stones, honey, caramel, honey blossoms - a beautiful wine! Also had the 1990 Auslese #13 which was outstanding as well... showing beautifuly with nice diesel, wet slate, apricots, and honeydew melon. Last, but certainly not least, the 1976 J.J. Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Beerenauslese, Mosel Saar-Ruwer was thick, rich, and full of life! Figs, apricots, slate, honey, creme brulee, dark- gold/orange in color, and after all this time, a very subdued, balanced sweetness.
Pre-dinner drinks at Daniel Boulud's restaurant bar the the Wynn... Thank you to J... let me know what I can do to help!... 1998 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne Rouge - seeing as how I have already proclaimed by admiration of Madame Bize-Leroy, I will only say this took an hour to open, and was by far the best Bourgogne I've ever had... If only some producers could make premier crus this good. Also tried the 2002 St. Henriot Blanquette de Limoux - first time having a BdL. Neat little wine. Made mostly from Mauzac in the L-R. Off-dry to dry, great fruit for a sparkler (MC). Had a lovely dinner at Alex at the Wynn that evening... fabulous Foie Gras, great Dover Sole. Wine? 2001 Smith Haut Lafite Blanc, Graves - a fabulous wine (but it took a while to show). Mineraly, oily (almost Mosel-like quality), spicy with tropical fruit. The semillion really shows in this wine. Why this isn't classified, I have no idea. 2002 Nicolas Joly Roche aux Moines Savienierres, Loire Valley - great wine. Typical Joly oxidation, great Chenin. 2002 Ecard Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru "les Serpentaires" - fabulous SLB. Earthy, fruit driven-nose. Will be even better in a few years. 2003 Domaine Slumberger Cuvee Catherine Guwurztraminer Vendage Tardive, Alsace - wine of the night. Great viscosity, power, beautiful apricot/ lychee sweetness. A great wine!

Back to work

Well... finally back to work! Nothing to speak of Thursday... last night there were three wines of note... first, 1990 Chateau Gruaud Larose, 2nd Growth, St. Julien, Bordeaux - this was a deep, dark wine, with some nice browning on the rim. Now, I have always been a big fan of Gruaud Larose (The '86 is tremendous - I think even better than the Mouton). Besides being one of the longest lived 2nd Growths, the wine is quintessential St.-Julien - soft, round, cedary-fruit with just a hint of earth. This was not that. I don't know if the wine was still closed, but it was not all that it should be. The fruit was gone, there was quite a bit of tannin, and the finish just fell off a cliff! The 1996 in half bottle was stupendous, however... Clash of the Pinot's... First, the 2003 Rochioli Russian River Valley Pinot Noir was so big, I had to decant it. Tremendous candy-apple, bright cherry, strawberry, and plum. Great wine. Needs a few years, though. Second, the 1999 Domaine Courcel Pommard 1er Cru Les Fremiers in half-bottle. The first bottle that I opened had a moderate ullage and smelled a bit oxidized (sour cherries). The second bottle was a waft of beautiful cherry and strawberry fruit, with powerful tannin. A great burgundy!

Viva Las Vegas!

Just got back from an exceptional wine-filled two day whirlwind trip to Las Vegas... I'll go into depth in the coming days... but a 1964 Karthauserhof Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Kronenberg Feinste Riesling Auslese and a 1976 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Beerenauslese were on the menu as well as a stunning 2002 Dom Michelot Meursault Perriers... many, many more wines... I'll chat about them later. Back to work tonight (finally!)