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!