The Contest Is Over...

6 Glasses of Krug MV... $300; La Tache... $700-2500; Winning the Mai Tai Contest... Priceless (plus $1 and a Top Shelf Mai Tai). Next up... Blue Lagoons. Last night rocked. Truly awesome wines. One table took all of my recommendations and pretty much had my dream wine night. But first... since when has Joseph Drouhin started making California wine? Isn't the core of Le Montrachet's most famous producer the classic, haunting minerals with incredible balance and forever-and-a-day finish? The 1998 J. Drouhin Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet tasted like it came right out of the Russian River Valley... now, I like RRV Chardonnays that have nice minerality to it. But when the "greatest" white wine vineyard in the world, halfway across the world, produces a wine that is an oak-bomb, I have to scratch my head and ask "What's the point". I defer judgement, as every other bottle of MDL Montrachet that I've had has been spectacular. Just not this one. The 1999 Ornellaia is a substantial, somewhat jammy - somewhat earthy balanced wine. Very nice length and just starting to show some age defining characteristics. Would have been a star of just about any other night. Give it time. The tannins need to settle a little bit, but it is beautiful now. The following is just about what I would drink if I could... The 1990 Krug Champagne is the finest Champagne I've tasted. Period. It is nectar, pure and simple. If I were teaching a winemaking course on Sparkling wine. I would have everyone taste this wine and say "Here is your benchmark of what this region should taste like". After that, the 2002 David Ramey Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay, Napa Valley - Carneros, was a suprise hit of the night. Everyone at the table fell in love with this wine. I recommended this wine because it is classic California, but it is so far removed from other California Chardonnay. I wish the Montrachet tasted this good... minerals, rich oak, butter (not too much), pears, baked apples. Gorgeous. But next to the 1998 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache... well, I'll just leave it at that. I've only ever been fortunate to have La Tache one other time... and the words are the same. It is what it should be. It is powerful, elegant, sensuous - silk in a glass. While still terribly young, the decanted version what should be the benchmark for Pinot Noir was stunning. Wonderful long finish of earth, tannin, spice, and classic wild strawberry and cherry. Awesome. And again, it should be the wine of the night, but it's not. It was the 1998 von Buhl Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Deidesheim, Pfalz. How do you follow up Krug, Ramey, and La Tache? D'Yquem? I thought about recommending it... but them R came out with this... and it was perfection. Liquid gold. 25 cases MADE (not imported. Made.) The rich honeyed botrytis and baked pears, apples... everything. One of the finest sweet wines I've ever tasted. Simply stunning... pehaps a 3 minute finish? Amazing wine night...