Mai Tai!

"Do you know what's really good with dessert? Our bartender's Mai Tais!"... but seriously, some very nice wines last night. The 1994 Chalk Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was showing a little bit of a green-olive note, but had jammy black fruits in the background and just a hint of tobacco. A very nice wine that is past its peak. The 2003 Chapoutier Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc was beautiful after about an hour or two... gorgeous flowers. On to the very interesting wines of the night... first, use all means necessary to acquire any of the 2004 Patz & Hall Pinot Noirs. Last night we had the 2004 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (their "lowest-end" bottling) and it was a monster... unreal, dark, completely California Pinot Noir. I can only imagine what the single-vineyard wines are like... The 1991 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, our last bottle, was fading by the time I got to try it. While still full of plummy cedar and tobacco, this elegant wine had fallen apart in 3 hours, but it smelled glorious when I decanted it. The 1988 Chateau Haut-Brion was stunning... it smelled like Haut-Brion and mostly tasted like other Haut-Brions I've had, but this was something that the others aren't - elegance in a bottle. I always think of Haut-Brion as muscular with an underlying layer of finesse. This wine was all finesse... and what a wine it was! While WS and RP have this wine at different ends in the 90-100 point category, I would certainly put this example in the upper levels. Cedary, but with tobacco, pencil lead, plums, and anise. Again, extremely elegant on the long, long, long finish. If you have a few, open one up.