Finally (the actual reviews)

Ok... after a good nights sleep, I'm feeling a little better, and ready to write!!! Unfortunately, I was a little stuffed up and didn't get the best tastes of the wines (as was R), but it was still good enough to get into the meat of the wines. The 1955 Chateau Haut Brion continues to blow me away... a simply mind-blowing experience. Bacon fat combined with leather, black plums (still has tons of fruit!!!), and loads of gravelly power. This is an amazing wine and should still be good in 30 years. While not the best bottle we've tried (had it 4 times in the last month and a half), this was the second best. Amazing. The 2000 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache was first very tightly closed... finally took about 4 hours to open to the point of really getting into it. Stewed tomatoes, classic DRC note of clove spice, dried leaves. This was the first time I noticed that the finish has a bit of astringency - I do not think that this is going to go away. While it's not a huge negative with this wine, I do think that over time this wine will become overly acidic and die after a relatively short life of 15-20 years. How good will it get? I'm not sure... Could just be this bottle, but come to think of it... all of these 2000 DRCs have the similar note. Wouldn't bet the farm on these. I would however bet the farm on the 1999 Guigal Cote-Rotie La Turque. RP gives all three La-La's 100 Points and I certainly would agree. The smokey, bacon-fat, coffee-bean, mocha, beefy massive Cote-Rotie. Could be the best I've ever had. This wine is immense, but incredibly delicate at the same time. I always think of these wines as having the beauty of La Tache with the boldness of Chateau Latour - this is certainly no different. If you've never had the immense pleasure of tasting one of these amazing wines, you must do so. Young, old - doesn't matter. These wines are the stuff of legends.