I'm Back...

Wow... long time gone. had a great vacation with some amazing wines (that I'll review probably tomorrow)... but lets just say that the 1976 Schloss Johannisburg Riesling Auslese was to die for... as was the 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle... plus many, many others. As for tonight, the 2002 Quintessa was hot... powerful and concentrated as I remember. Awesome stuff. Also had the 2002 Dominus Estate tonight. A very powerful, cocoa-filled offering from Christian Moeuix. Has all of the hallmarks of the great Dominus of old... We'll see how time will treat this one. More tomorrow...

Interesting start...

Had a few doozies on Monday... the 1982 Chateau Latour is amazing. While not as good as the bottles I had in February, this is classic, top-notch stuff. Loads of cedar, but still showing black currants and a little cigar box and tobacco. Powerful. A little lighter in color than February as well. Also tasted the slightly-corked 1983 Chateau Margaux. A pretty nose with violets and cedar coming through the slight-corkiness. Unfortunately, it really dulled the palate on the often-great, sometimes extraordinary wine. Tonight had the 1996 Chateau Pape-Clement, Pessac-Leognan. This is a baby just coming out of hibernation. The black fruits are starting to give way to the gravely-roughness in the wine. There is such power in here and this baby is only starting to show. The 1995s are closed compared to the 1996s, but I think they will outlive them. We'll see... this was a nice start. But my wine of the night was the 1990 Dr. Burklin Wolf Riesling Auslese Trocken, Pfalz. I've had this once before and boy did it not dissapoint. The first nose is pure petrol with a hint of apple. After 15 minutes, the wine fleshed out and turned into a beautiful mass of peach, apricot, petrol with an unbelievably mineral-laden finish. It is simply awesome stuff and certainly shows the agablilty of great Riesling. This wine still has 10 years to go before it might start to fall off. Sort of along the lines of the great Trimbach Clos Ste. Hune 1990, but less powerful.

Big Week Coming Up...

LV, then back, then onto the Finals of the Best Young Sommelier in America... then vacation!!! I am so looking forward to... well, to all of it. It's going to be exhausting, but I feel very well prepared for my competition. I've been tasting well, studying so much (plus, I've got plenty of plane time to cram!), and my service is, well, let's just call it "polished". I feel like I have put as much into this as I could possibly have put into it.

On another note, the other night I tasted the 1994, 1995, and 1996 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs side by side by side... the 1994 was weak. Very weak. It just didn't have the richness or refined character that the other two do. The 1995 is velvety - clearing showing some bottle age here with the slightly nutty, toasty nose. Much richer than the crisp 1996. I hope (and think) that the 1996 will turn out better than the 1995... it should!!! We'll see though.

You've read about them, but my report this week from someone tasting in France right now is that the 2005's are... every bit as good as the other critics suggest. They are balanced, concentrated, terroir-specific wines. I can't wait!!!

Like a Phoenix from the ashes...

It was a slow, dead night... until... heartbreak... The 1985 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Echezeaux was, alas, corked. TCA. 2,4,6 Trichloranisole. Cork taint. Nasty stuff it is. And it really got into this bottle good... turned it from one of the amazing experiences of my wine life a few months ago (I have, thankfully tried this wine before.) into a mass of utter disgust. Cork taint is a story for another day... But, without this incredible dissapointment, I would not have gotten to try the mind-blowing 1989 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Saint-Vivant. Certainly one of the great Burgundies I've ever had the joy of trying, this wine was 10 times better than I had it built up in my mind. The nose had the classic RSV softness with sweet cherry, strawberry, rhubarb and clove. On the palate the wine just enveloped my mouth with the sweet fruit, then a good dose of tannin let me know there was a some power along with all of that elegance. An amazing experience... I love DRC!!! And if I had to choose a wine to drink, I would choose the DRC over the 1994 Vega Sicilia Unico, but I think in the end, the Unico is the far superior wine, and is one of the great wines I've ever tasted, and certainly the greatest Spanish wine I've ever tried. Tons of extracted vanilla with leather, spice box, black plum, anise, and blackberries. This wine is so huge, but it's so balanced and silky. It reminds me of a young Chateau Mouton-Rothschild with all of the power and elegance and the silky mouth. This is one of the 10 greatest wines I've ever had...

Solare...

(sung to the tune of Volare!)... the 2001 Col Solare is a great bottle of wine. A Washington State "Super-Tuscan"... nice earth, with some jamminess and a little higher acidity than you would expect. Wonderful wine.

Happy June!!!

Happy June!!! Not much else to say... had a great tasting yesterday. Finally got my tasting confidence back which I'd been missing for a good 2 weeks. Sometimes all you need is a change in scenery and suddenly everything starts clicking. Did try the 1996 Lamy Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Morgeot" Rouge... 4 bottles, all bad. Also tried the 1996 Croix de Beaucaillou, St. Julien... it's ok. Has a pretty nose, but the palate was green and unimpressive.