Christmas in August

Is it August or February? Great wines last night... and they just kept on coming. The 1998 Alvario Palacios "L'Ermita", Priorat is a beautiful wine. Tasted once before, at the uber-lunch at the end of March. Tasted 3 different bottles of this yesterday - one right after opening, and two other bottles about 6 hours later. Loads of anise, cocoa, wild raspberry, exotic spice box, jasmine, and leather... this wine is an earth monster, but clearly still needs a few years to show its full potential. The wine got more and more earthy as the night progressed. The 2001 Marquis de Grinon "Gaudium" Gran Reserva Rioja was ok - not great. In the classicly-light MdG style, this wine had a moderate finish and I don't really have a lot of other positive things to say about the wine. Would I turn town a bottle? No. Would I order one off a list? No. That sums it up. The 1999 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-St.-Vivant "Morey Monge", bottles 00121 and 00123, was excellent. Bottle 00121 was opened and tasted first. This bottle was slightly closed, but a beautiful example of very young great Burgundy. Classic DRC nose of clove, cinnamon, spicy rhubarb, and strawberries came together in the soft elegance that defines RSV. A long, unevolved finish. Bottle 00123 was much more open on the nose, with roses, spice box, clove, cinnamon, strawberries, rhubarb and ripe fruit. This bottle was superior to the first - more expressive in every nuance. Unfortunately, both bottles closed slightly as the night went on. It took a lot of working the wine in the mouth after being opened for 3 hours to really bring out its subtelties. Very, very nice.

The 2003 Masseto was a huge disappointment... I've never loved this wine, and the cocoa-powder and overripe cassis and black cherries were slightly off-balance, and then the elevated alcohol just threw it over the edge. It's often called the "Italian Petrus", but I don't think Petrus would ever make a wine like this. Another bottle of the 1996 Gaja Sperss was identical to the one from the previous night. Outstanding wine. Shows the Serralunga d'Alba power.... Rediculously good... saw one on a wine list in Roma for 125 Euro... kicking myself for not drinking it. The 2000 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (2 different bottles, but both were identical) was the most open and expressive of any 1st or 2nd Growth Bordeaux I've had in a long, long time. The wine is pure cocoa, toast, chocolate, coffee grounds, cassis, black cherries with a lots of black olive (?! - unusual for this wine). Loads of pencil lead on the palate, and wow. What an incredibly long finish. One of the best Lalande's I've had in a long time. Give it at least another 5 years - preferably another 10 - before opening if you have some. Great wine. For me, the wine of the night was the 1999 Tirecul la Gravieres "Cuvee Madame" Monbazilliac (Sauternes-style from Bergerac in SW France). Tasted against the 1997 Chateau Suduiraut (which was good, but had nothing on the Tirecul), the wine was complete caramel popcorn, honeysuckle, honey, toffee, brown-sugared baked apricots, and orange blossom. The nose was powerful and extraordinarily complex, leaving you breathless. I could smell the wine for hours. On the palate, the wine coats your palate, leaving every tastebud searching for another layer. Incredible length. The wine is a baby, but appears much more evolved than it truly is. Give it a few years and drink this incredible wine from this legendary estate. I need a bottle for my own cellar, and I'd put it against Chateau d'Yquem in all but the greatest of vintages....