Good to the last drop...

A very busy Saturday night - finally! A few great bottles, but generally good wine wine all around. The 1996 Fontodi Syrah is tremendous... It reminds me of a great aged Cote-Rotie, even if it is from Italy! It's not a bottle that people would just order in the restaurant, but neither R nor I sold him the bottle - he picked it out. Drinking beautifully right now, and a great comparison to the Fontodi was the 2000 Guigal Cote-Rotie "Brune et Blonde". So earthy and tarry with the signature black olives and black fruits. Nice wine. Even better was the 1997 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chenevottes" - a beautiful, lemony, rich, minerally, melony Chardonnay. If you have some, drink them. They are just hitting their peak. Staying with White Burgundy, the 1999 Albert Pic Chablis 1er Cru Montmains had nice hints of clove and cinnamon, coupled with classic Chablis limestone/ wet rocks (that ones for you A)/ steely, tight finish. Would love to try this one in a few more years. Then the big guns came out... first, the 1982 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Premier Cru, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France was perhaps the best bottle I'd ever had of it. Wonderful Lafite cedar/tobacco/pencil lead sweet cherry nose, with lovely wood spices, and underlying power. Very long, commanding finish. Not as good as the 82 Latour or 82 Pichon-Lalande, but close. The night couldn't be complete without a little Krug, could it? Certainly not... but not what I was expecting - One of the great wines I've ever had, the 1990 Krug Clos du Mesnil was stunning. A beautiful Blanc-de-Blancs from the greatest Champagne producer there is. Arguably the finest Champagne that there is, this single-vineyard Champagne is generally released quite a while before the regular vintage Brut is. Yeasty, with incredibly tiny bubbles, the wine is light gold, with tropical fruits, melon and ripe Granny Smith apples. Absolutely stunning. I'm not sure it was better than the 1990 Krug Brut I had in September, but that might have been the environment just as much as the wine. I'd love to do a comparison... After that bit of bubbly, which J literally tasted the final few drops, we finally left to wind down. R & I had the same thought - more bubbles! The 1995 Gloria-Ferrer Royal Cuvee was just what we needed... apples and more apples, with some yeastiness, and nice cardimom spice notes. Nice wine... Cheers!