When Good Wine Turns Bad...

It should have been a night of great wines... they were there. They had the pedigree. But in the end, they stumbled and fell. Wow. Never have I been so dissapointed in a group of great wines... 1982 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, 2nd Growth, St. Julien - after walking away with an 82 2nd Growth Horizontal a few months ago, this wine was a complete dud immediately upon opening. It was flat - showed some cedar, but mostly wet leaves. There was no fruit, no magic. This was a completely different bottle than the last time... night and day. Then, just as I have been saying for a while, and this is by no means a blanket statement - the 1997 California Cabernets are destined for soup - the vast majority of them are falling apart like you wouldn't believe. I would be drinking them all now. Seriously. The 1997 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon was beautifully classic when it was released. Soft, mellow, round, velvety Cabernet Sauvignon. The bottle that was opened last night was a piece of crap. There was no fruit - there was no velvet - there was just tannin and wood. As the great DM says "Wine is all about the fruit" - well, I'll mostly agree with him. The 1997s are loosing fruit so fast - they are big, tannic, wood-bombs. Certainly there are some great 1997s out there, but the 1994s have surpassed the 1997s and I believe that the 1999s, 2001s and 2002s will far surpass the end result of the 1997 vintage. Ready for another dud? The 1963 Fonseca Vintage Port. One of the great port vintages ever, and I've had this a few times before. This was all alcohol. None of that beautiful nuttiness that defines old vintage port. Nothing doing. I'll chalk this one up to bottle variation, however. But, with every gray cloud there is a silver lining. And last night it was the 1983 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg. Now, if Pinot Noir is supposed to be such a short-lived varietal, how is it that in an off-year such as 1983, Pinot Noir can be better than an 82 Bordeaux, an 97 Cali Cab, and a 63 Port? You know why. Because when from a top estate, Pinot Noir gives the drinker more complexity, more feel, than any other wine. This was classic old DRC Richebourg with a beautiful Coca-Cola nose, dried leaves, sweet cherries, and even the slightest bit of black earth. The wine was certainly on it's way out, but from the moment the nose hit, I knew it was a spectacular wine. Great stuff. Also had a 2003 Pfaffenberg Scheurebe (cross between Riesling X Sylvaner) Spatlese (sorry, forgot the village and einzellagen) from the Rheingau that was good, but tasted chaptalized (?) or acidified (?) or both. Nice minerality for 2003 vintage. Also had the 1994 Chateau Pichon-Lalande which was nicely round. Drinking very, very well right now.