Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to everyone! May the New Year bring you good friends, good food, and good wine. As for me... mine brought me two of the three (an overcooked cheeseburger for dinner doesn't classify as "good food".) For the wine, it was spectacular. The 1978 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild was a nice bottle, but was not properly stored it seemed. It had a very low fill, the cork was slightly protruding, and it had a slight burnt-rubber aftertaste, though it was filled with that classic Lafite cedar closet smell. The 2001 Domaine Leflaive Batard-Montrachet was outstanding, though it did seem to have a touch of cork on it... a very slight touch. The wine was so tight and mineraly with raw power... I would give it another 10 years before I'd even touch it, and that is from a mildly off-year. On to the real goodies... the 1985 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Echezeaux was unlike any I'd ever had (Echezeaux, that is). So undeniably Mdme. Bize-Leroy with unreal structure and power, but at the same time, classic rustic earth-driven Echezeaux. Without question, this is the pinnacle for this Grand Cru... and it's still very young! Last but certainly not least, my favorite California wine I had in 2005, and moving steadily up my "best ever" list is the 2001 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon. Sorry Wine Spectator, this is my "Wine of the Year". Unbelievably rich without being even the slightest bit cloying with overextraction, this is what Stags Leap Cabs should taste like. I reviewed this wine a few months ago, and if anything, it's adding dimensions. A great, classic Hillside Select.