Ho Ho Ho...

Been a good, if not spectacular, week... but we have our annual get together this evening where some great wine should go down...

The 2004 Tignanello could very well be the finest version I've ever tasted... simply mind-blowing concentration for a mostly-Sangiovese wine. Loads of anise and black berries, with hints of red fruit and tons of classic Italian dusty earthiness... very Italian, very Tig, and this baby needs a while - like 5 - 10 years minimum. The 2003 Flor de Pingus, Ribera del Duero was all coffee beans and mocha tonight with hints of dark chocolate, and black berry fruit... not my style. I'm wondering what happened to this wine over the last few months. Less concentrated than the 04, still very nice... left me scratching my head. The 1995 Chateau Musar, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon (a few km outside of Beruit) is a fabulous wine. Sweet spicy cherries with a beautiful earth-funk of cedar, tobacco (wet and dried), dried straw and a long, long finish. Those of you not familiar with this wine should find a bottle... one of the longest lived dry red wines there is... The 2004 Domaine de la Janasse Chateauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is a tightly wound ball of spice. I'm not sure what the exact blend is, but it's got to have tons of Grenache in it... the sweet wild strawberry and raspeberry fruit gives that away... tons of spice. Very, very tight. This needs at least another 5-10 years to evolve completely.