Oooooooooooooo

What a yummy night... Started off with an older bottle of Lanson Black Label Champagne, almost pure chardonnay with tons of yeasty, biscuit notes. Great stuff... had two bottles of Bollinger that were both oxidized, so we moved on to the 2005 Napa Wine Company Pinot Blanc, which I shall not mention again... too buttery and overdone for my tastes. So, we opened a 2001 Dr. Burklin Wolf "Kirchenstuck" Riesling Trocken which was extremely young... tons of minerals with a beautiful petrol note developing. This will be better in the years to come. Almost completely dry. A great wine. The 1999 Dr. Burkling Wolf Diedesheimer Lagenmorgan Riesling Trocken (not sure of the Pradikat, though it had to be Spatlese or Auslese), Court of Master Sommelier's Limited Edition, Magnum 123/200. The wine was massive... completely mind-blowing. Tons of petrol, but not over the top. In complete balance with loads of tropical, floral fruit. Hmmm. The 1996 Penley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia, Magnum #60/180 was awesome... only 13% alcohol, this was pure mint and eucalyptus with dusty earthiness. Australian, definitely, but not the over-extracted, over-done stuff... true Coonawarra Cab... The 1978 Hospices de Beaune "Beaune", Magnum (tasted blind initially) was beautiful... almost orange on the rim with a pretty cherry red in the center. Dried leaves, compost, wild strawberries... shows what happens in a great vintage, even with village wine, in Burgundy. Really beautiful, and glad I saved some for the Epoisses. The 1982 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, was simply stunning... one of the great '82s, this wine has reached maturity in 750ml bottle and will only decline from here. A great bottle (fill well into the neck), but I've had better bottles before. Anise, tons of cedar/cigar box, graphite, black cherry, and a long, long elegant finish. Blew me away last night. The 1995 Chateau d'Yquem was all botrytis and candied apricots. Went great with the Roaring 40's from Tasmania... A nice treat! We should all be drinking d'Yquem much more often than we get to... To close the evening, two amazing Sherry's, neither imported into the US (as far as we can tell as we've never seen either offered anywhere). both Emilio Lustau... the first was simply labeled as "East India Trading Company". Had a bit of sweetness but almost Amontillado in style... dark in color, really pretty "bag of walnuts". The last, the exceptionally rare and highly sought after Palo Cortado... mindblowing wine - makes me wonder why we don't embrace Sherry... I need some of these for my cellar.

A great night, a great party...