Stellar Lineup...

A nice lineup last night... the Krug Rose MV (more recent bottling) is so beautiful... strawberry, toasted brioche, anise and hay on a long, clean, crisp finish. I do think that the Rose is the least appealing of Krug Champagnes, if only because their other wines set the bar so high, and whereas I have a hard time finding a better Champagne than their Vintage, Multi-Vintage and single-vineyard offerings, I can name a few other Roses that I think are better than this... The color is lighter than most Roses (which has been my experience with this wine over time). Still, an awesome bottle. For me, the wine of the night was the 2004 Didier Dagueneau Silex Blanc Fume de Pouilly (that's fancy for Pouilly-Fume). Along with Haut-Brion Blanc, this is the purest expression of Sauvignon on the planet... amazing concentrated nose of bell pepper, grapefruit, gooseberry, wet polished rock, and tart green apple. The wine is stunning... the finish so clean and pure - like a razor blade. Absolutely mind-boggling... The 2004 Drouhin Clos des Mouches Blanc is still a baby and mostly primary at this point. Lots of toasty new oak with a crisp mineral backbone. Hazelnuts, almonds and tart Granny Smith Apple dominate this one with a sharp lemon-curd finish. Give it time, give it time... The 1989 (?) Charmes-Chambertin was old, tired and after holding in the glass for 10 minutes, finally died... nothing noteworthy here. The 1989 Olivier Leflaive Pommard Epenots 1er Cru was still holding on - barely. Lots of toast, coffee, and dried, dusty leaves. As I described it at the table - it was "really cool" as the wine still had outstanding structure, but didn't appear as if it would open. It did open, barely, then slowly faded over the next two hours. The 1989 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild took a long, long time to open up. The 89s are tough... some are great, some are faded. I first thought this was not going anywhere, but opened after 1 hour and was still getting better when I last tasted it 4 hours later. Cocoa, graphite, anise and leather (my Mouton signatures) with a powerful finish. This one kept adding length and mid-palate depth as the night went on. Still very dark, could go for a few more years ;-)... the 1983 Chateau Margaux had a touch of TCA on it (I've now had 2 corked bottles of this legend) and was not as good as the last bottle I'd had of this. Cedary black violet and a long, silky finish. Nice wine, but there are better bottles of this around. The 2006 Inniskillin Riesling Icewine is good, a bit cloying, but still beautiful. Tons of orange blossom, apricots, honeysuckle, (did I say orange blossom?), petrol and minerals. Nice, but not great. Also had a 1971 Pedro-Ximinez (PX) Sherry (I'll have to get the producer... I actually have a bottle of this in my cellar)... amazing, amazing wine. Black earth, toasted prunes, roasted walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. What length... almost syrup in its texture. The 2005 Faust was good, not great. A bit too much anise for me on this one, but lots of dusty earth as well. Too concentrated.