Choices from all-over-the map, reflecting the paranoid stock market and associated weather patterns here in the Blue State heartland. To give an example, we went from around 0-degrees F to 70 in about 4 days.
Let's get started...
Lafarge, Volnay, 1999
Color of maroonish cranberry red. Subtle morello cherry, fresh cut mushroom and light floral spice on the nose. There's a light cherry wash with spice, some ginger notes, this is very fresh and lively with light tannins still showing themselves on the finish. Earthier and not as up-front fruity as a bottle tried around 2003. Unfortunately this fine producer is priced above my means nowadays. Sad and blue, but not for tonight. A-
Domaine Maume, Mazis-Chambertin, 2000
What a beautiful delicate nose this has of forest flowers, clove...Pretty, ungussied-up light cherry-spice wash with the ever so slightish amaro hint among the sweet fruit. Very lovely drinking right now. Not for the power hungry out there. A-
Daniel Dampt, Chablis 'Cote de Lechet, 2004
White light gold colored. Calcium and lime-blossom nose, which shows up in the glass as lemon oil and lime zest, with plenty of crushed limestone. Rather sharp and a little short, still fine but doesn't have the dimension one wants when having another glass. Low B+
Nikolaihof, Kremstal, 'Steiner Hund', Riesling, 2000
Plae lemon gold. Lemon-lime zest on the nose, aong with calcium dust. A little more revealing in the mouth with lime curd and a slight stony daisy/daffodil finish, which is not long. Some slight petrol creeping in toward the end. A classy bottle, but felt the Gruner Veltliner Steiner Hund of 2000 was better, being richer and having more complexity. 12.5% alcohol, which seems low compared to today's riper Austrians. B+
Les Jardins de Bouscasse, Pacherenc du Vic Bilh Sec, 'Les Jardin Philosophique', 2004
I just love saying the appellation in my distorted French way. It has the effect of wishing someone into a cornfield. Good thing I like the wine as well as a bonus. The color is a light, flat gold. Good floral aromatics, with talcum powder, light peach and ripe pear. Honeyed straw and summer fruit salad with a short finish. Not particularly complex, but has a generous 'drink now' personality, and for the price, I wouldn't complain (around $12-15). B+
Biondi, Etna Rosso 'Outis', 2001
A medium maroonish red. Smoky glutamate aromas. An interesting smorgasbord of flavors in the glass: Mashed and mulled kumquats, freshly cured tobacco leaf, black tea and oyster shell fragments (like biting on shell when sucking down a fresh oyster). Leafy tannins and pleasant acidity frame this medium-bodied red with an interesting personality. Excellent. 13.5% An A the first night, but only B+/A- the second, as this couldn't seem to hold up the next day and diminished somewhat in my mind.
Chateau Quinault L'Enclos, Saint Emilion, 1999
Deeply black plummy red. Plum spice and blueberry puree, slight licorice on the thick nose. Deep intense blueberry and Santa Rosa plums, toasty oak, and still very strapping tannins on the end. Alcoholic uptick in the finish. Done in a modern, 'sexy' vein. 13.5% B+, but glad this is mu only bottle.