The first wine was opened as a part of this month's Wine Focus on the Loire. I will re-post it here, but encourage folks to participate in what is a quickly moving topic located at the following link: LOIRE WINE FOCUS.
2005 François Chidaine Vouvray Les Argiles (re-posted from Wine Focus topic)
A quick, minor gripe before I get to the wine. I wish Chidaine would use the Sec, Demi-Sec nomenclature on the wines. That said, this was a very nice bottle that essentially stradled the line between those two designaitons. There was a very subtle bit of sweetness that set off the yellow fruit elements, but was fully consumed by the acidity and minerality of the wine. There's plenty of wax/wool Chenin typicity, and good balance for aging potential. Nice.
1993 Louis Jadot Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Ursules
Spencer summed it up when he said that it's a little frustrating when a 17 year old wine needs more age, but this one does. That's probably a factor of the slowly evolving 1993 vintage, but nevertheless the wine needed a good hour in the glass to even start opening up. When it did there was all the earthy, fruity, minerally elegance capped with slightly rustic tannin that one might expect from this wine. Very good stuff that can be drunk now with significant air, or alternately needs to be held for another 5 years or more.
1998 Dr. Loosen Riesling Auslese Erdener Pralat
Pardon the lack of umlats, but my new keyboard does not seem to have a number pad.
Anyway, this is still quite young, though if placed in modern bracketology it would miss the auslese designation by a pretty wide margin. It drinks like well integrated, modern spatlese. There's only a hint of petrol-ish aromatics, and the fruit is still quite primary. It's also not overpoweringly sweet, likely owing to both the classical acidity of 1998 and the 12 years of age that tends to mellow the sugars in Riesling.Good evening & thanks to Spencer for the Burg & the Riesling.