Had a reunion of eight people that met every Saturday about 10 years ago to taste wines in the back room of a local wine store. Lots of stories and memories. We stared out with four whites
1)Bubbly, nose of smelly socks and palate of meyers lemon. Could drink but not something I would want. 12/20 NV Dom de la Desoucherie Crement
2)Nice dose of mild acidity, and a round finish. Can enjoy this white. 16.5 /20 ’06 Chablis Les Truffieres Kermit Lynch import
3)Oaky, tired, guessed a domestic chard 13/20 ’02 Mersault 1er Les Chames – Henri Boillot. A big surprise, would have expected more, maybe a bad bottle
4)Very nice, fresh, medium body, liked this wine. 17/20, ’04 Chablis 1er Mont de Tonnerre - Raveneau
Guess 2 out of 4 isn’t that bad but was looking forward to the reds. Read the notes of my friend beside me and it said “nothing very good with the whites, on to the reds”
1)Good bright fruit, bing cherry, big acid, guessed Italian 17.5/20. ’96 Ceretto Barbaresco
2)Soft, smooth, lots of age based on the color, a little tired but overall a very enjoyable wine. 17/20. ’67 Ch Beycheville. Go figure, most interesting and surprising WOTN
3)Old, slightly maderized, guessed a good cab from the ‘70s. 16.5/20 ’80 Buena Vista Cab
4)Good acid, bright fruit, complex, guessed a good young Bordeaux 17.5/20 ’90 Cos
5)Off nose, some acidity but somewhat out of balance 15.5/20 ’84 Chalk Hill Area, made by Laurel Vineyards for the St. Louis Symphony
6)Alcohol apparent, very closed, cotton mouth tannins, good wine somewhere underneath, guessed Bordeaux. 16/20 now, 17/20 later ’90 Pichon Baron
7)Very nice fruit nose, bold balanced fruit on the palate, young but a great wine 18.5/20 ’95 Pichon LaLande consensus WOTN, gave me faith in the ‘95s, a vintage I have struggled with.
8 )Good fruit with balanced acidity and some tannins in the finish 17.5/20 ’90 Cos, a duplicate of #4. I got lucky with similar notes and rating
9)Big but balanced, obvious domestic PN. This was my wine and I got beat up for brining the youngest wine. 16/20 ’01 Rochioli West Block
10)Balanced with soft acidity and tannins, Bordeaux 17/20 ’03 Pichon LaLande. Have to admit that I have had very few LaLandes that were not good to excellent, a great property year in and year out
11)Big, lots of fruit, has to be Cal Cab 16.5/20 ’93 Palmeyer
Finished with a very nice dessert wine from outside the Sauterne/Barsac area but quite similar. Didn’t get the name but the first bottle was corked and the second one was significantly better. I really like being insensitive to TCA but when tasted side by side it was obvious the first wine had a defect. I sat there somewhat enjoying the first bottle while others turned up their nose. Ignorance is bliss.
A wonderful night with some memorable wines. The ’67 Ch Beycheville got the “memorable WOTN” and the ’95 Pichon LaLande got the consensus WOTN.
Disclaimer: The above is only my opinions and the group is predominately old world wine drinkers