2001 Kenwood Pinot Noir
One of those lost cellar orphans, suddenly found. Would not have otherwise left it this long, but now glad I did as this bottle's in a nice place. Mature and leathery on warm cherry compote fruit. Tannins are pretty thoroughly resolved but good acidity makes it lively. A perfect sipper to curl up in a leather armchair with.
2002 Domaine de la Serra 'Hypogee'
40% syrah, 40% carignan and the rest mourvedre, I believe it was. Opened our first bottle of this (a Garagiste purchase) a few years ago and was shocked by the huge body of it--this is no dilute, rained-out 02. Also, it read very modern in the ways I don't like--fairly extracted with radical tannins. So now that it's 8 years old we decided to try it again. And it's still a bit early, but there's some interesting secondary development now that befits the wine's origins--some 'dirt' and blood and smoked meats, and with an hour of decanting it made a good accompaniament to a smoked brisket. Won't open the last bottle until 2013 at a minimum.