Lingering impressions from the last couple days:
1998 Duhart Milon, Bordeaux: Eh. Just eh. An hour in a decanter helped out a lot, but even then this wine didn't show well without food. Not all that aromatic, not all that much going on in the palate. At the very least it's missing that essential something that distinguishes classed growths from the rest of the pack. Tired or dormant? My vote: tired.
2007 Couly Dutheil Chinon: A recent and uninformed purchase, which I shamefacedly admit to making because I had this nagging feeling that it was a Loire name of some repute. As I tried to get back the memory, Rahsaan's face appeared in a bubble over the bottle I held in my hand which at the time I took as a good sign. Instead, he must have been trying to warn me away. This wine is green (underripe, not herbaceous) and boring. I nursed a glass for an hour last night, before, during and after dinner, and it didn't budge. It resolutely stayed exactly where it was on first pour, and that wasn't a good place. It's not the reticence of a shy wine, the restaint of a wine that has more to give but just can't right now, it was the emptiness of a wine that simply has nothing more than that to show for itself. I never finished the glass.