Bob and I popped open a 2008 Raptor Ridge Pinot Gris from Oregon the other night. It's a great example of a serious white that outperforms the bad rep this grape has domestically for quaffing plonk--nuanced, interesting, finessed. Bob (who was having an off night and doesn't have my taste memory) wasn't quite as impressed as I was, so to make the point I poured him a glass of 2006 Arrowood Chardonnay, which was downright gaggy with overt sweetness and heavy oak. Then he got it!
A night or two later we opened our last bottle of 2000 Overgauuw Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. More Bordeaux-like than straight cab, it showed a nice array of mature flavors but I do believe it's on the other (downhill) side of the peak.
Yesterday we stopped at a friend's and he poured a 2009 Kermit Lynch Cotes du Rhone, Cuvee Cypress. This, he told me, is from Kermit's own vineyard, though it's possible my friend confuses 'vineyard' and 'winery'. No idea what's in it but it's medium-plus bodied and tastes of a syrah/grenache blend with bacony notes on the nose and peppery notes on the finish. Unfortunately, the nose has to share space with some rotten egg brettishness which increased with airtime. It's so weird how some people don't smell that, though. It was more than a little obvious to me, but the other three tasters couldn't find it.
That is, until the next bottle got opened and I pointed out that it too suffered from brett, causing the wines to smell more alike because of that than different due to the big gap in underlying grapes. The second bottle was a 2005 Marechal Cuvee Gravel Bourgogne. In addition to the brett, I found this wine a bit green and unremarkable. And I have to say, the wine was undesirably warm to the touch--it came from the garage, where I thought this friend had a Vintage Keeper or similar (but I've never been in the garage to know, and this bottle definitely did not come out of a cooled environment). And I'm remembering the last time he and I talked about brett, it was also over a wine he poured at home. Makes me sad to realize he might be sabotaging his own stash. He reads a lot of wine mags--how does he not know?