No notes were taken while any of these were consumed, so this is just what I managed to remember of them as of this morning. From the fortnight so far but for some wines previously reported and some whose bottles were probably inadvertently tossed by guests who didn't realize we were amassing the empties in the dining room. I remember chardonnays from Hendry and Baileyana, a WA red blend called Tributary (but no vintage dates so my thoughts are irrelevant), and several others whose bottles weren't in the collection. These are went out with the Recycling yesterday morning:
1990 Cristal: another perfect bottle of this very rich champagne that proves it's not all hype.
1999 Jacquesson Memoire de Siecle, magnum: a blend of 22 vintages from 1915 to 1990, illustrious as an occasion wine but not impressive compared to the Cristal. Less rich with surprisingly large bubbles.
NV Billecart Salmon rose: everything it's supposed to be.
1997 Philiponnat Reserve Millesieme: Ooh la la, this fires on all cylinders. Impeccable.
1989 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon Dedication Series, Washington: rewarded my confidence in a big way. Richer and more youthful than the bottle of Senuity's wine shared two years ago, very surprising. And excellent. Some Washington wines DO age.
1997 Woodward Canyon Artists Series, Washington: tangy with some stewed fruit on the midpalate. Very good.
1998 Lopez de Heredia Rose, Spain: this started a conversation about how much is enough oxidation. Ines, who brought it, and I loved it, others did not. Did find a perfect food match for it though: baby carrots lightly pickled in lemon juice with white truffle oil.
2000 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington: Gobby, sappy goop-fest. Some liked that, I did not.
2007 Bunnell Mourvedre, Washington: After being very impressed with several vintages of Bunnell's very impressive, restrained syrahs and his very Alsatian pinot gris, this mourvedre proves that here's a great new Washington winery for Europhile tastes. Excellent and big, with classic sage, horse sweat and dried blood elements.
1977 Grahams Port: Grahams. '77. Yum.
1996 Longoria Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido (Santa Maria, California) Vineyard, from Magnum: lacked the precision of a younger wine without acquiring a lot of interesting secondary nuances, but this wine has held up very well and that big boy got emptied fairly quickly.
2007 Domaine Vrignaud Fourchame VV 1er Cru Chablis: Ooh wow, this is not the usual quiet, steely, demure Chablis. Big and full of itself, tons of flavor. Great showing.
1995 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon: Very nice, a poster child for why you don't drink these wines young, fetching though they can be.
2002 Leonetti Merlot: case in point. Very hard and tannic yet; hold at least three more years before opening another.
2007 Rochioli RRV Pinot Noir: I remember thinking that this didn't impress me as much as I wanted it to.
2005 Mont Blanc sparkling Savoie: Now this was interesting! Floral nose, great refreshment. Others made the unfortunate comparison to champagne and found it lacking, but they'd probably think the still wine was a lousy chardonnay too. I loved it. Great find from Bob Henry.
2008 Gerard Bouley Sancerre: Very precise with lemons and grass. Needs another year or more to show all it can do, at which point I think it will be a better wine than:
2007 Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre: not that this was a dog. Or even showing all IT could do, either. A bunch of the whites sat on our counter and were retasted over several days, and this one kept improving.
2008 Buty Connor Lee Vineyard chardonnay: one of Washington's best chardonnays with a lot of concentration and elegance.
2007 Gruet Chardonnay, New Mexico: I expected to maybe go yeah yeah, it's just chardonnay, but it was in fact better than that. Impressive concentration with good acidity and no noticeable oak. It too lasted well over several days.
2007 Gruet Pinot Noir, New Mexico: generous strawberry fruit with good acidity and no noticeable oak, drinks like a warm year Savigny-les-Beaune. Again, impressive.
2009 Domaine de la Quilla Muscadet: Okay, I give in. I've just not loved muscadets in the past--liked some, but never loved--but here's the game-changer. Sensational fruit and minerality all in one package. Must get some.
2005 Clos de Briords Muscadet: Eh. I mean, okay, it was good, and it would have been even better with fresh oysters, but when you're eating sweet crab and corn on the cob and a new bottle is flying by every two minutes, this one fails to make the sale.
2007 Planeta Chardonnay, Siciliy: Indistinguishable from California product but the ramped-up acidity.
2007 Stags Leap 'Karia' chardonnay, Napa: Boring. And the leftovers oxidized overnight. Haven't a good Stags Leap anything in years, at least among new releases.
2000 Argyle Blanc de Blancs, Knudsen Vineyard, Julia's Block, Oregon: First time I've had this special bottling from Argyle, and it IS special. Very special.
1997 Pontet Canet, Bordeaux: Sad wine. Great nose but no palate, and the remainders left forgotten on the counter for three days had oxidized by the time we got back to it. Seems to have neither a present or future.
1997 Grand Puy LaCoste, Bordeaux: Proves that not all 97's are history. Not GREAT, but very nice.
2002 Red Sky, cab-merlot blend, Washington: Nice enough wine. Has all the right elements of quality winemaking and sturdily held up to eight years in the bottle but lacks the spice and secondary development that makes mature wines interesting. Might actually need more time--the wine was not decanted, and my second taste had more going on than my first.
2006 Tiefenbrunner Chardonnay, Italy: Floral nose, big acid, no apparent oak. Lovely, crisp, non-interventionist purity.
2009 Wild Goose "Autumn Gold", British Columbia: a blend of riesling, gewurz and chardonnay or one of the pinot whites, I forget which, this is a brilliant blend that take the best of each of it's constituents to make a rich, spicy wine for super-chilling and serving with spicy food like the brilliant, inventive Thai food at Vancouver's Maenam restuarant.
Re this wine, it might still be too young, believe it or not. Oh, and '09 is the year in Muscadet where "a rising tide lifts all boats" may apply.