Great Wines with dinner on Saturday night at a farm house in Illinois. Got together with good friends and expected great wines. All were French but that is many times to be expected. Great surprise for WOTN.
'92 Trimbach Gewurztraminer: First impression was an Alsacean with some RS but after a second taste you realized this was a dry wine showing huge gewurztraminer fruit. Golden color, fresh, seemed young but the color gave it away. Should go on for many more years. I am not a huge gewurztraminer fan but wish I had a few cases of this in the cellar. Ended up being the WOTN which is not bad for a wine that probably cost $7 max when purchased. I think Trimbach makes the most underated wines in Alsace.
'98 Domaine La Milliere CnP: Barnyard nose with meaty flavors. Complex, medium bodied and a very good drink. Again, So Rhone is a no brainer for food matches and went great with a sausage/mushroom pasta first course.
'95 Pommard 1er Les Chanlins by Vincent Girardin: Big and weighty but to be expected from Pommard. Much younger than the vintage, tight and will go for many more years but drank well on Saturday. Pommard tricks me because it is the most "different" of most typical Burgs.
'89 Cantemerle: Initial taste when opened had green veggie components. Decanted and came back in an hour. It had opened up and improved but still exhibited flavors typical of Loire CF. OK but my least favorite of the first four wines tasted and would not wait on this wine if it is in your cellar.
With only four people drinking we should have stopped but always open one more bottle than needed. Tried the '09 Evesham Wood PN but should not have. Nothing memorable but it was up against some heavyweight competition, wasn't French and probably too late in the evening for a real taste test.
Walt
