I should also mention that the huitlacoche corn soup that we started with is one of the most incredible soups I've ever tasted and I'm looking forward to making it soon this fall!
And the best Halloween costumes I saw this weekend were on two of the bottles that Jay Miler brought, dressed up as 1997 Bryant Family Cabernet and 2003 Pegau CdP.
And the wines...
2006 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Sauvignon (Loire)
From magnum (and I love the fact that the label had a handwritten "2 x" next to the 750 ml). Others liked this less, but I really enjoyed this - unusual aromatics that smell strongly of capers; light and refreshing in the mouth bright grapefruit and lime fruit over a bed of stone and saline minerals and gentle herbal and grassy accents around the fruit. Lovely.
1990 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile (Alsace)
From magum, and absolutely stunning! Powerful pear, citrus and white fruited flavours surrounded by developed smoky, honeyed and fusel notes and the whole package rests over a bed of stones. There's the typical Trimbach precision and focus here, fantastic acidity keeping it really fresh and making it seem surprisingly youthful for a 20 year old wine with really impressive length. Just flat out fantastic Riesling.
2000 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Chavignol Cuvee Buster Les Monts Damnés (Loire)
Delicious stuff, pale citrus fruit over a stony base accented by herbal and faintly saline flavours. There's a sense of freshness and brightness I certainly wouldn't expect from a 10 year old Sauvignon, and the whole package is very nicely balanced with impressive length
2007 Domaine de Bellivière Jasnières Calligramme (Loire)
From magnum. A nice combination of sweet and savoury; ripe quince and other yellow fruited flavours surrounded by touches of earth and wool, with an interesting cornmeal note at the back end. Faintly creamy in texture, though finishing a touch warm.
1997 Franz Hirtzberger Neuburger Smaragd (Wachau)
Wild stuff. This is stretching my frame of reference for white wines; stunning aromatics with forestal herbal notes, smoke and a really intense minerality around a core of rich white fruit and green bean-ish flavours. Powerful and creamy in the mouth, yet incredibly precise and bright with fantastic acids - like somehow combining a lot of the flavour aspects of Gruner with Riesling minerality and a lot more richness and concentration. A really remarkable, singular wine.
2008 AmByth Estate Mourvedre Mark's Vineyard (Paso Robles)
Was really intrigued by this, as it's a 11.8% alcohol Mourvedre from Paso Robles - light, slightly thin red fruits at first, turns out its corked. Bummer.
1998 Azienda Agricola Montevertine Il Sodaccio Vino da Tavola
Also corked. Damn.
1995 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato
Also corked. Goddamnit! Screw you Portugal!
2008 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
Delicious again. Fresh raspberries, slightly tart cherries and other red fruits with floral and earthy accents, lightweight and incredibly refreshing with bright acids keeping it very precise and fresh, flavour without weight.
2005 George Descombes Brouilly Vieilles Vignes
Pretty much an essence of red berries - raspberry, cranberry, you name it - dusted with a touch of spice on an incredibly light, silken-textured frame. Delicious stuff.
2005 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Spätlese (Pfalz)
Slightly disappointing compared to previous bottles I've opened. Delicious apple, peach and white fruited flavours accented by a nice florality and touches of honey and smoke, but it comes across a bit creamy and soft without the precision and cut I enjoyed so much in other bottles of this.
1991 Robert Ampeau & Fils Pommard
Another corked bottle. Sigh.
1995 Prager Riesling Smaragd Weissenkirchner Achleiten (Wachau)
Freaking amazing. A powerhouse with laser-like precision, combining developed smoky and honeyed notes, a spectrum of bright fruit ranging from tarter citrus to riper melon and peachy flavours and intense herbal, smoky and minerally accents into one seamless package. There's incredible depth and power here, yet it conveys the range of flavours with incredible lightness and focus, finishing very long - absolutely stunning.
2004 Emmanuel Houillon Poulsard Arbois Pupillin Maison Pierre Overnoy (Jura)
Wild stuff. Really pale, light and nervy with incredibly fresh red fruits combined with floral notes, leather, damp earth and touches of funk. There's fantastic acidity beneath it that keeps it razor sharp, really precise and refreshing and there's tremendous depth and complexity here with barely any sensation of weight.
1986 Château Gruaud Larose (St. Julien)
Pretty much everything I could want in an older Bordeaux. Pencil lead, cigar smoke, leather, red fruits, cassis and earth combining seamlessly into a whole; powerful with a sense of elegance and restraint, beautifully balanced with a silken texture and a long, savoury finish. Wow!
1981 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou (St. Julien)
Beautiful aromatics; dried flowers, earth, leather and cigar smoke combining into a wonderful perfume that's hard to move away from. All about finesse and elegance in the mouth with gentle red fruit surrounded by earth and leathery flavours that unravel with air; a lovely gentle mouthfeel with tannins resolved and bright acids keeping it very fresh. Lovely.
2008 Emrich-Schönleber Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Spätlese (Nahe)
Delicious; bright peach, lime and cherry fruit over a base of salts and stones. It's very ripe with a faintly honeyed element to the aromatics, but there's fantastic energy and precision and the whole package is all too easy to drink.
1961 Huët Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu (Loire)
Very calm and understated; light gold in colour with beautiful if slightly reticent scents of honey, musk, wool and apple cider. With time this opens and shows more dimensions as the fruit freshens up and other savoury earthy and herbal notes emerge. The mouthfeel's very polished, faintly creamy with bright acids keeping it very lively and a finish that stays with you. A real treat, thanks Joe.
2002 Domaine Ganevat Côtes du Jura Vin de Paille (Jura)
Really intense; dried apricots, peaches and orange marmalade with interesting nutty and hay-like accents. Somehow this manages to feel both viscous and light at the same time, with tremendous presence and a finish that just clings on. Striking.
2008 Domaine Gramenon Côtes du Rhône Villages Vinsobres
Remarkably Pinot-like, full of bright cherries and red berries accented with herbs and touches of spice on a light, very finessed frame. The structure here comes more from the acidity than any tannic presence, and as a result it's very easy to drink now with a lovely freshness to the fruit.
