Dinner with a few guys from my tasting group at Grant's in West Hartford last night. Fun evening as always with good friends, and the food and wines were very enjoyable.
1996 Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé
Rather advanced and oxidative, dominated by butterscotch and marzipan flavours over baked apple fruit, the effervescence is quite gentle here and the flavours aren't particularly fresh or precise. Drink up if you have 'em.
1976 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
Fantastic. Stunning aromatics combining mature forest floor, sandalwood, leathery/barnyard funk and red fruits into a wonderful scent; seamless in the mouth with bright fruit, a polished texture with gentle, integrated tannins and impressive length and freshness.
2006 Alain Voge Cornas Vieilles Vignes
Very primary right now, dominated by primary red and dark fruited flavours with a herbal/slightly minty edge. There's lots of tannin beneath, and it's quite well balanced - just needs a lot of time.
2007 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche
Amazingly complex for a young Côte-Rôtie; starts out full of primary fruit with some funky/meaty accents but with time in a decanter, the fruit takes a step back and it builds a powerful scent of vividly meaty, saline, earthy and peppery flavours. Very polished texturally with fine grained tannins and bright acids keeping it light on its feet; definitely need to get more of this!
2000 Château Calon-Ségur
Really, really tight with the flavours obscured by a wall of powerful tannins. Doesn't budge with a couple of hours in a decanter. Hands off for a lot longer.
1994 Gallo of Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon Northern Sonoma Estate
Elegant, mature Cabernet fruit framed by minty and herbal notes, but there's a strong topnote of vanilla oak that sticks out and dominates.
1984 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Nothing like the bottle I'd encountered in May. This one's rapidly fading; browning and heading into that generic older red wine territory.
1998 Schoffit Gewurztraminer Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Théobald Sélection de Grains Nobles
Superb. A powerhouse of mandarin orange, apricot marmalade, lychee and other tropical fruits drizzled with honey and Gewurz florality. Incredibly rich, but there's a savoury earthy element that emerges on the back end as a nice counterpoint to the intense sweetness and fantastic balance and length.