Sketchy comments (just memory, no notes taken at the time) about the three wines we've opened since last Friday night:
2000 Leonetti Merlot, Washington: Good mature nose on a wine at or slightly past peak, based on the slight fading between the first and second glass. Otherwise a good showing for a 12 year old merlot from an unheralded vintage, classy and sound in a traditional style with enough complexity to fool a visiting wine geek into thinking the grapes a Bordeaux blend rather than a single variety.
1997 Chateau Musar, Lebanon: Very very different from the bottle we took to Bill's house a few weeks ago and much more classically Musar. Where that one was a bit muddled in appearance, this bottle was transparent with the spice and funk Musar's known for. Loved this bottle!
1999 Monbousquet, St. Emilion: If you were to serve this wine and the Leonetti above and ask someone to choose merely which was the Washington wine and which the right banker, I think most knowledgeable palates would guess wrong. Popped and poured, the first sip was big and bitter with black licorice, roasted meat and burnt coffee on the nose. Bob thought it syrah at first, and I would probably too have had I been served blind. With time the burnt coffee was softened with vanilla oak which came across waxy and artificial, like burnt coffee with a flavored powdered coffee creamer. It's actually holding up well for a 99, but this modern style of Monbousquet is a travesty compared to the traditional Monbousquets that drew me to St. Emilion in the first place.