With a foot of snow on the ground and more coming down--in a place where you don't get a foot of snow, ever--a group of desperate neighbors showed up on my doorstep with empty wine glasses demanding proof that if we were all stuck here for a week, I had their backs. I didn't take notes, but happy to be their port in a storm I opened:
2004 Kendall Jackson Chardonnay A bottle someone left here. Not bad--I'read somewhere that KJ, shocked out of complacency by the rise in preference for pinot grigio, had backed off on the RS and upped the acidity, and it's evident in this bottle. I had no trouble drinking a glass, and that's quite a compliment because it hasn't been true in the past.
2005 Tedeschi Soave Between Bertani, Tedeschi, Pieropan and Inama, the four Soaves I've tasted, I have no idea what Soave should be like as they're all so different. This one's creamy, very creamy, with sweet pieneapple guava fruit. This is closest to the big bottles of Soave I remember buying in my early wine days. Interesting, but I prefer more acid.
2003 Aviognesi Chardonnay, Italy Too late/sherry flavors.
2002 Roger Sabon "Les Olivets" Chateneuf du Pape America's fear of "bad" vintages meant I picked up this lovely wine for $10 a bottle. It needed about four hours to really open up, though it was tasty from first pour with notes of roasted black cherries, rosemary and black pepper. It doesn't have the acidity to last forever, but it should be good for the next 2-3 years in a cool cellar.
1998 Haut Batailley, Paulliac Reads Bordeaux the second you sniff it. Black cherry, raspberry, cedar and mint, with a grippy finish. No secondary development, and after not quite two hours gets a bit muddy instead of better. My guess is this perennial under-achiever is going to under-achieve this vintage too.
1994 Laurel Glen Cabernet, Sonoma Time to see how one of these big boys is doing. Very very well is the answer: gorgeous California cabernet in a ripe-year Bordelaise style with oodles of youthful red and black fruit and structure to spare. Drinks well now but there's no reason to believe that these wines won't go another ten years under continued good conditions (I purchased on release).
1999 Rochioli Estate Pinot, Russian River There's nothing classically Russian River about this wine, at least at this stage of it's life: no rich ripe cherry fruit, no spice. In fact, blind I'd have probably guessed Santa Maria/Santa Barbara, as there's that cool tomato-leaf quality to the fruit. Drinks well now but it might have been a bit dormant--if I had more (and I don't) I'd leave them alone for another year or two.