Blind tasting last night:
Opening white wine: Very steely and stony at first. It was quite cold. After it warmed up a bit there was more depth and richness, but over time a grassy/herbal element crept in that I did not care for.
Reveal: 2004 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne
Wines 1-4: As a group these were not unpleasant, but they were not a lot of fun to drink. #1 was thin compared to the group. #2 had a spritz that took a while to go away, and made the wine taste very sharp. #3 was very green, but had some depth to it. #4 was even greener, with less stuffing. Guessing the theme of these wines was not hard.
Reveal: All 2004s - #1 Joblot Givry Clos du Cellier Aux Moines, #2 Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin VV, #3 Chevillon Nuits St. Georges Les Vaucrains, #4 Faiveley Chambolle Musigny La Combe d’Orveau
Wines 5-6: Much better performance with these wines. #5 had a lovely, velvety texture, not a ton of depth, but good persistence and pretty red fruit and earth. #6 started with a ton of funk (brett?), but also a lot of richness. The funk lessened over time, but pretty much everyone preferred #5 of the two. #5 was really quite delicious.
Reveal: #5 2004(!) Mugneret-Gibourg Clos Vougeot, #6 2004 (!) Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche VV
Wines 7-8: And now for something completely different. Both of these were clearly not Burgundy, with great richness of ripe, fresh fruit, but they also had nice balance and were in no way over the top. I did find #7 a bit candied the more I drank it, but I liked the flavor spectrum of #7 more than #8 which I found a bit dark. Overall I would never turn down a glass of either of these, though one glass would likely be enough.
Reveal: #7 2009 Anthill Farms Abbey-Harris Vineyard Pinot Noir, #8 Radio-Coteau Albergi Pinot Noir
We finished up with three sweet wines. Each of them had its charms. The first showed some pretty spice, quite a bit of botrytis, and a lingering spicy/honey finish. The second was all about apricots and honey, but tasted much less of botrytis spice than the other two (my favorite). The third was a botrytis beast, with all the spicy, scratchy-scratchy elements that heavy botrytis can bring. I actually thought the third wine was some Catoir Rieslaner. I liked all three. I would drink all three, but could probably only drink a lot of the first two. The third was too heavy on the botrytis for my taste.
Reveal: 1998 Schoffit Rangen de Thann Clos St. Theobald Selection de Grains Nobles Gewurztraminer (first wine), Riesling (second wine) and Pinot Gris Lot #1 (third wine)