2012 Tenuta di Fessina Etna Erse Bianco Etna DOC White Blend
Pale and pure, terrific minerality with subdued stone fruit and herbs. Special.
2009 Stony Hill Chardonnay Napa Valley
Shows the heat of the vintage: hints of butterscotch and toast show the ripeness which masks the meyer lemon and minerality I usually prize in Stony Hills. Surprised they didn't pick earlier.
2012 Evening Land Vineyards Gamay Noir Seven Springs Vineyard Eola - Amity Hills
Greatly improved since last bottle. The musk and grapiness are gone, though there's just the slightest trace of sulfur. Best American gamay I've had. Dominated by some hefty blackberry fruit, it drinks extremely well right now though it has room to grow yet. Unfortunately it seemed rather monochromatic next to the Foillard Corcelette (below)--but then, anything would.
2012 Jean Foillard Morgon Cuvée Corcelette Gamay
Brilliant Beaujolais: bright with an almost other-worldly spicy complexity. Far exceeded expectations based on the last '12 Foillard I opened--either that one was a Py and in this vintage the Corcelette wins, or the add'l six months' rest did wonders.
2000 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard Willamette Valley
Look what I found in the cellar--thought these were gone. Great showing for age 15, but it has softened into classic mature pinot-ness from the claret-like beast our prior bottle was 18 months ago. I actually like this better--after all, if I wanted claret I'd have opened something else--but unlike that other bottle this one shows signs of mortality.
2009 Neely Pinot Noir Spring Ridge Vineyard Picnic Block Santa Cruz Mountains
Opulent and earthy with bing cherry and black raspberry notes. Silky on the palate. Stunning.
2012 Sandhi Wines Pinot Noir Rinconada Sta. Rita Hills
Sour cherries dominate the palate with raspberry undertones and baking spice. Tasty, but almost too tart to wallow around in right now especially side by side with the very-open Neely Picnic Block --really needs another year or two.
1995 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Washington
Mature plummy fruit on the downhill side of life; a perfectly decent drink but no longer a show horse for Washington cabernet like a recent '92 was. Clean unsaturated cork, but it crumbled on approach like Redteeth below's bottle did. Drink up.
1996 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares Bonnes Mares Grand Cru Pinot Noir
Absolutely beautiful nose; truffled, leathery notes of maturity on slightly muted red fruit. Decanted for an hour before starting in on it hoping the fruit would deepen and offset the acidity more, and it started to during the second hour but we finished the bottle before it developed everything I think it has the potential for. Would reccomend 3+ to anyone else. Zero sediment so decanting for other than air not needed. Btw, of the various things we ordered to pair with it at Vancouver's wonderful old-school French restaurant Le Crocodile, have to mention that we experienced one of those rare seamless food-wine matches with a summer black truffle omelet. Try this, if you can.
2011 Evening Land Vineyards Pinot Noir Oregon
I've had some very good, Burgundian 2011's from Oregon; this isn't one of them. Taut and thin, sharply acidic. Don't detect enough fruit to see it turning around in a few years.
2012 Guardian Cellars The Wanted Columbia Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
Interesting wine. 38% each Cab Sauv and Cab Franc with the rest mostly merlot, but right now only the CF is showing and some other flavors unjustly, for the vintage anyway, show a bit green. Stayed tight over the evening--would suggest a long decant (we didn't) or simply waiting another 6-12 months in this one.
2005 Domaine Bertagna Vougeot 1er Cru Chardonnay
Oxidized.