1996 Penfolds Bin 389
A million years ago on the original Compuserve forum, forumites participated in group aging projects by buying six bottles of a designated wine with a plan to report back on them over the years. Kind of a long term Pal Cal. Toward that end I bought six of these, a wine that knowledgeable Aussie wine followers predicted would rival Grange eventually. Well, the program folded but I didn't: this is the first one I've opened. I'm very surprised by what's in the bottle: jammy black curranty fruit, espresso and strong eucalyptus. Bob liked it, I didn't. It wasn't actually so bad to drink on it's own, but as a food wine (braised beef chunks in broth over sun-dried tomato mashed potatoes) it sucked. Too distracting and demanding.
2005 Chateau Magneau, Graves (white wine)
Paid about $13 for this at a local store the other day just because I'd never seen it before and Bordeauxs of any color are so rare here. Sensationally good: lime and melon augmented by mint and chalky limestone minerality. Not shy on fruit but not shy on structure either. Uncommon quality at under $15. Paired nicely with a starter of foie gras pate.
2003 Sterling Merlot, Napa Valley
Opened about 2:00 in anticipation of being our dinner wine, I was test-driving this one for a California entry in our wine tasting later this month. Good thing, I thought, as the VA whomped me over the head, it needs time to air out. Well time didn't help, the VA was just as evident five hours later. Underneath there was some decent red fruit and a bit too much oak, but in general it was the style of California merlot that made Miles say what he said. I fed some to my red vinegar bottle and the rest to the rhododendrons. Which leads to a mini-rant: why is that over the past 20 years I've been tasting Sterling wines on and off, except for the Three Palms Merlot of the early 90's every single bottle of their wine seems off/bad/wrong/disappointing somehow. I thought I'd heard that Sterling was getting back on track, but this bottle is proof to the contrary.