For my birthday Wednesday night:
1996 Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru Les Toussaints Pinot Noir
A two hour decant delivered the goods on this excellent bottle. A fully mature light to medium bodied wine, it offered notes of sour cherry pie, potpourri, tea and antique leather. Fine for sipping alone but fairly ideal paired with canapes of seared foie gras on sourdough toast and not bad with the romaine/tarragon/pea/sourdough crumb salad that followed. THEN:
2001 Château Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan Red Bordeaux Blend
Splash decanted then left uncorked for about five hours. Which might have been too long; though it wasn't lost by any means, it was maybe 10-20% less interesting, less potent, later than it had been when first uncorked. None of the blueberry action others report recently, but full of that minerally red-dirt, iron-rich black cherry fruit typical of Graves. So very very good; just not quite as much oomph as one might expect from a First, and I've had better '01s from lesser properties. Still, felt very special with parmesan-crusted rack of lamb.
