Consumed on the roof of a Seattle hotel:
2008 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare Champagne
Seamless pure yellow fruit, great texture, ample body and concentration but not fat or cloying--in fact, the raciest Rare I've had. Fantastic now but will improve. A real WOW wine and eminently suitable for celebrating 37 years of marriage.
Later that same day, at restaurant Canlis:
2021 Kobayashi Winery Marsanne-Roussanne Boushey Vineyard Rattlesnake Hills White Rhone Blend
79% Marsanne, 21% Roussanne. Ordered from the list because its something of a unicorn up here. Winemaker Travis Allen, by day a nurse, makes several different wines but only one barrel of each. I've known of his reputation but this is the first bottle I've seen in the wild. First day: cloudy (unfiltered), pale gold color. Funky/leesy nose of washed rind cheese and seaspray. Salinity continues on the palate with quince and guava fruit, and green walnut nuttiness. Closer to a Bevan unfiltered Sauvignon Blanc (without the grass) than either of the constituent grapes as I know them. Great with food due to the salinity but not as successful on its own except to fascinate with its uniqueness. Drank a glass each, and recorked the rest to take home. Day two: ah, here's what this wine is supposed to be. Still leesy but more fruit and less salinity, more balance and harmony. Pretty fantastic.
Several days after finishing the wine I discovered this quote from winemaker Travis Allen: “What I am trying to do its make something different. There are some people making spectacular wine in Washington but all of my wines have something in the process or philosophy that is not necessarily invented by me but they are not going to be like anything else in the state.” He sure achieved that with this wine.
We brought this bottle to the restaurant:
1998 Domaine Chandon de Briailles Corton-Clos du Roi Corton Grand Cru Pinot Noir
For years this precious bottle was "missing or presumed drunk", as we say at CT. I had no record of us having drunk it and was sure I would have remembered opening it as it was such a special bottle, but oh well...and then I recently discovered it under a pile of rieslings. So happy to see it again. It was purchased in Burgundy direct from the hands of proprietess/winemaker Madame Nicolai whose favorite vineyard was Clos du Roi. I learned more important things in one afternoon with her than I'd learned from years of reading Wine Spectator up to that date. This was a very sound bottle, medium red color, classic burgundy nose and a fairly monochromatic palate of red fruits with very subdued spice and leathery tertiary notes. Very good--not great in the sense that usually means but the sentimental value was, of course, outstanding.