From the last couple of weeks:
Domaine de Chevalier 2012 Pessac-Léognan Blanc. Very youthful, light straw color. The wood has fully integrated and this is now really beautifully balanced between lightness and richness. Lots of herbs on the nose; grapefruit peel attack and a long bitter-melon finish. I recall this being much heavier in its youth, but time has made it bright and lively. No hurry: this is delicious now but could certainly hold and possibly develop for years.
Muri-Gries 2021 Alto Adige-Südtirol Lagrein. I remember earlier vintages of this wine being considerably less ripe and extracted, but this is a little much. Can’t really get much of the varietal signature here, nor the gripping acidity and energetic rusticity I look for in Lagrein. Might be climate, might be marketing, but either way, not my jam, though definitely somebody’s jam. Saved the second half of this for night three, per the recommendation of a CT reviewer, and it was indeed better. Still not my jam, but drinkable and less over the top than on night one for sure, while still fresh enough to enjoy.
Heinrich Mayr (Nusserhof) 2018 Alto Adige-Südtirol Lagrein Riserva. From a restaurant wine list. That's better. Still a little refined compared to the slightly feral Lagreins I first fell for, but this at least is leaner and less spoofulated than the Muri-Gries, and with a half an hour of air, this fleshes out deliciously without losing its spine. Blue-black fruit floating on an aromatic cloud.
Domaine Mia 2020 Mercurey Les Caudroyes. From a restaurant wine list, next door to the one above (we call the building that houses these two sister restaurants, one Italian and one French, "The Alps" for short). At the ripe end of the spectrum, and not especially complex, though there’s a nice movement from sauvage to red velvet in the mouth. Well-made, food-friendly, and transparently Burgundy, which was all I wanted on the night we ordered this. Looks like this is normally $40 and can be found in the low 30s, at which point it’s a bargain, at least in the world of hyperinflated Burgundy pricing.
Jean-Claude Bessin 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. I waited a decade past vintage try the first bottle, so I can’t compare this to what it was in its youth, but this was delicious: electric citrus cream and pith, light in flavor (in the sense of bright and airy, not in the sense of thin), but substantial and mouth-coating in feel, with a slightly rough white-pepper and crunchy mineral finish that still tastes unresolved. Enjoyable now but also feels only half-developed, so I won’t be in a rush to get through the remaining 3 bottles.
Abbazia di Novacella 2022 Alto Adige Sauvignon. Ripe, for this bottling, but still just on the cool side of tropical; brisk and energetic. Nothing complex here, but a well-made and engaging SB that offers really good value ($16/bottle with a mixed case discount.) I’ve liked these Abbazia di Novacella varietals across the board and this is no exception.
Ridge 1997 Petite Sirah, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District, York Creek Vineyard. I can't recall where I got this; I wasn't buying Ridge in the 1997 vintage so it must have been a later purchase, and of a solo bottle, but wow, good stuff. Draper’s note on the back label recommends 3 or 4 years of bottle age from release (in May 1999). 25 years later, this is mature but by no means tired. Medium-deep ruby with a garnet edge, still showing some primary dark fruit on opening; with half an hour of air, it becomes a velvet slide of blue-black fruit, tar, and tobacco, with some fine tannin still on the finish. Deep and complex, and keeps getting better until the last drop. Really excellent.