1986 Talbot, Bordeaux
I've had a perfect bottle of this in the last six months so I know just how good this should have been and wasn't. A gift bottle, apparently poorly stored somewhere in its past. Still good enough to drink, but it drank like a tired wine 20 years older than it is.
2005 Latah Creek chardonnay, Connor Lee Vineyard, Washington
Tasted like cedar plank smoked Jonathan apples. Very bizarre, and with fairly high residual sugar. Didn't like.
2005 Coldstream Hills Pinot Noir, Australia
No bells or whistles here, but really good, honest, unadulterated cherry-cherry pinot noir fruit here. Very refreshing in its directness and simplicity.
2001 Patricia Green "Four Winds" Pinot Noir, Oregon
My last of four bottles. I'm relieved they're gone. First one two years ago: swampwater, undrinkable. Second one six months ago: susprisingly drinkable, red fruit with lots of earthy/fungal undertones. Third one three weeks ago: black fruit and quite fizzy from secondary fermentation. Fourth one last night: back to red fruit, faint fizz, mildly cloudy, fungal. I wouldn't have thought it possible for four wines from the same source to have been so different.
1994 Viader, Napa Valley
I was surprised how light this was compared to the 91's I've had two of in the last two years. Which isn't to complain about the wine, just would have thought 94 would have produced a pretty big wine, too. So, just medium bodied, but lovely merlot and cab franc aromas, supple mouthfeel, long finish. Where I think the 91's have years to go, this '94 seemed at peak.
