Ugh. I may need even more.
As I ended up buying several cases, I have been drinking about one every couple of months. Totals about 18 bottles.
Apart from a single bottle that was completely shut down, they have all drunk beautifully. Young, maybe not even at early maturity, but so incredibly fresh and balanced, I did not feel I was shortchanging myself by drinking too early, as they was so much to enjoy now.
If you don’t have a lot of bottles in reserve, should you wait? My philosophy is that I can always pick up wine later, so yes I would try a bottle now.
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Hmmm, maybe I’ll end Dryuary with a bottle of 2014 VCC.
What’s that?
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Honestly, January is almost over anyway.
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Like the early Roman purifying ritual of Lupercalia* to counteract the excesses of the Saturnalia, it is an altered state where one attains the sense of wellness through abstinence from the daily ritual of imbibing a beverage containing sublethal concentrations of poison. It ends in 29 days hence.
*Until banned by the pope in 494, the Lupercalia was a purifying ritual wherein goats and a dog were sacrificed at the Lupercal, the cave where legend says Romolus and Remus were suckled, and their blood was smeared on two youths. Young women were whipped across their shoulders to bestow fertility. The rite was performed at an altar near Lapis Niger, a sacred site paved with black stones near the Roman Forum.
I like the modern version. It’s called “BD16”.
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Or what some of us call Tuesday night.
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I now want a t-shirt that says: “BD16: I picked the wrong month to give up pagan festivals”
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Can I have a picture of you in a translucent shift, that seems pretty hot
Pulled another Poujeaux as the last one was so pale.
This is very similar looking to the previous one.
Smells pretty good though.
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You lost me at wellness and re-lost me at abstinence.
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Last night’s lineup. No formal notes. Both ‘14 bordeaux were very drinkable, very good wines, but not particularly memorable. Soft, mid-weight. Bottles opened 1.5 hr before dinner. Re: the ‘21 DDC blanc: it needs time. Amazing aromatically and very bright on the palate, does not seem fully integrated. For drinking now from the ‘21 whites, I suggest Carbonnieux- freaking delicious.
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Carbonnieux Blanc really is a very good wine that thankfully doesn’t attract too much attention. I recently discovered a single bottle of 2016 in my cellar and it was just a pleasure to drink.
Strangely Rudy K was making fake Carbonnieux blanc from the 40’s, since there was some auction demand for them, and not much collective sense of what they should taste like, or what a correct bottle/label/cork should present as.
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He was quite the industrious forgerer! 
Just opened the first half bottle from a case of 2014 Rauzan Segla. A little standoffish at first, it needed air and patience, easy enough with a full bottle, but a problem if you are sipping a half.
After an hour, it began to blossom, cassis, spice and although still a baby, there were the faint outlines of some more mature flavors. After another half an hour, a really lovely wine had emerged. Softening a little, there was now notes of minerality. Solid, medium long finish.
Ideally I would wait a few years, but with a longish decant, I am pretty sure the wines will be gone long before they are totally mature. That is as much a commentary on half bottles, and how easy it is to reach for them when you don’t want to open a full bottle.
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Don’t.
I opened one sometime in the past couple months. It’s a waste to open now, imo.
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I have had very good luck with them. Only one closed bottle in just under a case
I’m unable to provide an explanation as to what was going on with my bottle. To be clear, it was very good, but it really just came off as a solid-too-young Bordeaux. I have three more, and highly doubt I’ll touch one for at least another five years. To the extent it has been called “Burgundian”, I just don’t get that, either.