With friends at Thanksgiving:
2007 Edmund Vatan, Sanserre Clos la Néore:
Served closer to room temperature than my fist bottle of this several days ago; starts tight and only moderately expressive but uncoils as it gets air and as the wine warms to be the most precise, evocative and enjoyable sauvignon blanc I have tasted. Immense complexity, lyrical fruit, evolving palate presence and endless length – all in such perfect balance that it seems of whole cloth. Stunning wine!
1999 Jadot, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques en magnum:
Correct, even ethereal on the nose; precise but without much depth or breadth in the mouth. Good wine but not showing greatness, by any stretch. Excellent with the dinner but I’m afraid my expectations were higher.
2001 Chat. Leoville-Barton:
Some vegetal notes with good finesse and complexity but again, not much depth. I enjoyed it but would not buy it. Others felt it better than I.
2002 Ridge, Cabernet Sauvignon Montebello:
So much American oak that I could make no judgment as to the wine – nor could I even discern what variety it is. Others enjoyed it; I felt that this is evidence of how oak can mask or even destroy a fine wine.
Best, Jim
