Friday Night Duck and Flannery Fest
2004 William Fevre Chablis “Les Clos” – Splash decanted. Salty french butter, lemon curd, salty ocean air, green banana peel and lovely limestone minerality on the nose. Not quite as giving on the palate, still quite tight with lots of lemon and granite, but not as much complexity. Still a long life ahead of it,but the fact the cork was saturated half way through is worrisome.
2005 Ridge Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains - Beautiful greenish gold color in the glass. Smoky almonds and hazelnuts, white peaches and honey on the nose. Quite rich, unctuous and sweet on the attack with honeyed peaches, guava and lemon, but nice acidity in the mid palate and finish to keep it from going over the htop. Not restrained, but really well done.
Single Blind New World Pinot Tasting – All wines open for an hour or so, no decant.
Wine #1 – White flowers and granite on a restrained nose. Not much going on with the palate, a little red fruit, some acid, but seemed disjointed and closed. Consensus least favorite of the tasting – 2004 Dehlinger Reserve
Wine #2 – Rose petals, tea, cola and a tell tale note of sweet tarts. Nice red fruit and brown spices, but pretty big and rambunctious on the palate with a lot of bite that some more bottle age might cure – 2007 KB Koplen Vineyard
Wine #3 – My wine of the pinot tasting, I believe #2 for the group? Nice nose of underbrush, high toned black pepper and red raspberry and strawberry fruit. Very nicely structured and balanced – a pleasure to drink. 2006 Walnut Block Pinot (NZ)
Wine #4 – Cocoa powder, pine needles and menthol – screams cool climate on the nose. Blackish red fruit and more cocoa powder on the palate. Also really nicely structured with plenty of supporting acid. 2008 Ten Minutes By Tractor Judd Vineyard (AU)
Wine #5 – Beautiful nose of candied fruit, violets, white flowers and just a hint of cola. Still pretty young and closed on the palate with some vanilla oak and more red fruit. My #2 wine of the pinot tasting, I believe #3 for the group. 2002 Kistler Cuvee Elizabeth Occidental Vineyard
Wine #6 – White pepper, black cherry, funky underbrush and limestone earthiness on the nose. Palate very consistent with the nose with just a little more cola and red fruit elements to it and quite a bit of supporting tannic structure. My #3 wine, but #1 overall for the group. 2005 Auteur Shea Vineyard
We started to get into dinner at this point in th evening. U10 diver scallops in a champagne butter suace, pan seared duck breast, flannery strip (the best single steak I have ever had), flannery rib cap and rib eye. Food was amazing – kudos to David and Jim. All wines served non-blind.
1974 BV Georges de Latour – Deanted for sediment and a crumbled cork. Lovely nose intitially of cinnamon, cedar and fully resolved cab fruit. Unfortunately fell apart pretty quickly after opening.
1989 Lafite – Decanted for about 3 ½ hours. Leather, graphite, and black fruit on persistent and elegant nose. Nothing out of place on the nose, but a not blockbuster either. Great texture and velvety mouth feel on the attack with red and black fruit, leather and a hint of chocolate leading to a very long finish which still has considerable young tannins. This wine did not wow you at first 
, but the more time you spend with it, the more you appreciated it for its understated elegance.
1982 Château Prieuré-Lichine – Decanted for sediment. Definitely on the downward slope, but still a lovely nose of white flowers, red fruit, leather and dried leaves. Still some fruit left, but drying tannins and not a ton of body. Hard company to compete in, this probably would have showed better on its own.
1982 Chateau Talbot – This wine is still quite young and needed a few hours to come around and start to show its stuff. Definitely musty and funky upon opening. Black fruit, graphite and leather on the nose. Still surprisingly tight and big on the palate, with some significant tannic structure to it to go along with burly black fruit. Many good years ahead of it.
1984 Chateau Montelena – Also a baby. Nice black fruit, eucalyptus, limestone and beefs blood on the nose. Beautiful black fruit, licorice, cinnamon on the palate with lovely restraint and texture. Tannins are in the background, but certainly not completely resolved yet. Classic old school Cali cab.
1991 Beringer Private Reserve - I absolutely loved this wine, and was my WOTN. Dusty earth, blackberry fruit, tobacco and graphite. Beautiful pure sweet cali cab fruit on the attack, fully resolved tannins, just balanced between primary and secondary. Time to drink, but drinking beautifully.
2004 Sloan – Almost unfair, as this was such a left turn from the wines that preceded it. Just really oaky and sweet – beautiful texture and I think this will improve, but so Parkerized.
2005 Merus – Also suffered by comparison. Way too young to drink, with gobs of fruit and high alcohol – very black and concentrated. Again, a little shocking after the older wines that came before it.
2005 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji 5 Puttonyos -
Honey, tea, hazelnut, orange blossom and apricot on the nose. Nice sweet attack but plenty of acidity to blance it out. Light and intense at the same time and will age for decades to come, but drinks well young. Went beautifully with a chocolate and caramel torte.
Saturday Night – No formal notes taken, but some stellar wines…
Pre game – legal seafoods for dinner #1
2007 Peter Michael Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille – Outstanding
1998 Blain-Gagnard Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet – Surprisngly sweet, but impeccably balanced.
2006 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang - $110 on the list??? Such beautiful fragrant SB. Infanticide, but drinking great.
Friggin Bruins did not play well, but what are you going to do!
Post game – Troquet for dinner #2
1997 Spotswoode – Happy, happy, joy, joy. Right up there with Backus as one of my all time favorites – on the list for less than current release price.
1989 Lynch Bages – So young and black and tight, but clearly going to be spectacular – has all the stuffing.
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