Turkey & Ham
2008 Veuve Grand Dame
NV Laurent Perrier Rose
2004 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Auslese
2008 Phelps Insignia
2010 Kapcsandy Estate
2008 Dominus
Polished off our wonderful Tercero Outlier Gewurztraminer that we began with Chinese last night then opened a 2013 EMH Black Cat for our Christmas dinner. My daughter and son-in-law, both chefs, cooked a stunning prime rib roast marinaded with an asian rub that was so good … popovers and more on the side. Merrill’s wine made a really superb match.
Love Zilliken and I bet this is a great wine. Please post a tasting note.
Christmas Eve with pierogi, ham, and kielbasa
2011 EMH Black Cat - 2 bottles, both amazing, pop and pour
maybe not the best pairing for what was served, but I have been meaning to open some Black Cat and one of the guests just loves Cab
Christmas Day
2008 Paloma Palomita Syrah with beef tenderloin
Found a stash of 06,07, 08’s and decided to dig in.
This wine is in a good place right now. Will check in on 06 and 07 soon.
2007 Schramsberg Brut Rosé
2012 Anderson’s Conn Valley Signature Merlot
2009 Anderson’s Conn Valley Signature Cabernet Sauvignon
The last two were served with prime filet au poivre. The food and the wines were outstanding. The cab is my WOTY.
Also did the Soter Brut Rose for the crab appetizer. Followed that up with 1997 Zind Humbrecht Riesling with fruit salad and, for the standing rib roast, 2000 Leoville Barton and 1994 Ygay grand reserve especial coscha. Finished with a 2002 Kracher #3 Welschriesling Trockenberenauslese. You didn’t need to drink the Kracher, just smell it!
Just my sister-in-law and I were drinking, so I chose the wine based on sentimental factors rather than pairing with our long-standing family tradition of local Chinese takeout for Christmas dinner. My brother had mentioned recently that one of his fraternity brothers was a winemaker in Washington, so when I came across one of his wines at a local retailer, I had to give it a try even though I haven’t always loved Washington reds.
The 2016 Sleight of Hand The Conjurer was a fun, flamboyant, and fruity wine, ripe currants and blackberries with a little spice and a little savoriness and very easy to drink. The bottle disappeared pretty quickly and worked surprisingly well with the Chinese takeout.
I will Howard, but we never got to it. Too much other wine and rich food had my guests begging for coffee after dinner. I’m sure it will be opened soon enough though 
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Dinner was a beautiful Greek pastichio made by my very talented spouse. This is real comfort food when paired with a nice Greek salad(no lettuce) and unbuttered bread. To chase this all down we sipped an ouzo not found here yet but it is by far the best producer we have tried to date from ouzos purchased here and in Greece. This producer is Brettos and we have previously tried the red label and last night we tasted the black label. Here’s the info … OUZO – Brettos Plaka .
2010 Larkmead Cab and 2011 Cayuse Cailloux Syrah with a really nice prime rib. The Cayuse didn’t have the depth and complexity that it usually shows. I’d give the Larkmead a B+ score. After dinner included a 1994 Fonseca VP which was singing! Cheers!
We drank a '07 Outpost True Vineyard and an '02 Seavey with prime rib. They were both excellent cabs but to my surprise the Seavey outdid the Outpost. I’ll tell you what, my stock of older Seavey’s have a pretty impressive record of exceeding expectations.
Vilmart brut for the prelims, then 2015 Benovia Russian River chardonnay, and a 2010 Anderson Conn Valley Eloge with the prime rib, after a 4 hr slo-ox. Nice pairing!
I think a Pisoni Estate vertical is on tap for tonight, plus a bunch of esoteric, acidic Champagne and some Switchback Ridge petite as a finishing smash on the palate.
Hosted non-serious wine drinkers, so:
NV Mumm Brut
2005 Ridge Monte Bello (for me)
2000 Fonseca VP (ok, for me too)
The MB had a slightly strange nose until about 30min of decanting. After that, it was glorious as expected.
Everyone enjoyed the wine - didn’t even get to the port lol.
Same reaction as a non-wine-geek friend who usually prefers big ripe reds. He was very pleased with the 96 SM that I opened with our steak lunch last year and liked it over a newer CA cabernet that we also opened. This SM may have started to get into a good drinking form.
I went with a Bertagna Vougeot Blanc 1996 and a 2001 LaTour Blanche. Thought the Burgundy would be Premoxed for sure, but I got lucky.
Got to it tonight.
Note: One of the better ausleses I’ve had. Beautiful fresh nose of honey and citrus. Palate rich soft and well balanced with an acid-leading freshness. Flavors of pineapple, tangerine, honey, and very long. Delicious. The sharpness of the acid has toned down but the fruit is strong. Certainly sweet but in no way cloying.
Only lack is any botrytis-y edginess which I think gives these ausleses an extra edge and complexity. Still very primary but great.
Great note. Thanks. I am a big fan of Zilliken’s wines and of 2005s from the MSR.
A lovely 1999 von Schubert MG HerrenBerg Auslese.
With smoked ham, 2017 Walter Scott Gamay. Very enjoyable