The bottle is just slightly fatter and has scraped on the wooden racking
Brought quite a solid lineup tonight for dinner with my parents.
2022 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée - Floral and silky with classic Vosne spice — red currant, violet, meat (?), and a subtle iron to ground it together. Definitely medium-bodied with that classic velvet tannin fanning out towards the finish. Still very much a baby and showing some strictness. Won over my wife on the first sip — bad news for the wallet.
2021 Piedrasassi Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah - Second bottle of this in as many weeks. Decanted 2 hours and it was good, but the fruit never fully broke through — plum and wild berry were there but buried under pepper and olive. Would have wanted 4 hours to let everything integrate as I did last week. But a wonderful bottle that will continue to age with grace.
2023 Yvon Métras Beaujolais Deuxième Mise - First of these bottles for me. The Deuxième Mise is Métras’ later-picked bottling — deeper, more purple-fruited than the Premiere from what i gather. I have a 2018 Premiere I’ve yet to open but will likely try them side by side next. PnP but really sung after 30-45 mins. Juicy fruit as expected, mineral edge, phenomenal licorice on the back end. Fascinating dark ruby color in glass with that light turbidity. The depth I’d hoped to get when these got to my door last month!
7 Likes
You’re a good son.
2 Likes
Another '23 from Simon Colin. I preferred the Vergers last month but this was also v good. Startlingly young, and quite electric at the moment.
6 Likes
So glad you have avoided the Italian threat you made a couple weeks ago
1 Like
Blind Chardonnays today. We knew that four were old world and four were new world, but nothing more than that and not which were which. Everyone thought the Lingua Franca was old world and it was a group favorite. I also missed the Chateau Fuisse, which I guessed was a 2013 Mt. Eden Estate. The Kelley Fox was the most obvious new world wine, super tropical but with minimal oak, it was a fun wine. The only disappointing wine was my PYCM, which was advanced but still drinkable. The biggest takeaways for me were a reminder of how diverse Chardonnay can be and how difficult it can be to identify where they are from.
11 Likes
Crazy wine dinner at Q by Peter Chang’s the other night. Hard to write notes on all of the wines. Stand outs for me were the Steiner Riesling, the dry Tokaji, the Aeris Carricante, the Lignier, Pousse d’Or, Fourrier, the Baby Jesus, the auction Abtsberg, the Cuvee Constance, and the Schafer Frohlich. For some reason, the Italians and Rhones didn’t light a spark with me this evening and I’m usually a fan (didn’t really go well with the Chinese food)
9 Likes
As you say, 2011 has a bad rep, but it was as much a tricky vintage as a difficult one, as a 2011 Virage Cabernet (beautiful and available for a comparative pittance) showed me in spades a while ago.
In contrast to @Mike_Evans ’ 2013 PYCM Chatenière, last night’s PYCM St. Aubin En Remilly was so fresh, it hadn’t budged since my first bottle years ago. Chiseled and energetic. Flinty minerals dominate until time in the glass brings lemon, under-ripe stone fruit and petrichor. This will last years.
Edited to say that as I removed this bottle from my CT database, I noticed I’d paid less than $45 a dozen years ago. Gonon St Joseph was $39 at that time. Those were the days.
14 Likes
Warren, you get a heart from me if for no other reason than using the word “petrichor”! One of the best scents in this world of ours, that I revel in when watering my yard trees here in Olympia for foliar absorption on summer mornings. Perhaps surprisingly, I have never integrated this wonderful scent into my wine vocabulary. Well, now I will! Thank you!
3 Likes
What a terrific lineup of wines! 
Was the food spicy?
The last course with the stickies was very spicy.
1 Like
Haha - actually, I am much more likely to drink CA cab than CA pinot.
How was it? TIA
Ditto. How was the Continuum?
Unexciting, but inoffensive. Premium generic CA cab. I expect there’s an ocean like it. Not a category I seek out, but reasonably enjoyable with a steak.
1 Like