• N.V. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut - France, Champagne
  Consistent with previous bottles. A solid champagne. (88 pts.)
• 2006 Bodegas Naia (Viña Sila) Rueda Naia - Spain, Castilla y León, Rueda
  This starts out with some seriously impressive aromatics of honeyed fruit, flowers and massive stone and mineral notes that make you sit up and take notice. After a couple whiffs, I was just praying that the palate would follow up at the same level… unfortunately, no dice and while there’s nice sweet fruit, this is soft, lacks concentration, precision and verve. Still, all in all, a delicious, easy drinking white that’s worth the tariff. (87 pts.)
• 2005 Louis Latour Côte de Nuits Villages - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages
  Excellent with beautiful dark cherry scented fruit, spice and earth aromas and nose and this has some real depth to it. The palate is pure, silky, balanced and shows plenty of pinot fruit on the long finish. (89 pts.)
• 2003 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  I drank this bottle over multiple days and it didn’t change much with air. Just packed with raspberry liqueur, plums, graphite and licorice notes and with air, subtle spice and garrigue aromas start to show up. Full bodied with fantastic levels of fruit, this is impeccably balanced, seamless and long with gobs of underlying structure and fine grained, ripe tannins on the monster finish. Damn thing is drinking so well, this is my second bottle inside of a month… here’s to hoping I can keep my hands off my sole remaining bottle for a least a year or two. (96 pts.)
• 2003 Fonseca Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
  Good lord, I’m not too sure that I don’t like these better on the ridiculously young side and this almost converted my port hating wife. Right after opening this, there was almost no nose but man, what a palate. It’s 7am in the morning and I can barely bring myself to spit this amazing juice. After 12 hours in the decanter, the nose finally showed up with copious amounts of blackberry and raspberry fruit, plums, cedar and massive spice notes and the palate actually tightened up slightly. Just stacked with ripe, lush fruit, a rich, full bore texture, awesome balance and a long finish, this is some serious juice. I finished the bottle on the following day and it was still utterly fantastic. (97 pts.)

Just a quick Thursday night dinner to see a Brian Williams off to.. of all places.. Milan, Italy… He’s heart broken that he has to spend so many months over there and doesn’t have to work…

Mix’n Match

All wines were opened, set on the table, and then consumed in random order over the evening.

• 2004 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Reserva - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja
  Impressive stuff with outstanding aromatic of cherry and red fruit, mineral smoke and subtle oak notes. There’s a nice spice component and on the palate, a slight sourness adds rather than detracts. Medium bodied and just seamless, this has a silky texture and a nice finish. (91 pts.)
• 2004 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  Just continuing to drink better and better, this was the best bottle I’ve had to date. The nose shows beautiful dark fruit, earthy black raspberry, licorice and spice aromas and it continued to open up over the evening. There’s an old vine sappiness on the palate and it has surprisingly sweet, rich fruit. Medium to full bodied, this is fantastic with perfect balance, awesome texture and a long finish. (95 pts.)
• 2004 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
  Amazingly forward with bright fruit and acid, this shows plenty of sweet cherry, spice, dusty earth and vanilla aromas on the nose, a medium bodied, balanced palate and a smooth, clean, enjoyable finish. This wine does everything right and is a joy to drink. (90 pts.)
• 1999 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Very bordeaux like with its cassis laced, earthy and slightly herbal aromatics, this improved noticeably with air, is medium bodied with rich fruit, decent weight and an enjoyable finish. There’s a touch too much green in this wine for me but, never the less, it’s still pretty darn good. (88 pts.)
• 1989 Château Meyney - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
  A beautiful, mature bordeaux that shows rich cassis, lead pencil, pipe tobacco and earth aromas and this really improved with air, going from slightly herbal to more spice and fruit centric. The palate is medium bodied with sweet fruit, impressive mid-palate weight and a nice finish. Everything seems to be completely resolved but this doesn’t seem to be on the downward slope either. Thanks for bringing this Patrick! (91 pts.)
• 2005 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume
  Schezaam, killer stuff. The nose shows brilliant sweet fruit, cream corn, striking minerality and even hints of white flowers. Fresh, vibrant and well balanced, this has plenty of verve and underlying acidity that keeps it easy to drink through multiple glasses. (94 pts.)