John hosted SOBER last night, and as usual did an excellent job with wine a nd food. We were greeted with the 2008 Marguet "les Crayeres" Champagne Bru t. John said this was a producer who had really picked up his game recently
- I certainly liked this. Fresh and bright, minerally, green apple and lemo n, chalk, fine beads. Elegant. A-
A nice assortment of cheeses on the table, as we started the blind wines
Flight #1 I started a pattern of guessing the wrong wine within the flight(I thought #2 might be Fourrier).
#1 -more closed, full, some tannin, nice balance but mostly coiled undernea th. 1999 Fourrier "Champeaux" Gevrey-Chambertin 1er B+ for now
#2 -much more open, expressive/explosive nose of red fruits, sandalwood, fr esh, no apparent tannins, delicious. 1999 Truchot "Combottes" Gevrey-Chambe rtin 1er A-/A
Flight #2 #1 Some controversy here, but I think most came along to idea of corked. If not corked someone snuck some chlorine from their swimming pool in. Fruit scalped. Too bad, I'd love to try the 1981 Ch. Latour Haut-Brion #2 Bretty, red fruit, plenty of soft fruit but balance isn't bad (others li ked less). 1981 Diamond Creek "Red Rock Terrace" Cabernet Sauvignon B+/B #3 Replacement for #1. My favorite of flight- earth and tobacco over warm r ed fruit, balanced. Mark got 77 Napa quickly . 1977 Sterling Cabernet Sauvi gnon B+
Flight #3 (with a delicious and beautiful melon/cuke/pepper soup with crab)
#1 - gorgeous, wonderful acid balance, citrus and herb, long. I guessed Saa r and John said no Ruwer, so then I got MG, Cathleen got '88. 1988 Maximin Grunhauser (von Schubert) "Abtsberg- Fuder 67" Auslese A- #2 = petrol, ginger, clean, spicy, a little drier than flightmate. I'm no t sure I've ever had a 79 German before, this was very nice indeed. 1979 Ka rthauserhof Eitelsbacher Auslese. B+/A-
a break for a non-blind 1990 Dom Perignon. Full, rich, bread dough and cara mel, very mature, some debate over oxidized vs just 1990 character. Interes ting but I didn't love. B/B-
Flight #4 (with John's great beef stew) Bob called Northern Rhone immediately #1 Floral, zesty, fresh, lovely. 1999 Verset Cornas A-/B+ #2 Sweet fruit (some thought candied, I didn't) pepper, smoke (oops, I gues sed this was Verset) 1995 Chave Hermitage B+
Flight #5 I thought these were Bordeaux at first! #1 Meaty, full, fleshy , nicely balanced. 1993 Drouhin "Clos des Mouches" B eaune 1er B+ #2 Slightly roasted dark fruits, big, brawny, maybe hint of heat. 1990 Jado t "Clos des Ursules" Beaune 1er B
Fun night, great food, wide assortment of good to great wines.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a p arty where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivi ty, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.