A nice night of St Juliens at Les Sans Culottes in NYC. A nice crowd, thanks to Arv Rao for organizing.
2001 Mönchof Urziger Wurzgarten Spätlese Light and lively, that UW cherry note coming across over the otherwise mostly lime fruit, Some slate on finish, nice if not especially complex at moment. B/B+
Reuter Sekt (I assume non-vintage) I was busy dealing with some crumbly corks, and didn't give this a lot of attention. Seemed nice.
1983 Leoville Las Cases This seemed a bit mute, but a glass saved till the end of the evening showed much better, with rich cassis fruit and some smoke and earth. B- when it went around, B+ later.
1981 Leoville Las Cases Nice medium-bodied mature wine, warm and pleasant with notes of cedar and tobacco. B/B+
1970 Lango-Barton Crumbly cork, madeirized wine. D
1978 Beychevelle Also a crumbly cork, but a nice mature wine with sweet red fruit, a little short on the finish. B
1995 Ducru Beaucaillou Sweet ,fruity, forward. More red than dark fruits. B
1996 Ducru Beaucaillou More dark and brooding, but with more potential in my eyes. B+
1999 Ducru Beaucaillou Pleasant, herby, best of the Ducrus for drinking now, comparatively good QPR. B+
1998 Leoville Barton Corked
1989 Branaire-Ducru Great nose, with tobacco, herbs, cedar, and earth. Plenty of fruit mixing in with all the secondary aromas, a very pleasant surprise. A-
1982 Leoville Poyferre My WOTN. Cigarbox and flowers over cassis fruit, great balance. A-/A
1982 Branaire-Ducru Medium-bodied with ripe fruit. This bottle doesn't show quite as well as a couple of other recent tries. B
1986 Gruaud Larose Despite a crumbly cork, this is a good showing. Big and powerful, tannic but not hard. Good fruit, cedar and tobacco. B+/A-
1996 Leoville Barton Tannic and brooding, a B tonight with better potential.
1996 Leoville Poyferre Most open of the 3 '96s, good dark fruit and long finish. B+/A-
1996 Lagrange More red fruit than dark, lots of oak, tannin- needs time. B/B+
2000 Branaire-Ducru Tight, not showing a thing. B?
2000 Beychevelle Soft, ripe, forward. B
2000 Hortevie Not a chateau I have any real experience with, this was a pretty nice wine, accessible and not as big as most 2000s. B
2000 Talbot A bit tight but my favorite of the 2000s. Needs time for the oak to integrate. Some pleasant herbal notes over the fruit and oak. B+
1967 Niepoorts "Garrafeira" Port Overly mature for my tastes. Interesting secondary notes over a light fruit body. B-/C+
1995 Burn "Clos St. Imer" Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives Lovely, rich, luscious. Tropical fruit , long finish, A-
2001 Heiss Riesling TBA Lovely, great acidity balancing sweetness. Citrus fruit with clear botrytis. A-
2001 Feiler-Artinger Pinot Cuvee Ruster Ausbruch Intensely sweet, reminds me a bit of Tokay, peach and apricot fruit with a distinct creaminess. Joe Cz says it was a very controversial wine at his end of table. A-/B+
2001 Heiss Eiswein Spice, flowers, and sugar, not quite as zippy as the other Austrians. B/B+
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.