This weekend marked our son's 3rd birthday, which we celebrated today with a daytime party for a small group of children his age. After the festivities and the subsequent cleanup had died down, neither Jean nor I had any energy for cooking, so we got a takeout pizza. However, we also decided to initiate a new household tradition and celebrated at his birthday dinner with a wine from his birthyear. After consulting the database, I brought forward a bottle of:
2004 Philippe Faury St. Joseph ($20 on release) nose: floral, minerals, bright blueberry fruit, later some smoked meat palate: medium body, good acidity, bright blueberry fruit, not much in the way of tanninsI had heard some reports on the Internet that this wasn't a wine destined for longevity, and this bottle certainly seems to back that story up. Even if it can age another 5 years, I have my doubts whether it'll be any better than it is today. It wasn't actually a bad pizza wine, either. As I mentioned to Jean, it's like a Beaujolais made from Syrah. All in all, it was a very happy wine.
Mark Lipton