Tonight, I came home to find Jean preparing a dinner of ribeyes, corn on the cob and Tater Tots (catering to Andrew's food preferences) -- actually the steaks were waiting for me to grill, which I did. When we sat down to dinner, I was greeted with a brown-bagged bottle:
1995 Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron color: dark garnet center going brick on the edges nose: initially, pencil lead and dark fruit; after a splash decant, mint and cedar palate: somewhat closed in, cassis, slightly coarse tannins that softened after the decant
Of course, I was asked to guess what I was drinking. My first thought was Bordeaux, but I switched to a structured CalCab (of which we have a few) after failing to get much in the way of the secondary characteristics I usually get in Bordeaux (earthy, herbal) and getting clear Cabernet Sauvignon character. My final guess was of a '94 California Cabernet. When I saw that it was a '95 Pauillac, I didn't feel too bad about my acumen, but I was still surprised at the relative simplicity of the wine. We saved half the bottle for later evaluation to see how it would evolve.
Mark Lipton