Tonight, after an exhausting week of dealing with a sick kindergartner, I decided that we needed a good dinner. Andrew, coming off a day at school after missing 3 days with a high fever, went to bed early tonight at 7:30, so I smoked a pheasant on the grill and made a risotto Milanese to accompany some sauteed late-season Bok Choy. This was a dish that called for a Burgundy to me, so I fetched from the cellar one of our older bottles:
1996 Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches color: brick red, going orange at the rim nose: initially, soy sauce, orange rind, spices, raspberry fruit; later becoming more overtly spicy, with notes of tea leaves palate: high acidity, medium-light body
After reading a few less-than-salutary reviews on Cellartracker, I approached this wine with some concern, but found that it was totally unfounded. First of all, the cork was as sound and pristine as I've seen in a wine of this age. Secondly, although there were plenty of tertiary elements, this was a wine still in its maturity. Very nice with the smoked pheasant and risotto, which brought the fruit out of the wine. Altogether fine, and very satisfying.
Mark Lipton