Dan hosted SOBER last night, and did a fabulous job. He greeted us with a nice cheese plate and the 1990 Pommery "Cuvee Louise" Brut from magnum. Too bad, because I had a mag I was planning on opening when it was my turn to host! This showed a tad fresher than a mag I opened couple months ago, with grapefruit and pear, some yeastiness, good length, mature but not fading. A-
To table for the blind wines where Dan kept us on our toes with fanciful numbering/naming of the decanters.
First flight ("Nothing is something, but 3 is an 11") The interesting thing was how dry the Chenin seemed paired with the Spatlese. Pretty quickly got Chenin, but I thought it was Sec for sure.
2005 Huet Clos du Bourg Vouvray Demi-Sec Grapefruit, chalky, stony with a cheesey note some dislike. I liked it a lot more when I drank water and concentrated on this alone. Somewhat tight. B for now
2002 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Spatlese Floral, giving, a real "wow" RIesling. Mango and red fruits, lots of minerality, rich. Craig goes Donnhoff early. Pretty close to my Riesling ideal. A/A-
2005 Huet Clos du Bourg Vouvray Sec Turns out Dan had also accidently opened a Huet sec thinking it was the DS, so we got to try that also. Spiced peaches, lemon, and grapefruit, big, stony, young. B+/A-
Second flight (with angel hair pasta with shrimp and a light touch of fresh tomato sauce)
One of the original wines was definitely PremOxed, all caramel and cheese rind, I neglected to get the vintage of the Latour-Giraud Genevrieres. But the other wine and the replacement for the Latour- Giraud were quite interesting. I was actually shocked when it turned out they were the same wine from different vintages
1996 Coche Dury Meursault Clearly white Burg, exuberant and exotic. Mark says "Coche" pretty quickly, and Craig and I both show him we wrote it already (but he said it first!). Lovely, great concentration, white fruits,some vanilla, and excellent length. I thought it had to be a 1er. Mark saves some and gives me a sniff later- coconut city! A-/A
1995 Coche Dury Meursault Comparatively austere, leaner, someone guesses Chablis which seems reasonable to me. Very surprised when revealed. With time it gets some hazelnut and fruit fleshes out a bit, but I never like near as much as the '96. B/B+
Third Flight (with a mushroom soup with porcini ravioli)
1990 Poggio Antico Brunello First bottle was corked, but Dan had a backup. Sweet red fruit, some cassis, leather. Some Bordeaux guesses, but I went for Unico from the lifted nose. B/B+ (some sensitive to VA really disliked)
1987 Mouton-Rothschild Cassis, herb, tobacco, good length. B+/A-
Fourth Flight (" the King, the Queen, and the Pawn" - the beef, fries, and green beans were served with this flight)
1990 Beychevelle corked. We deterred Dan from finding a replacement, we had plenty of wine.
1990 MommessinClos de Tart clearly Burgundy, elegant, balanced, red raspberry fruit with earth, mushroom, a little spice. A-/B+
1990 Guigal Hermitage Sweet red fruit, a little tar, midweight but with persistence. Once Dan said it wasn't Burgundy, due to the tar I said Northern Rhone or Piedmont, but should have declared decisively. This is a straight up Hermitage, which apparently doesn't sell for very much, quite nice. B+
Flight Five (Elvis, Fat Man, and Little Boy)
1961 Beychevelle Lovely and elegant, shows much younger. Cassis, black plums, truffles, earth. A-
1971 Lafite-Rothschild (from mag) "A wonderful Burg" Red fruit, cedar, a bit of mushroom. Not very big, but really lithe and classy. A-
1982 Latour a Pomerol Fleshier, denser, herby. Probably would have paid more attention to this if I wasn't so enthralled with its flightmates. A-/B+
A great night, where the fact I was driving was the only downnote!
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.