By: AJ McClellan
We had a giant group in yesterday with more wines opened than would fit on the bar. Below are some of my highlights from the night.
1979 Haut Brion – The Haut Brion was killing it with tilled earth, prunes, raisins, black tea, and cloves all bundled together and served over a bed of gravel and dried rose petals.
1999 Colgin – This Colgin was not drinking as well as the 99 Colgins I have had in the past but still a very nice bottle of wine. Fresh ripe fruit with an undercurrent of chocolate and cooking spice.
1982 Prunotto Barolo – This bottle was essence of earth – dried leaves, compost, forest floor, violets, and barnyard with a subtle hint of dusty cherry on the very back end. I loved this wine but unless you like licking dirt this may not be the bottle for you…
1998 Armand Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin Clos st Jacques GC – This wine was wonderful! One of my top 10 Burgs of the year. The nose was very complex and exploded out of the glass right when we opened the bottle. The wine only got better over the five hours that I kept it in my glass. By the end of the night it was showing superb floral notes with fresh vibrant red fruits and a plethora of spices followed by marl and limestone. A brilliant bottle!
1997 Guigal La Mouline – This Guigal was very interesting. When I blinded it I called it Cote Rotie but I specified that I did not think it was Guigal… The wine has a slight green note and lacked the giant smoke and pepper notes of most Guigals I have had. There was still a huge game not and plenty of ripe black fruit. All in all it was a very nice wine but very atypical.
1997 Cordero di Montezemolo Monfalletto Barolo – A very nice example of Barolo. Not quite as earthy as the Prunotto and with more fruit.
1995 Rayas – I thought this bottle was showing sighnes of heat damage but the member that brought it in assured me that it was bought on release and stored perfectly for the past sixteen years. The fruit was stewed but the earthy tones and mineral notes were very nice…. Maybe this bottle is just near the end of its life?