By: AJ McClellan
Last night was a true old fashion Graileys night. We had two birthdays, and about three members around the table. Everyone opened a bottle to celebrate and the bottles that came out were absolutely remarkable!
1999 Jean Marc Pillot Chevalier Montrachet – We have had many a problem with this wine. After going through almost 8 bottles that were flawed we finally hit the jackpot! The wines sung in the glass with fresh peach and apricot notes on the nose followed by stunning minerality and lovely floral notes. The palate was full bodied with sharp acidity and lovely fruit.
2008 Pierre Yves Colin Morey En Rully – A great bottle of wine in its price point. Fresh lemon/lime fruit with heavy limestone notes and great balance on the finish.
1989 Lynch Bages – This wine was recently rated 99+ point by Robert Parker flirting as close as is possible to a perfect score. I have been fortunate enough to try this bottles on several occasions and while I love this wine this particular bottle was not showing at its optimum level. I feel that this is more of an issue of bottle variance and should not reflect on the wine as a whole. That being said I still thoroughly enjoyed the wine with big barnyard notes and deep black fruit.
1995 David Abreu Madrona Ranch Cabernet – This is the bottle that we pulled out of the cellar for Simon’s birthday. The wine was a little thin right out of the bottle but after a good decant the wine fleshed out in the glass. Notes of black cherry, plum, liquorish, leather, tar, and Asian spice filled the glass on the nose. The palate was lovely with bold tannins that were on the edge of silkiness. This wine was a true treasure and one that has plenty of time in the bottle.
1996 Colgin Herb Lamb – John opened this bottle for his Birthday and boy was it terrific!! Competing with the Abreu was stiff competition but to my palate I liked the Herb Lamb more. The nose blossomed with notes of red roses and bright Bing cherry. Once you got into the glass a little further you could pick out the subtle loam and clay minerality with a hint of blueberry. The thing that always gets me with Colgin is the unmistakable mouth feel, like coating your palate with velvet. A truly remarkable wine!