2000 and sake

Dinner at Neighborhood.

2000 Egly-Ouriet, dégorgée en mai 2008 - nice and ripe on the palate, slightly bitter.  Lemon citrus, a little marmalade, and nice toasty notes.

Hanagaki Kyukyoku no Hanagaki Daiginjo (花垣  究極の花垣  大吟醸), 2019 - seimaibuai (精米歩合) of 35%.  Really sweet on the nose with tons of banana and fermented rice notes.  Nice and complex, rich on the palate.  Initially sweet on the palate but became more dry with aeration.

2000 Antinori Solaia - decanted 1½ hours prior to serving.  Very smooth and drinking very well.  Minty, not too sweet.  

Full post on dinner is here.

Bubbles and shiraz

Dinner at Neighborhood.

2015 Roses de Jeanne Les Ursules, dégorgée en avril 2019, en magnum - this was from the day before, so while it was nice and ripe, it just didn't seem as lively.

Frederic Savart L'Ouverture, dégorgée en mai 2019 - riper on the palate than I expected, and pretty rounded with a good balance.

Ruinart Rosé - a little toasty with more red fruits.

2003 Torbreck Descendent, from magnum - decanted for 1½ hours prior to serving.  Still very ripe and jammy, but it's softened with age and some aeration.  Drinking beautifully right now.

Full post on dinner is here.

Sine Qua Non and Cristal

Dinner at Otto e Mezzo Bombana.

2008 Louis Roederer Cristal - very fragrant and floral, with a little toast.  Acidity was pretty high despite the palate being kinda round.

2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man - 39% Roussanne, 31% Viognier, 30% Chardonnay.  Served 45 minutes after opening.  Really sweet nose of bubblegum, cotton candy, and vanilla, with some acetone.  Also sweet and butter notes.  After 2 hours a little metallic.  Still some acidity on the palate and even a little grippy, and later slightly bitter.  So exotic and interesting!

2003 Sine Qua Non Papa - 97% Syrah, 2% Mourvedre, 1% Grenache.  Served after 1½ hours in decanter.  Still very ripe and jammy, a little metallic on the nose, with fragrant leather notes.  Very sweet on the palate with nice spices.

Full post on dinner is here.

Champagne, Blanc de Lynch Bages, Mordorée

Dinner at West Villa.

2016 Blanc de Lynch-Bages - pipi de chat, much riper on the palate than expected.  Pretty nice.

2016 Coessens Blanc de Noirs - nice and yeasty, reasonably ripe on the palate.

2012 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Reine des Bois - riper than expected, with forest and dried herb notes.  Drinking nicely.

2006 Krug - still a little on the young side, but can there ever be a bad bottle of Krug?

Full post on dinner is here.

70 Latour and 82 Landonne

Dinner at Caprice.

Krug Grande Cuvée, en magnum - this magnum was release some time before 2004, when they still used this old label and before they started putting édition numbers on the labels.  Ripe on the palate but not too oxidized... which was probably due to this being a magnum.  Still some freshness on the palate, with nice minerality and a little savory.  Showed some Chinese licorice notes 4 hours after opening.

1982 Guigal La Landonne - served 3 hours and 45 minutes after opening, without decanting.  Probably over-aerated, although there was still some fruit left.  Some leather and animal notes, a little barnyard.  Classic Côte-Rôtie but on the lean side.

1970 Latour - served 4 hours and 15 minutes after opening, without decanting.  Smoke, mint, pencil lead notes on the nose.  Really beautiful and perfect.  Exactly what I wanted out of a Latour.

1998 d'Yquem, en impériale - honey, apricot, acetone, and orange blossom.

Full post on dinner is here.

Damoy Gevrey

Dinner at Caprice.

2015 Pierre Damoy Gevrey-Chambertin - nice fruit and eucalyptus. Full post on dinner is here.

Full post is here.

Krug and Denis Mortet

Dinner at VEA.

Krug Grande Cuvée, 167ème édition, ID 318034 - very consistent Krug style, with big, toasty nose, but kinda high on acidity.

1998 Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Combe-du-Dessus - decanted for 1 hour before serving, which was a little too much.  Loved the nose but it was already peaking.  Slight bitterness on the palate.  A bit of toast with some nice fruit.  Unfortunately starting to be a little flat without a long finish.  With some vigorous swirling, some really sweet fruit aromas were released.

Full post on dinner is here.

La Mouline and more

Dinner at Roganic.

1996 Trimbach Clos Ste Hune - nice and fragrant, almost opulent, with lots of white flowers and honey on the nose.  Good ripeness on the nose and beautiful.  Good acidity here, with a lean palate.

1982 Guigal La Mouline - decanted one hour after opening, and served 1 hour after decanting.  So fucking beautiful right from the first pour.  So sweet on the nose, like honeydew melon.  Amazing floral notes with violet.  So soft and supple on the palate.  Probably peaked 2 hours after decanting.

1990 Canon-la-Gaffelière - minty, with plenty of fruit like cassis, smoke, leather, really sweet on the nose.  Just beautiful from the start and really lovely, with explosive nose.  

Full post on dinner is here.