Good wines and fun times as Nicos returns to New York.

It had been a year and a half since I last saw Nicos Neocleous, where he joined me on a little adventure through Vouvray and three years since he last visited Gotham City. Realizing he was long overdue, he sent word out to a few locals that he would indeed be gracing our shores with his younger brother in tow and would love to catch up. The feeling being mutual, a plan was orchestrated, invites sent out and on Monday, September 12th, a hardy group of New Yorkers feted Nicos and George in grand fashion...whole roasted piggy!

It's impossible to not have a great time when Nicos is present and when you throw some fine alcoholic beverages into the mix, well, it was an uproariously fun evening. Nicos, don't take so long for your return visit!

• NV Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Fiacre

  France, Champagne

  A nice way to get the evening going. It's rare that I'm particularly fond of a Champagne, but this bottle was lovely. Fruit forward and ripe with a red delicious apple, sweet yellow citrus and pear profile. There was a distinctive apple skin note that was quite pleasant. Some mineral here, but this is really a fruit driven Champagne. The bead is fine and silky. Those looking for mineral and cut probably won't like this as much, but friendly Champagne is just fine by me. A-.

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• 1967 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Nicos generously schlepped this bottle from London to NYC and then proceeded to carry it around town before dinner. It was warm when he got to the restaurant, so we immediately shocked it in an ice bucket, then popped and poured when cold enough. Despite those less than ideal conditions, it was the wine of the night. While it remained tight on the nose, it was just stunning on the palate. There's a wonderful richness to the wine without the severity that I often find in a Sec bottling. Fresh and still yellow fruited with quince and tropical notes, a nice mineral streak and marzipan on the back end. Incredible length persistence. The wine just dances across the palate and lingers there. I managed to keep some in my glass for over an hour and a half and the wine kept growing. Would love to try one decanted well ahead of time and with a lot more time to spend with it. Just gorgeous. A.

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• 1970 Bodegas Riojanas Rioja Viña Albina Gran Reserva

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  This bottle shows a little more vibrancy than another I had in May. Some mushroom and musty old barrels on the nose and palate to start, but it blew off to reveal classic old Rioja character. Like the last bottle, this is a more earth and leather dominated wine, with the cherry fruit, spice and citrus as supporting roles. The wine is fully integrated, but there's vibrancy and freshness here and the color is good. As a side note, I do like the '70 Monte Real Gran Reserva bottling a little better as it shows more fruit. A-/B+.

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• 1985 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  Italy, Abruzzi, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  This wine is very much like Longfellow's little girl who when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid. Tremendous bottle variation with this wine and I've had some truly horrible bottles, but this was a beautiful showing. There was a bit of concern at the onset when Volatile Acidity dominated, but one has to be patient with this wine and let it breath a bit. Thankfully, the VA blew off to reveal a fresh and fairly fruit-forward wine. Blue and black fruits dominate with licorice and purple flowers. Integrated, yet fresh with nice acidity. Drinking beautifully right now. Solid A-.

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• 1998 Michel & Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  An interesting showing for this bottle. It shows more youthfully on the nose than it does in the mouth, with lots of violets, garrigue, spice and black fruit aromas. There's less bacon on the palate than usual and it's rather lean and juicy with the herbal flavors dominating the fruit. Feminine in style and tasty, but this bottle is showing more towards the back side of peak. B+/A-.

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• 1998 Michel & Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie Cuvée la Belle Hélène

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  I've never been particularly fond of the Belle Hélène bottling as the oak is always too much for me. While the wood is more integrated than other bottles I've had in the past, it's still too obvious and unwelcome to me. There's sweet spice and toast on the nose with black fruit and anise. Violets and black fruit appear on the palate, but the wood shouts for attention a little too heartily and dries out the finish. Drink up. Most in the group felt the wine has peaked. B+.

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• 1988 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Always one of my favorite Chaves and this bottle is showing beautifully. The aromatics are breathtaking and more red fruit dominated than usual. Red plums, violets, spice, black fruit and smoked meat lead make it hard to pull one's nose out of the glass. On the palate the wine is fully integrated and harmonious as it has been for a number of years now and is just a joy to drink. More black fruited on the palate than on the nose with similar flavors as aromas. In a wonderful place and my red wine of the night. A.

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• 1998 Marc Sorrel Hermitage Le Gréal

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  An interesting mix of Burgundy and the Rhone here. The nose has a rather Burgundian quality to it with its tart red fruit profile, but then in comes the black olive and purple flower aromas. It's medium-bodied and tart on the palate with rather high acidity. Juicy red fruit, bacon and herb flavors dominate, but while the Burg lovers at the table really seemed to like it, I think it needs more fruit to balance out the structure. B+/A-.

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• 2001 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Laurence

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  I've never been much of a fan of this bottling, save for the '90, as I think the oak consistently has too much of an imprint and tends to dry the wine out and this bottle reinforces that view. The wine shows roasted raspberry fruit, meat, spice and oak aromas. On the palate the fruit is a bit pruney and the oak a bit overbearing and is indeed drying the wine out. One dimensional and just plain old boring. Imo, the '01 Réservée bottling blows this one away. B.

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• 1971 Niederthäler Hof Langenlonsheimer Königsschild Beerenauslese

  Germany, Nahe

  Another bottle Nicos hand-carried with him from London. A blend of Riesling and Scheurebe, it's still alive and offers plenty of pleasure, though is certainly past peak and no longer has the unctuousness or sweetness one would expect from a beerenauslese. It shows a typical desiccated stone fruit profile one would expect from a Riesling at this age, with guava and passion fruit from the Scheurebe. With air a pleasant kumquat note arose. Nice acid structure to balance out what seems like light auslese sweetness at this stage. The wine fades a bit at the back and the fruit lacks freshness and intensity at this stage, but it's always nice to try these rare old oddities and this is showing pleasantly. Solid B+.

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• 1989 Château Soucherie Coteaux du Layon Chaume

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon Chaume

  Asher found a deal on this over a year ago, clued me in on it and we split a case. My first taste, this past May at Christine Huang's, wasn't that pleasant as the wine showed a lot of off cheese aromas and a lot of structure, not much fruit and a ton of acidity that didn't have enough flesh or sugar to balance it out. However, Christine reported the next night the wine had changed dramatically. Not that surprising given how Chenin can be, so I mentioned this to Asher, who decanted this bottle early in the afternoon for this evening. That absolutely helped as from the get go it was a much better experience than the one I first had. Loads of marzipan on the nose with bright yellow fruit. It's still pretty tight and there's still a bit of a funky cheese rind character with quince, yellow pear, citrus and marzipan flavors. Plenty of acidity here and in the overall scheme of things, not a lot of sweetness, though it did seem to gain sweetness the longer it stayed in the glass. With air a butterscotch note came up. Pleasant, but it probably needs a full 24 hour decant to show its best, or just leave it in the cellar awhile longer. Solid B+.

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• 1977 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  I decanted this for a bit more than two hours before putting it back into the bottle and heading out to dinner and it was another four hours after that before we drank it, but I really should've decanted it first thing in the morning as the wine for the most part remained a bit disjointed, but showed plenty of potential. There were crushed berry and raspberry flavors and aromas with baker's spices and licorice, but also a bit of alcohol that stood out on the finish too prominently. With a lot of air, and I think I kept this wine in my glass and went back to it more than the others, an intense figgy character came out with a bit of toffee and the alcohol started to tuck itself in nicely. Indeed, a glass I had poured at home while decanting that contained mostly sediments had thoroughly integrated the next morning. A-, but with proper decanting, this would merit an A.

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