Tuesday Night Double Blind $40+

• 2002 Domaine Harmand-Geoffroy Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

  Cooked and prematurely aged from poor storage. Though not undrinkable this reminded me of off vintage Beaucastel from the '80s.

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• 2005 Azelia Barolo 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Dark crimson with lighter rim; lots of vanilla on the nose, almost obtrusive, hot, leather, violets, dark cherry, blackberry, well built, unrelenting though not hard, some brandy warmth on the finish; really needs some time because this seems really modern and awkward right now- I was thinking Ribera del Duero...

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• 2009 Bodegas y Viñedos San Roman Toro Viña San Román 89 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  Dark dull purple almost to rim, ruby purple rim; lots of new oak, toasty, dark berry, sweet, youthful, a little hard to decipher place because it was a little lighter than expected from Toro, seemed like a Bordeaux varietal.

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• 2006 Clos Mogador Priorat 91 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  Dense, extracted core with brilliant purple rim; a bit of sulfur, black fruit, salty, perfumed, tar, and a little Brett that is integrated well into the wine; big but balanced mouthfeel, lots of dark fruit with some redder notes in the background, exotic sweet wood; needs a few more years in bottle to really shine; really fattened up and became more brooding with extended air time almost too much so be careful with decanting.

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• 2003 Marchesi Mazzei Maremma Toscana Tenuta Belguardo 89 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Maremma, Maremma Toscana

  Black core with tiny red rim; tar, prune, ash, volcanic, tobacco, dried flowers, some acidity and fine tannin made this beast somewhat approachable; was on Terra di Lavoro or Serpico, the scorching '03 vintage made this richer and riper than normal; also probably not going to improve and may be on a plateau for several more years.

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• 2004 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso 90 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

  Dark core with garnet rim; nose of tar and green pepper, stemmy, clay, bitter chocolate, a bit sharp on the finish; sort of Chilean in style which made me call Don Melchor, yikes.

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• 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Flawed

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

  Unfortunately this bottle was slightly corked. I got it right out of the gate though others didn't, fruit was really strong, good Mourvedre character, lots of stones, but the wine was cut short by the TCA; shame; wine underneath was really developing nicely because it was so boring just a couple years ago.

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• 2009 Camus Pere & Fils Mazy-Chambertin 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru

  Soft crimson with orange hues; red fruit, orangey, pledge; richer and deep though a slightly pallid expression of Gevrey in '09 though black pepper and rich sweet fruit didn't make sense anywhere else, thought this was lower tier with elevated GC alcohol, good fat to it; honestly the wine is probably better than I give it credit.

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A very bizarre wine lineup. Spain fails to impress even for $60+. Barolo tastes like Spain. '02 Burg that tastes 30 years old. Tuscany that didn't taste like Tuscany. A corked wine that possibly contended for wine of the night and a Grand Cru Burg that didn't excite. You win some, you lose some. That's wine.