Poker night at Ray's

Ray Sig wanted to have a boy's night so we decided Sat morning to have dinner and play poker at his place. On short notice only four guys could make it and we were going to meet at 7:00pm.

• 2000 Sineann Pinot Noir Reed & Reynolds

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  The boys had this opened in a decanter when I arrived. Ray joked I missed the fireworks as the wine obviously had not finished it's primary fermentation and the cork was on the other side of the room. They decanted the wine and when they swirled the decanter the wine fizzed out the top. I'm sorry I missed that one. There will be an email sent to this winery.

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We had these with appys waiting for dinner. None were decanted.

• 1999 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges Aux Allots 85 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges

  My very first experience with a Leroy wine and it was not what I had hoped for. I'm not sure if the '99 is closed right now, but this wine was not showing very much. The nose was very closed and no where near the California Pinot I am used to. It was very earthy and showed signs of herbs and spices, but overall a disappointment.

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• 1995 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru

  The second Leroy we opened on the night and I was hopeful that this was showing more than the first as I have several more bottles of this in my cellar. This was my first experience with a Premier Cru Burgundy and thankfully it was better than the first Leroy the '99 Nuits Aux Allots, but not much. The color was not much different from the '99 Nuits. On the nose it was also very tight, but gave out some dark earthy fruit. The palate gave back what the nose did, earthy black fruit. With some time this got better giving out black fruit and cherry highlights.

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These were served with dinner and over the course of the evening/early morning poker session

• 1982 Château Lynch-Bages 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Ray tried to serve this blind, but he didn't hide the label well enough and I immediately saw the red border of a Lynch Bages. Now what year? The color definately gave away that it had some age on it, light ruby red that lightened at the edges. The nose was what I have come to love about old aged Bordeaux, cassis, herbs and cedar-cigar box aromas. In the mouth this was full bodied with tannins suggesting this is not going downhill anytime soon. Great balance and delicious with our meal.

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• 1985 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  A second wine Ray wanted to serve blind. Everyone guessed Cabernet, but was it old or new world. The nose was sweet and toasty so we thought new world. In the mouth the tannins were still prominent so I was fooled into thinking this might be early '90s California, but the fruit profile didn't jive with my current experiences with California fruit bombs. It was a full bodied well balanced wine with an elegant finish. I can only hope that my current California purchases age as nicely as this has.

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• 1985 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  This was a delicious, silky bottle of wine. On the nose this was showing cassis, toasty oak and something sweet. The mouth feel was elegant and overall the wine was exceptionally well balanced. The finish was shorter than I would have liked, but I kept wondering why Silver Oak doesn't make wine like this anymore?

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• 2002 Pax Syrah Obsidian Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  This wine screams new world fruit. On the nose it is nothing but sweet fruit. The first thing you notice, after the deep dark purple color, is the sweetness of this wine. For those who like new world fruit bombs, this is the wine for you. It is what most would consider over the top and would be an instant hit with non-winos looking for an easy driking wine. Not sure you could pare this would food other than dessert. Oh did I mention how sweet this wine was.

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Along the way Ray also opened a 1977 Dow's Vintage Port, I remember drinking a couple of glasses and not much more. On monday Tommy remembered the Dow's, but his only recollection was why are we drinking port out of these big Riedel glasses?