Dinner at Chris Palm's

Chris Palm hosted six of us for dinner and prepared a spectacular Paella to pair with the whites. I supplied New York Strip steaks to pair with the reds. Chris' wife and two friends joined us near the end of dinner to help finish the wines. Regardless, this was a ton of wine for such a small group and my notes suffered severely towards the end.

Served with Chris Palm's world-class Paella.

• 2002 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  The nose is reserved and slightly oxidized. Didn't open up despite agressive aeration. However, this is very nice on the palate -- mid-weight with a plush mouthfeel and nice acidity. Flavors are dominated by honey, lemon, butterscotch and buttery oak. The finish is very nice. If the nose opens up with additional bottle age this could be very impressive stuff.

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• 2004 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  The nose gives a lovely expression of lemon, citrus and mineral. On the palate this just bursts with flavor. A controlled dose of acidity keeps this lively in the mouth. Good length on the finish. I found this to be very impressive and showing well.

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• 2005 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  The nose gives an assertive expression to honey, butterscotch and mineral. On the palate this delivers concentrated fruit with flavors of orange marmelade. Nice acidity. Good length on the finish. I would expect this to show considerable improvement with bottle age.

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• 2004 Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  The nose offers ripe and concentrated fruit with honey and oak. Very expressive. In the mouth this delivers more ripe and concentrated fruit. More fruit driven at the moment but very tasty. Expansive flavors with good intensity. If anything this is lacking a bit of acidity. Great length on the finish. Should be a crowd pleaser.

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• 2004 Domaine Darviot-Perrin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Blanchots Dessus 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  The nose starts reserved. With coaxing it offers honey, charred bread dough, citrus fruits and floral notes. On the palate this feels concentrated but the flavors are compressed/lacking in intensity. Flavors are mainly citrus fruits and oak/butter. There is enough acidity to keep this lively and the finish lingers nicely.

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• 1996 Joseph Drouhin Corton-Charlemagne 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

  The nose is much more complex than the other whites served and features toasted hazelnut, amaretto, oak and lilac/floral notes. Excellent. The taste follows through with tons of complex flavors -- grapefruit/citrus, nuts and mineral. Great intensity. Expansive. Excellent balance and a nice finish.

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• 2004 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Le Cailleret

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Minimal notes taken on this one. The nose was big with a good expression of lemon/citrus, mineral and oak. No notes on the taste but I recall it being packed with fruit and very nice.

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• 1972 Jean-Pierre Bardot Montrachet

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

  A recent Winebid purchase and what an oddity. I was worried that this would be way past prime, and was shocked to see that the cork looked fairly new and the color of the wine was a youthful gold. Upon opening this showed nothing on the nose or the taste. With about two hours of air this started to open up and was very intriguing. The nose smelled like a red Burg to me with earth, tobacco, mushroom, toasted bread, mineral and orange zest. In the mouth this was much less interesting, giving a pretty straighforward expression of orchard fruit and mineral. Great texture. Crisp personality. No big finish. This bottle proved to be a bit of a let-down, but not for the reasons I expected. Glad to have tried it though.

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Served with pan seared New York Strips.

• 2005 Château Teyssier St. Émilion Grand Cru

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  This tasted to me like a barrel sample. The nose gives a big blast of red fruit with oak and carmel. In the mouth this gives concentrated red fruit with licorice and coffee. Well balanced but fiercely tannic right now. Should be a very nice wine after a few years in the cellar.

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• 2005 Château Grand Destieu

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Minimal notes taken. Bright red color. The nose gives dusty red fruit. On the palate this came across as much thinner than the other reds served. Definitely had an herbal steak but has potential to show some interest and complexity with bottle age.

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• 2005 Château Laforge

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Showed like a barrel sample, but has potential. The nose gives a dose of ripe red and black fruit wiht some earthiness. Controlled and interesting. This is tasty stuff dominated for now by red fruit and really showed well. Great balance. Nice texture. Good length. Very nice.

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• 2005 Domaine de l'A

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux

  I took minimal notes on this one. The nose gives a big, ripe expression of blueberry fruit wtih some earthiness. In the mouth this is mainly big and tannic right now. Hard for me to evaluate.

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• 2005 Château Kirwan

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Painfully young. The nose gives a stern expression of dark fruit, earth, tar and floral notes. Very promising. On the palate this shows as large scaled with tons of sweet black fruit with carmel, tons of structure and a wall of tannins. Shows great promise but will need many years in the cellar.

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• 2005 Château Lascombes

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Most iimpressive. The nose gives a lovely expression to sweet red fruit, buttered popcorn, oak and lilac. This is another large scaled wine in the mouth featuring concentrated red dark fruit and licorice with tons of structure and tons of tannin. Really impressive stuff that will need many years in the cellar.

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• 2004 Château Pavie 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  The nose gives a very intense expression to dark fruit, espresso, chocolate, cherry cough syrup and mineral. The intensity of the taste is very impressive but is dominated by pure fruit at the moment (it reminded me a bit of the 01/02 Harlan with respect to the purity of the fruit). Tannins clamp down hard and obscure the finish. Should be an excellent wine to enjoy over the long run.

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• 2004 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 95 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  The color is an inky black/deep red. The nose is very intriguing, offering refined and sweet fruit of blackberries and blueberries mixed with spice, oak/vanilla, and something akin to brown sugar. A unique and captivating concoction. The taste is dominated by concentrated, liquor-like black fruit with some spice and brown sugar. Awesome stuff. Extremely well balanced and controlled. Fiercely tannic. This is the second time I've had this, but this is so unique that I correctly guessed this blind almost immediately (although I'll admit that context information provided some pretty strong clues).

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• 1990 Château Léoville Barton Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Off bottle, although I didn't think this was nearly as bad as Siggy did (although he was probably more coherent than me at this point in the tasting).

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• 1990 Château Léoville Poyferré

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Much better than the 90 Leoville Barton. The nose gives a stern expression of dark fruit, earth, tar, pepper and more. The taste is much more open, giving sweet red fruit with some secondary complexity. Well structured but balanced by tons of concentrated fruit. Great length on the finish.

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• 1964 Château Léoville Barton

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Minimal notes taken. The color is a murky brick red. At first I thought this was slightly corked, but ultimately decided it wasn't. The nose smells old an offers sour cherry fruit with some prune/overripe fruit, earth and mushroom aromas. In the mouth this shows much lighter weight than the other wines served, but is delightful with nice cherry and earth flavors. Still somewhat tannic, but I would say well past its prime.

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• 1979 Château du Tertre

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  A late addition to the line-up. The nose is very promising showing pleasant, slightly faded, red fruit on the nose. The taste was also decent showing sweet red fruit and almost no structure. Fun to try, but I would be drinking these up if I owned them.

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• 2000 Fonseca Porto Vintage

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  The color is an opaque purple/red. The nose offers a very rich blend of dark fruit, raisings, and pepper. The flavor is dominated by sweet blackfruit. This is thick and syrupy in the mouth, but tastes well balanced. A nice way to finish off the tasting.

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My WOTN was the Quilceda Creek. There were a number of other wines in the running, but for some reason the Quilceda Creek just clicked. Thanks Chris.