An evening with Kevin Shin

Great to see friend and talented wine taster Kevin Shin. Many thanks for the welcome, excellent conversation and the time to drink three wines, the second of which - a fine Premier Cru Chablis - I couldn’t find in Cellar Tracker. After having been opened for two days already, the Alain Gautheron Chablis Premier Cru "Les Fourneaux" 2019 was still lovely, with the as expected freshness and vibrancy, albeit a touch acacia and even honey, as the appellation would suggest. Indeed, the vineyard is named for its warm climate. Fourneaux means "furnace" in French. With a full on south exposure, it tends to yield very ripe grapes, as evidenced here. It is always reassuring that the wine can be opened for two days and still yield pleasure, not just be "acceptable" and as much as I loved that Champagne it was nice to taste this from a producer I had not heard of before. 92/100

• 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 96 Points

  France, Champagne

  This is drinking wonderfully. Many thanks to Kevin Shin. His peerless stocking conditions, the wine tasted almost as upon release, this vintage being broader, more evidently creamy than, say, the 2008 vintage. But as other professional tasters have noted, this is an exemplary effort for the warmer vintage that can sometimes exude tropical notes. Not so, here. What pleased me most was the impressive weight and palate feel, finely textured, with bright notes of citrus, subtle in expression with some brioche, albeit not really tertiary quite yet. I was focusing a bit more on our conversation so did not take careful notes, but we both loved it! Kevin served some excellent cheeses with crackers - and an addictive duck mousse, all of which paired very well with the Champagne, which showed a very fine bead, still rather youthful, again due at to the provenance.

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• 1992 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  After nearly 20 years (in bottle), truly fun to drink, with eucalyptus, mint and herbal aspects. About as far and away from a ripe blockbuster Cab as you can get, and although lacking the complexity of a superior wine, it was vibrant on the palate, with freshness, delivered in smooth tannin. I recall the alcohol being 12.3%

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As we approached the end of a fine - and not too hot - northern Virginia summer evening, we spoke about wine criticism in general, and how I think Kevin would make an excellent critic if he wanted to (he posts copious notes on Cellar Tracker), as his palate is more than a match for many professionals.

In any case, we spoke about how we met, via the old bulletin board on Robert Parker, pre-dating Neal Martin and Lisa Perrotti-Brown (and now William Kelley). In talking about that, Kevin said that the Philip Togni 1992 Cabernet Sauvgnon, the third and final wine we enjoyed, is a favorite of Kelley's.

Many thanks, Kevin.

*2006 in Champagne is not considered a top vintage but some estates - like Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne - did better than others. Acidity is not as high as in 2008, given hot June and July with heat wave days. Hail proved a problem but not sure the extent to which Taittinger's special cuvée was affected in terms of volume. August brought humidity (also rot, mildew and some botrytis). However, Indian summer warm dry days helped phenolic ripeness with cooler evenings to preserve acidity.