Dinner with Friends

Wally, Steve, Jordan and I met up at Carlos' for a night of great wines and amazing food. This was a place that I really wanted to go to and with free corkage on monday nights, well, it was a no brainer to go there and we had to make sure the wines would match the quality of the food

These were our kick off wines. The Verget was showing a lot more mature then I thought an 02 should show and it may be a canidate for a premox'd wine in a few years, here's to hoping that I'm wrong.

The kistler was loads of fun. Perfectly mature with deep gold color, I paired it up with buttered Lobster tail and it was just a match made in heaven

• 2002 Verget Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons Vieilles Vignes des Minots 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  nose: very un-chablis like nose off the bat with spiced pears, charcol, oily notes, and bits of lemon meringue. Nose was more reminiscent of a meursault or aged cali chard
  
  taste: good light feel that brings me more back to chablis along with flint tones, spiced pears, and bits of lemon drop extract
  
  overall: the color was surprisingly advanced for an 02 and the nose wasn't what I would normally associate a chablis with. Still, it has that really nice light feel that chablis brings with crisp refreshing flavors and a sweet attack of spiced pears that gives way to a light and lemony finish

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• 1999 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  nice medium golden color
  
  nose: wonderfully balanced nose that is quintessentially california chardonnay. Filled with creamy tones of vanilla, caramel corns, butterscotch, smoked cheeses, and bits of apricot all complimented by a slight hint of toasted oak. A classic nose that is very alluring and makes you want to keep sticking your nose in there
  
  taste: great balanced feel with butterscotch, caramel, smoked cheese, apricots, lemon meringue pie, and even slight salty tones on the back end
  
  overall: a really rich and beautiful wine with massive aromatics. It's in a perfect drinking place with a great upfront butterscotch attack that then peels away into layered flavors that then unwinds with a smokey and salt based finish

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These wines were what burgundy is all about. Just that etheral quality that one wants from burgs. The girardin really opened up by the end of the night, so much so it gets one excited to see where it will be in another 5-8 years

• 1995 Dominique Laurent Echezeaux 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  nose: a wonderous sexy nose filled with raspberry, earth tones, tart black cherry, brown spices, and forrest floor tones on the first smell. Amazingly deep, this continues to open up and provide further scents of mushrooms and bits of soy sauce flavors
  
  taste: lush and silky with great and balanced tones of raspberry, mushrooms, tart black cherries, brown spices, and bits of soy
  
  overall: great luscious feel and very heady and etheral that is just great right now. This wine is really starting to come into its own and will further develop. Great polish and weight this just glides across and lets you contemplate. This wine is why one drinks burgundy as its filled with all sorts of nuance and beauty that gives off a polished and silky attack of mushrooms+raspberry and finishes off with a nice tart black cherry finish

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• 1999 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Clos du Roi 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  nose: deep nose of dark forrest, black cherries, charcol, menthol tones, and bits of black spices and raspberry
  
  taste: great and tart feel with black cherries, raspberry, forrest floor, and bits of black spices
  
  overall: Still very young, but this really opened up with more air and time into a beautiful boquet. The acidity and trannins are still firm, but this really unwound into a gorgeous wine that will only get better with more age on it. The acidity kills the finish a bit, but the black cherry and forrest floor attack is sooo silky and smooth showing the promise of this wine. It's really good now, and it will only get better

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The Certan de May was very interesting and was a real pleasure to drink.

The Montrose was stunning. There really isn't much more that can be said about that

• 1982 Château Certan de May 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  nose: great perfumed nose with tart cherry, blueberries, cranberries, tea leaves, bits of barnyard, and small bits of lavender
  
  taste: great feel with some bits of perfumes, tart cherry, blueberries, and tea leaves along with bits of earth and herbs
  
  overall: the color was amazing on this. Almost no bricking or browning at the edges, this bottle seemed more reminiscent of an aged st emilion rather then an aged pomerol as it didn't have the silk or finesse that one expects from a pomerol. This wine still possesed a lot of silkiness though with a beautiful and polished attack of perfumes and tart cherry that gave way to a earthy and herb finish

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• 1990 Château Montrose 97 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  nose: right off the bat you get the Mr Ed horsey smells, but as the wine opened up, it reavealed much more complexity and an insane amount of depth. Very muscular and precise tones of graphite, dark cherry, sour cranberry, chalk, roasted herbs, smoke and toast tones
  
  taste: insanely dense and filled with layer upon layer. This is the kind of feel that stops you in your tracks and you just want to enjoy the moment. The tannins are fairly well resolved but the flavors are still fairly primary. Loads of leather, tobbacco, sour cranberry, dark cherry, smoke, and toast unwind in your mouth with each layer providing more complexity
  
  overall: this is a stunning wine that still hasnt reached it's peak. The layers just unfold in your mouth and its the layers that make the wine. An amazing supple attack that then leads into a muscular mid palate and finish that doesn't quit. This is an absolutely stupendous wine that lived up to my expectations

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The Bourguil was great. I'm not normally a fan of Cab Franc by itself, I usually prefer it blended with Merlot to make that magic right bank mix, but this really did hit the spot for me.

The Guigal was also a lot of fun. I just love aged Hermitages

Unfortunetly both of these wines were after the Montrose, so they just couldn't compete. It doesn't take away from how good they were, but it was just a bad spot for them. they showed really well though and the Bourgueil is one to look out for

• 2005 Domaine de la Butte Bourgueil Mi-pente 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

  nose: big and chalky nose with blueberry, root vegetables, cherry, and chocolate tones
  
  taste: very young with firm tannins along with chocolate, blueberries, and cherry tones
  
  overall: an outstanding wine. Big and full with excellent feel and weight along with a tart attack and sharp blueberry finish

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• 1990 E. Guigal Hermitage 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  nose: great resolved and full nose of dark spices, black cherries, black pepper, roasted meats, and anise. Classic hermitage nose that is well balanced
  
  taste: wonderful resolved tannins and acidity with well balanced flavors of black pepper, dark spices, black cherry, and roasted meats
  
  overall: an excellent hermitage. It got lost a bit in the burg fireworks and the montrose, but this is an outstanding wine that is drinking great with a nice full and resolved attack of black pepper and dark spices with a good medium finish of black cherry

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a really great night, especially with the Montrose showing perfectly. The Laurent and Girardin were just so beautiful and the Kistler was in a perfect place. I could keep going on as far as the other three wines as they all were just great wines that provided great contrasts from each other. A really fun night and it was a great experience eating at Carlos' as it more then lived up to its reputation and the staff was more then helpful