9 years since the last TN? Wow. Aromatics show an oxidative quality with bread dough and toast. Lemon, some residual intensity that sits within a savory, herbal core of fruit that finishes soft with just a touch of mineral. This to me seems well resolved and perhaps past peak.

When this was poured, it was quite golden in color with a glossy texture with some apple and an oxidized, overly matured aroma. The consensus was this was over the hill based on the oxidation that had come through this bottle. Maybe hard to argue that this is a failed bottle when it is 20 years old. It's an aged Chard that has seen its sunset so I chose not to mark this as 'flawed'.

This was the replacement for the 1999 Mt Eden Chard, and so it was the outlier of the entire evening, not of the 1999 vintage that was our theme. Notably, I thought this was one of the best bottles of the night. 60 Chard / 40 PN, 5 g/l dosage. We've drank this bottle before and this bottle showed as well as the previous. Terrific acidity, lemony/citrus, green apple, some light ref fruit tones and finishing with a limey/citrus tone. Very good.

I've drank a lot of Copain in the past decade or so, but never this bottle. This is an early bottle in the Guthrie portfolio. And, gotta say that this bottle is holding up extremely well for getting to the close of its second decade. Lightly gamy, red apple and floral aromas, along with some talc. Lots of ripe fruit that is aging well with good persistence and density. Plummy with clove and some alcohol from the riper toned fruit. Great example of aged CA PN that is hanging right in there.

For me, this showed some celery, spice box and even some tarry/bloody notes when I first tried it in my glass. Hmmm? Syrah? With air, to me this started to soften, with a fruit bowl/cherry quality to the fruit, a bit inky and dark, with some grainy tannin and finishing tang. Preferred the 1999 Copain Dennison we flighted next to it.

This stumped the table within the blind format. All kinds of guesses being lobbed around from the guys. There is some ripe tones, so a few said ripe, older Cab. Clove, 5-spice, some aged/cedary aromas with a solid core of fruit and depth with a length of finish that impressed me. Yes, this is a fruit-forward wine but it's not losing its punch or power at nearly 20 years old.

Aromas of tar, perfumey and fragrant. Lovely acidity and complexity, too. Tarry, with red fruits, herb and a juicy, fresh finish. There remains good tannin and structure and I suspect that this can add another 10, maybe even 20 years to the 20 it already has survived quite nicely.

Well, whatever Wine Spectator thought about this wine when it was their WOTY, perhaps that was a good declaration at the time, but it's not held up for me based on how this wine tasted last night. Another one of the smart palates at the table called out the term "red hots", which is what I recall a US candy from my childhood that is sweet, cinnamon and spicy This was dead on for a descriptor. I found the wine candy-like, with berry, licorice and really not all that enjoyable.

This showed an alcohol forward aromatic, and what I sometimes refer to as 'soapy' when a wine throws off that kind of volatile alcohol aroma. Big ripe fruit, dark and even brambly, with a Chambord liqueur quality. This is not fading at 20 years but it's not showing the Cab qualities that I gravitate to in Cab.

This bottle showed up to the table via another guest in the restaurant who was enjoying it and wanted to share it with our table. Red and black fruit with good supporting acidity. I also notice some vanilla-seasoned oak that was in the core of the wine, and then a closing finish that was bright and present. This seemed to me on the riper side for Burg, FWIW.

This also was passed to our table by another table in the restaurant. I got a bit of a taste and found it tight, with red fruits, structured and kind of modern. This is the best I could for the TN, as it was getting late and my palate was fading, too.

Near the end of the meal, the Somm for the restaurant walks up with this mag of Sparky and offer us to finish the bottle. Cool, I'm in. About 3-4 ounces left so we got after it. Ripe, deep berry, some dark chocolate. Tannin with a fair amount of structure. A deep, flavor packed, coiled kind of wine that was my last of the night and I suppose a fitting end to the evening.