Mmm, frothy and fresh, a very fine and creamy Champagne, great way to start out, and a few of us had our curiosity piqued by this producer.

Mmm, love this, such perfect energy and clarity. Absolutely delicious, mineral, citric, deep, perfectly in balance.

Wow, what a great bring by Bill. Super low fill, some caramel coloration, but this was drinking fantastically well. Mature, lovely, not at all oxidized. Fabulously secondary and complex.

I so distinctly remember when Susan brought this wine to a tasting in 2003, and I absolutely flipped over it. Well here we are 19 years later, and this is still drinking insanely well. Mmmm, cracked pepper, smoked meat, deeeep, heavy bass notes, earthy, yet soaring, smoky, mushroom and sous bois, this is just so, so good!

High pitched at first, black pepper, black cherry. Jason thought it was maybe corked, and I too caught some slightly off aromas. However it never seemed like TCA was at work here. If anything, with air this did gain sweetness and depth, nice, not outstanding.

A funny little Southern Rhône ringer in a Northern Rhône tasting. A little dirty smelling at first, raspberry ganache, white pepper, pine, quite sweet, especially in comparison to the much more savory Syrah we had before and after. (Now had someone tracked down the Syrah specific Cuvee from this producer, that would have been a fun ringer to play with.)

Wowza, gunpowder, floral, explosive, amazing, meaty, racy acidity. This is everything you want in Côte-Rôtie, sexy with remarkable lightness and acid driven energy. Compared to the basic Ogier, this is a fairly oaked up luxury cuvee, and 24 years later you can still sense some of that oak signature. However, certainly for a few of us, this was the standout wine of the evening.

Black pepper, funky, animal, reductive, finishes explosively with cherry and bright acid. Pleasing but very linear in comparison to the Ogier.

This was in a tough flight. On the plus side, it is a textbook Syrah. Juicy, bright cherry, nice acid, beautiful but not profound, but overall nicely balanced with excellent tipicity.

Mmm, I love the basic Guigal Hermitage which seems to do so well with age. Dry, tannic, smoky, meaty, love the nose, dusky.

Cracked pepper, cherry, super young, juicy. It has none of the flaws of the hot 2003 vintage but also seems to have barely evolved at this point.

Well this was a treat. Reductive and rubbery at first, mmm, 20 minutes of air did this well, here we go, getting dark and more feral, olive, game, deep black cherry. Fun and wild!

I just love Bual, tangy and brothy with that beef/cooked-onion thing. Really nice energy and weight.

Thick, maple syrup, delish. Malmsey richness for sure.