Dinner in Orlando

Thanks to Robert and Marc for setting up this fun dinner. We had a great dinner at K Restaurant and had a plethora of very good food. I wish I had been able to stick around a bit longer, but 6am conference calls are not fun after late nights!

• 2007 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny

  Beautiful nose of tobacco, cherries, earth and cedar. The palate was still rough around the edges as its still blissfully young. Even in its youth, and although it was somewhat angular, there was this elegant underbelly of red cherries and dried florals. Should mature into something (more) special.

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• 2005 Edmunds St. John Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty 90 Points

  USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado County

  Another good bottle. Had the nose of a (riper) Northern Rhone syrah - meaty, dark floral notes, and some olives. The palate had that Californian sunshine in it giving the fruit a sappier body than you'd expect from Northern Rhone. I was very fond of this - thought it was a gorgeous expression of Syrah.

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• 1995 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

  Rustic, clean, pure syrah. The nose was all you could ask for from Cornas. Wild, and gamey this had an absolute benchmark nose. Its palate was lithe, but powerful with big dark fruit flavors, lots of olives, and meat too. I wish my cellar was full of this stuff...I'd never grow tired.

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• 2001 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja

  Tasted blind. About the same as it was back in April. The nose took some coaxing to get going...had some light berries, tobacco, and tar. The nose made me think Nebbiolo at first, but when Robert said, "smells like Rioja" the light bulb popped on. Seems to be in a weird place, certainly young with some wooly tannins on the finish, there's no question to me that this has the raw material to "go the distance" (sorry, watching Field of Dreams...).

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• 1989 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Served a bit cool at first, this took some time to open. The nose was dark and had that Pauillac nose of cedar, char, and graphite. Really lovely, and deep nose that continued to expand and deepen with time. The palate was woodsy and dark - soft touch of oak, nice dark fruits, some red floral notes and some subtle meatiness. This was very young...and I think we joked that it was sourced from Rudy K. Would have liked to follow this over 5+ hours.

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• 2002 Torbreck The Factor

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  I did think this showed better than the 68-point showing on the first bottle I had. Dark, dense and heavy - this is anything but elegant.

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