My 35th B-day

Dinner with Katie, Matt, Lisa, Jason & Erika

Service and food was top notch as always
I had the Bone-In Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin with Shallot Butter
The Cain was decanted and the Barde-Haut was splash decanted

• 2006 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel 92 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

  This Rhone blend is fully open for business and drink amazing right now. Drinks great with and without food.
  Red fruits, blueberries, hints of licorice, soy and smoky oak.

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• 2003 Cain Vineyard & Winery Cain Five 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  A solid Napa Bord blend that screamed Napa. Smooth and ready for drinking with a steak. Red fruit, cassis, tobacco, hints of green pepper and oak. Drank from a Mag.

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• 2001 Château Barde-Haut 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  This was a tasty Bord that IMHO was not ready yet and tannins were still not full resolved.
  Berries, coffee hints, pepper and spices. A good wine that still needs 2-3 more years or a longer decant.

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Vincent Arroyo opened before dinner at mi casa

• 2003 Vincent Arroyo Petite Sirah 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  90 upon opening and 93 with the last taste. A very dark and inky big PS. It was oozing dark fruit and black pepper. A little one dimensional but in this case this is not a bad thing, the fruit shines so well and drinks so smoothly.
  Drinks well upon opening and showed well after 3-4 hours of air.

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• 1987 Kopke Porto Colheita 91 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Galvezuy's note are spot on. Caramel and toffee galore. Lots of caramel, raisins toffee, baking spices and a nutty finish. Very nice and a killer QPR from Last Bottle well done and super happy.

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• 1979 Viard Freres Fleurie

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Can't fairly score this one. As last time I tasted this- it showed the same, but faded a lot quicker than last time.
  Tastes were tart cherry, mushrooms, leather and almonds.
  
  For 35 years old this showed very well.
  
  Thank you for the amazing gift John and this was very well received with the group- 4 of us in the group were born in 1979.

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• 2006 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel

  USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

  Killed another bottle once we got home- so good right now. Going to be hard to keep my hands off this one.

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An amazing night that I felt for the next 2 days.