Eyes Wide Shut - Day 1

First blind games of the day consisted of a blind of whites - both domestic and Burg.

Second blind games of the day consisted of a blind of reds - from anywhere, any vintage and any varietal.

The wines were blinded in the same order.

Winner of this lineup was the '20 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne.

• 2013 Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard 95 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Nose: Dark gold pineapples, deep fruitful grass, and subtle hay.
  
  Palate: Rich fruits of deep pineapples with a bit of guava, providing a bit of unripe prickliness in a good way. While rich, this has a bit of elegance and good acidity to keep this moving. Spiced oak gets pronounced with a bit more time.

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• 2019 Domaine Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère 97 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Nose: Fresh lime, clean and dried hay, crushed dried stones, and crisp peaches.
  
  Palate: Awesome freshness on the palate with lime and stone fruits. The crispness is on point here, with fresh crisp pears and nice juiciness. There's a gentle prickliness on the palate that makes this quite exciting. This was like a searing lightning bolt from the heavens, striking with amazing precision and freshness.

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• 2018 Kongsgaard Chardonnay The Judge Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Damn.. smelled like sailing into the Pacific with bsumoba on his boat. A bit overwhelming salinity and waterlogged corks.
  
  Palate had light fruits that was actually there but this coating of slightly putrid sourness was slowly encompassing the fruit. It was not strong at first but with time, the corked flavors started to take over quickly. Pretty bummed about that. *chants* Diam.. diam.. diam!

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• 2021 Faiveley Bâtard-Montrachet 96 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

  Nose: Round pears with a clean freshness and gentle ripeness, something like fruited honey and dried hay.
  
  Palate: There's some freshness here but somehow with swift and a bit more acidity to show on the palate, giving a nice juiciness. Both dry with a subtle ripeness as well. Minerality on the palate leaves a slight prickliness on the finish.
  
  Hoping a handful of years can allow any kind of "roundness" on the palate to soften and integrate a bit, allowing the freshness to pop more. Fingers crossed.

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• 2022 Walter Scott Chardonnay X-Novo Vineyard 95 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

  Nose: Dark and deep fruits with an earthy grasp, with a peek of minerals in the earth.
  
  Palate: Has both darks and light tropical ripe fruits, fresh grass, minerals, a bit of prickliness throughout, giving the weight giving nice excitement. Nice balance here.

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• 2020 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne 97 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

  Nose: Deep golden pineapple flesh with intense and fresh pear skins. Great aromas of wet minerals on the nose. Dried, clean oak adds a bit of prickliness to the aromas.
  
  Palate: Beautiful earthiness with deep, fresh yellow fruits, and crisp, bright white fruits, spiced stones and nice tree bark for a bit more depth and complexity. The way this shows the contrast between the dark fruits and bright fruits, while being able to have them work so well with each other, is very impressive. Awesome display of balance here. Wine of the white blind for me, just by a hair.

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I guess this is what the guys called it.

• 2008 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut 98 Points

  France, Champagne

  Nose: Fresh white and yellow fruits, with clean, dry and wet sparkling minerals. Quite lively and exciting. The fruits here are quite aromatic.
  
  Palate: Clean and refreshing on the palate. Lots of clean fruits, light hay, minerals that are lightly sweet yet dry, as if it there were tropical fruit juices splashed onto a dried stone.
  
  This was like a well needed, refreshing shower for the tongue after a long day. Cleans the palate very nicely.

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• 2015 Château Latour Grand Vin 98 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Nose: Clean and fresh raspberries and exciting cranberries, clean new oak, red and purple flowers, clean forest floor with a gentle and exciting spiced tree bark. So aromatic on the nose here with fruits and flowers while maintaining nice elegance.
  
  Palate: Clean all around. So well polished with seamless blending of fruits, minerals, earth and clean oak. A precise strike of light graphite and minerals that lingers nicely in the mid palate and onto the finish, providing a nice savoriness. The crazy part is the build up of the energy as it finishes. Awesome gains on the finish here.. it's like it ramps up the more you keep tasting.
  
  My first Lafleur - I mean Latour - ever and boy, it did not disappoint.

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The wines were blinded in the same order.

Winner of this lineup was the '10 Abreu Thorevilos.

• 2010 Abreu Thorevilos 97 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Nose: Dark and intense red fruits, deep earth, and with a bit of dark minerals. While the nose gives a lot, it's never overbearing.
  
  Palate: Similar on the palate from what you get on the nose. Rich with fruits and great intensity. This is dark red and almost black in fruits, brooding while keeping a cool attitude. The integration here is what makes the flavor profile work well. There was a bit of heat early on, but thankfully it blows off with some air.

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• 2021 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon 96 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Nose: Aromas are delivering a fresh and buoyant round nose of gentle red berries. Dried but fresh earth and a hint of new oak.
  
  Palate: A well rounded sweetness to it, I mean like an innocence, not in terms of ripeness. A nice polished red fruit overall, not too dark, with a bounce of floral excitement. This kinda shouted youth to me. So much fun but a bit wild too.
  
  After the reveal, I wish this had a bit more time. Would've loved to see this unravel with more nuance. 96+, please give it some air time if you're planning on opening now, you will be so glad you did.

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• 2015 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard 97 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Nose: Forest floor funk, with gentle ripeness of black and red fruits. The funk calms down with time, leaving behind a cleaner forest floor trail.
  
  Palate: Pleasantly intense red and black fruits, deep earth and a black graphite that holds onto the fruits. Tasty finish of dark minerals and classy, dark fruits.
  
  The most put together and classy out of the lineup for me. There is a way this presented itself that I really enjoyed, nothing over-gushed. It held itself together with a consistent delivery, undisturbed, like laminar flow. My favorite of the lineup, beating the '10 Thorevilos by just a bit, only because this gave a tastier oomf for me.

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• 2019 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 94 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Bolgheri, Bolgheri Sassicaia

  Nose: Gentle funk, clean red fruits, a bit of grassy and mulch type earth.
  
  Palate: Very similar on the palate, this funk and grassiness is very juicy, kinda reminds me a bit of those wheatgrass shots at Jamba Juice. The red fruits are strict and even a bit lean.
  
  Some air time would've helped this a lot. The fruits seemed light but it was still there, just a bit tight and shy unfortunately. Again, air time would've really helped this one. 94+

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• 2019 Domaine Trapet Chapelle-Chambertin 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru

  Nose: This wine funks. Light red fruits like gently ripe raspberries and a subtle cranberries, grass and wet mulch. Still funks with time.
  
  Palate: Fresh and clean juiciness, pleasant red fruits, thankfully drastically less funk than what you get on the nose. Gentle energy is found here, giving this a bit of an exciting, prickly texture.
  
  I figured this one was mine cause of its stink. The palate showed more friendly than the nose and continued to improve as the day went on. I know I'm sounding like an ad on repeat here, but give this some air if opening now, it does get better. 95+

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• 2021 Bella Oaks Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Le Génie 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Nose: Clean and slightly intense red fruits, nice roundness and buoyancy of berry type fruits.
  
  Palate: Ripe red and black deep fruits, awesome earthiness that blends well with the fruits, with a brightness that comes from sparkling minerals.
  
  Give this another year or two for it to gather up some prowess. This can deliver just a bit more if given the chance. 94+

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• 2014 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Nose: Sweet red fruits, tons of sweetness. Not ripe, just sweet.
  
  Palate: A bit of confectionary sweetness and candied red fruits. A bit fake, seems quite manipulated.
  
  I never enjoyed this kind of manufactured taste/texture in wines. It's okay but it always bothered me. This also fcked up the next wine for me in the lineup, completely bombing the palate with a coat of sweet fruit. Kinda bummed me out.

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• 2014 Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon The Magnificent Seven

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Nose: Ripe on the nose, with dark fruit but more put together. There's also a bit of chocolatey earth.
  
  Palate: Good ripeness with a bit of drying oak. A glowing joy of ripeness, like the kind of joy you see from someone that is living in the moment. This showed nice integration, especially with the fruit and earth.
  
  I can't score this fairly. This showed a ripeness that reminded me of the Caymus this was had next to. That is not to say this is as sweet, but the fcking sweetness from the Caymus carried over, coating the palate a bit too much. I tried using some water but it didn't quite help (maybe sparkling would've done the job). One take away from this bottle though, is that it did not have that manipulated taste/texture, and to my relief, it was obvious why it didn't after the reveal.

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Awesome way to finish the evening.

• 1984 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Bella Oaks 95 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Nose: Soft cranberries, a really subtle soy note, damp earth and slightly damp tree bark.
  
  Palate: Great dark red fruits with a bit of shine, giving it a lift, showing no kind of age. Beautiful integration of tannin where it just shows no kind of flatness or harshness. Awesome purity and grace here.
  
  This has to be one of those good bottles where it was stored perfectly, with little to no bottle variation. This is what I look for in aged wine, where it doesn't just dive straight into the tertiary realm and knows how to preserve its precious, tasty fruit. It's kinda rare to come across perfectly preserved bottles like these. This reminds me of the '61 Lalande so much. Ugh, just so beautiful and graceful.

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• 2021 Bella Oaks Vineyard Proprietary Red 99 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Nose: Subtly ripe flavors of clean red and blue fruits, with a clean forest floor, soft hints of stone and gentle aromatics.
  
  Palate: Clean, generous earth, beautiful minerality and balanced dark fruits with tons of freshness. Amazing balance and finesse.
  
  Wine of the night for me. This is just as good as the last time I've had it and it's been a minute. Surprised this is still holding up strong. I hope this juice still continues to carry on like this when it gets the bottle and in the future.

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• 2019 Château Margaux 97 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Nose: Light and fresh red fruits. Class and elegance shows beautifully. White and soft red flowers accompany the fruits, providing additional grace. Clean earth here accompanied by fresh, gentle undergrowth.
  
  Palate: Great elegance on the palate as well, just like the nose. Fresh red fruits, clean minerals, light graphite and airy forest notes. A light coating of graphite to keep things tidy and serious, without completely coating the fruits.
  
  Amazing pristine purity to everything at the moment. Gotta love 'em young.

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I wanna go to sleep.