Three Fantastic Dinners in DC

Well, days of work meetings go by a lot quicker when you can meet up with friends and share wines like these. We had enough extraordinary bottles to ameliorate the disappointment of running into flawed bottles every night.

The wines this night were plentifully accompanied by Greek home cooking and even more abundant hospitality.

• 1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon

  France, Champagne

  (10/26/2008)

  Light yellow. Incredibly fresh and complex with only the earliest hint of secondary caramel tones. Elegant and truly excellent in an understated way.

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• 1999 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune Flawed

  France, Alsace

  (10/26/2008)

  Corked! Sad.

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• 2006 Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Im Weingebirge

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  (10/26/2008)

  Light yellow. Starts out smelling amazingly like Riesling but turns creamy with tremendous finishing minerality, and just great development over time. This unfolded in a spectacular way and showed great persistence.

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• 1990 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Laurence Flawed

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  (10/26/2008)

  Lighter in color than the bottle that was subsequently opened. Fairly muted fruit and thin. ? corked versus other undefined flaw, but clearly not right in comparison to the clean bottle.

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• 1990 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Laurence

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  (10/26/2008)

  Fairly dark with little fading. Heady aromas of red fruits and definite surmaturite. Exotic enough to make me think it was a Bonneau on the first pour. Not marked by wood in the least (maybe the fruit and alcohol scared the wood away!). A very large scaled wine (read "huge") with wonderful fruit and alcohol that is barely held in check, but I must admit that I found it soupy and lacking in definition. It definitely makes an impression though. In comparison, I have much preferred the '98 and '01 Laurence.

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• 1990 Domaine de Beaurenard Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  (10/26/2008)

  Moderately deep. Nice, typical garrigue-infused nose. Medium bodied (a good 2 notches down in weight compared to the Laurence), good remaining fruit but nothing memorable.

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• 1995 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  (10/26/2008)

  Medium ruby and youthful looking. Slow aromatic crescendo with not much at first but gradual development of beautiful, clear raspberry/strawberry notes, always poised though, not exuberant. Lighter weight and higher acidity were particularly striking after tasting the '90s. Elegant, even, gentle and long with some tannin to still resolve. Gorgeous and in a good spot right now. It has lost a bit of that youthful verve but will be fine for years to come.

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• 1990 Château Lafleur

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  (10/26/2008)

  Given an 8 hour decant. Youthful, very primary looking. Exotic nose for Bordeaux with dark fruit and some herbal notes, but also kirsch and chocolate. It only reluctantly yielded any secondary perfume. Large scaled, round, with superb balance despite plenty of tannin. How it pulls this off without seeming alcoholic or overripe is miraculous. Fabulous, interesting wine that even after 18 years is nowhere near its apogee. I would honestly wait another 15 years before touching one, but this is a legend in the making. If you must open one now, I imagine that a 12 hour or overnight decant might coax out more of this baby. A Bordeaux affirming experience, even for this old palate which has gravitated away from these wines.

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• 2001 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  (10/26/2008)

  Light yellow. Very accessible nose and palate with mango fruit. It's delicious but a bit soft for an '01 and for a Prum. Not destined to be immortal as some of these wines are.

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A wonderful choice for a wine oriented dinner. Not only was the Belgian/French food superb and wine friendly, the wine service was as professional and enthusiastic as at any American restaurant I could name.

• 1998 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Flawed

  France, Champagne

  (10/27/2008)

  Corked. Not so easy to pick up at first with all of the Champagne elements, but became painfully obvious as it sat out. Disappointing to say the least.

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• 1990 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune

  France, Alsace

  (10/27/2008)

  Full yellow. What aromatic fireworks! Lemon drop followed by intense florality and petrol, and then, after several hours, candied citrus. Completely dry. Extraordinary layering, length, and complexity which gave the fantastic red wines of the evening a serious run for the money. Its freshness and drive were astounding, as it was still improving 3 hours after the initial pour. Magnificent, bordering on perfection, and the best of 3 or 4 bottles of this wine I've had over the years.

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• 1982 Château Mouton Rothschild

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  (10/27/2008)

  Young, dark and no fading. Just a classic cedar, pencil shavings nose but virtually no secondary development yet. Even less development on the palate, but it has such great depth of fruit that it is round despite the massive tannins. It's probably been 8 years since I've had this, and it has hardly budged. Truly glacial pace of evolution. It kept on improving in the glass with tremendous length and persistence, and I have to believe it is not even halfway there in terms of its ultimate potential. Hold!

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• 1982 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  (10/27/2008)

  A shade lighter than the Mouton, but still very robust and healthy looking. As opposed to that wine, this did show significantly more open and is clearly into a secondary aromatic phase, with predominantly herbal notes. Medium body, crisp without any excess fat, beautiful balance, and a remarkable long, stony finish that truly sets it apart from so many other Bordeaux. Outstanding and at or approaching peak.

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• 1985 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru

  (10/27/2008)

  Tawny color. Gorgeous strawberry, sous bois, and menthol aromatics with lovely weight and acidity. Round and achingly good for an '85-has held up just beautifully. This is as ethereal as Nuits gets.

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• 1990 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru

  (10/27/2008)

  Much darker than the '85. A funky, washed rind nose blew off and gave way to a very different aromatic profile of black cherries and coffee. Heavier feel, with some clunkiness that reflects both the vintage and the appellation. It does not carress or dance like the older example, but still, over time, it did develop an interesting minty note and some sense of airiness. It couldn't match the '85 on this night though, and as much as the older wine belied the fragile reputation of its vintage, this reaffirmed the lack of elegance that can be the downside of 1990.

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This was more hit or miss in terms of the food pairing well with the wines, perhaps not surprising for an adventurous tasting menu.

• 2002 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  (10/28/2008)

  Light yellow. Perfectly fresh but faint oyster shell with little broadening over the life of the bottle. Its main plus now is real focus and intensity. Again, its structure bores right into the back of the palate, but it does not fan out yet. No secondary development. This is at an embryonic point, showing but a fraction of the complexity and layering that it will undoubtedly show in another 5 years. Hold if you have.

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• 1993 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Clos Vougeot Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  (10/28/2008)

  Healthy color but all VA and prunes like eau de vie. Cooked. My run of bad bottles continues for the fourth night running.

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• 1995 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja

  (10/28/2008)

  Medium light color. Pine driven wood carries the aromatics here. Briefly some faded strawberry flavors, but quickly overtaken by the wood. I know that I sound like a broken record with Spanish wines, but for me, unfortunately typical in having too much wood and too little fruit.

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• 1991 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  (10/28/2008)

  Whoops, somehow forgot to note this in more timely fashion. From my recollection, young, dark, mostly primary but very typical Syrah aromas developing some bacon along the way. Dense and round. Excellent but give it time. Although '91 Cote Rotie gets all the billing, this is another outperforming '91 Hermitage (along with the Chave tasted recently).

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• 1998 Alois Kracher Welschriesling TBA #4 Zwischen den Seen

  Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee

  (10/28/2008)

  Medium amber. Very figgy nose uplifted by some orange blossom. Reminiscent of Australian dessert wine in a way. Viscous, rich, moderately sweet, and good length, but lacking the acid core to be outstanding. I've never been as enamored of these wines as others, as they seem to lack the great acidity possessed by dry Austrian wines.

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Many thanks to the DC gang and to my fellow colleagues and friends who brought along cellar treasures for their generosity and hospitality!