#08-05, 9.5% abv. Very pale colour. On the pop and pour, this had a very muted nose, though I got a few hints of lime and pineapple. The palate has intense minerality, low sweetness, and a whole helluva glass of racy acidity. Extremely chewy, and very, very long finish. (2 days later) This has significantly softened up. It isn't the same mineral chew that we had the first day. The sugar has come a bit more into the foreground, but those are really the only changes I picked up on.

Barely any signs of bricking. Charred meat and fur, with just a slight bit of brown spice and black fruit underneath it all. Intense red fruit on the palate, which I found surprising in comparison with the nose and the animale characteristics. Very deep and complex, with an amazing salinity on the back end. Fantastic acidity to boot. The finish is intensely smoky -- as in, you could use this as liquid smoke. Wow. In the glass with a good bit of air, this displays a lot more stemminess and green olive character to compliment the salinity.

#13-02, 10.5% abv. LSD in a bottle. Intense lychee aromatics, followed by a kaleidoscopic array of spice and fruit. A light bit of funk on the nose helps keep things interesting. The palate is moderately sweet, and carries that same kaleidoscopic character: green herbs, sweet apples, lychee, pineapple, stone fruit, pretty much everything. Balls-to-the-wall insanity.

#36-10, 7.5%. The 2009 is probably the richest and biggest of the three tonight. Intensely sweet and palate-coating. Lychees all day long. Very spicy as well. This is the bottle that shows the most integration between all the separate elements -- an absolutely rounded and complete bottle of Eiswein. This seemingly has not budged over the few times I've had it in the past two years. Though my stash of this wine is now running thin, it will be very hard to stop from raiding it again.

#30-11, 6.5%. Very floral on the nose, with a lot of green apple character. Extremely powerful and dense, with an intense palate-coating acidity. More acidic than sweet, this is a fantastic green laser beam of riesling.

#33-12, 8.5% abv. The spiciest of the three. Almost overwhelming kaffir leaf notes on the nose, with some pineapple gummi bear aromas as well. The palate is a less spicy, and features a lot of fruit, tempered by moderate (for Eiswein) acidity. This bottle does come off a bit "grapey," and placed alongside its older siblings, this came off a bit worse for it.

A very dense and broad nose, with some mild brioche, toasted hazelnuts, and baked apple. The palate is very intense and only got more so with air. This displayed a density and power you find in Krug (though it doesn't have too many of those oxidative notes). Chewy, chalky minerality. Very expressive, showing some floral and white fruit notes, this is a great example of a Champagne that needs a decant.

This has a very earthy and red-fruited nose that just screams classic Burgundy. The palate has a fair dose of earth as well, but it does come off as a bit more austere than I'd like. The tannins are still present, but the fruit has quieted down some for sure.

Very pretty red fruit on the nose, with a lovely floral character as well. This got deeper with time, too, so that's definitely promising. The oak is a little louder now than I remember it being the last time I had it, and the palate does come off a bit more austere, though the red fruit still takes a prominent seat. Air let the bright acidity show a bit more, but this is probably the last time I peek at this wine for the next five years... unless someone opens one for me, that is!

If I have my story straight, the reserve is a bottled under wax capsule and represents a rebottling of the library stock at Eyrie, where each bottle was checked, and if suitable, reblended with all the other bottles, and subsequently rebottled. The nose shows a slight bit of mushroom, but mostly is dominated by a pile of sweet yellow fruit. This has a fantastic velvety texture, and sits roundly on the palate. Certainly fruit-forward, but not in an obstreperous way at all. Slightly oily, perhaps, this comes closest to a riper Chassagne. That Oregon can make wines like this... what a revelation.

So this bottle has the hallmarks of everything that I want in a riesling. Ripe fruit, flint, spice, and smoke on the nose, as well as just a touch of fresh herbs. Unfortunately for me, that's where it ends. If only this had residual sugar and less alcohol. This shows a bit hot on the palate, and there's really nothing to balance that out. To be sure, there is lots of stuff to like, but at the end of the day, this is just not my style of riesling.

#05-02, 8% abv. So much fresh fruit and spice on the nose and palate. Amazingly dense and rich, with just a slight bit of the secondary characteristics starting to emerge. The richness is held in check by some ripe acidity, which doesn't come across as a bright spot, but more of a steely backbone. I think we caught this at a bit of an awkward stage right now, but I've no doubt there's more potential in the bottle.

This had a very interesting dichotomy between stems (though I've long since concluded I have no idea what stems smell/taste like) and sweet black fruit. The palate is surprisingly dense, with lots of black fruit again, and to be honest, this is not showing anywhere near 17 years. A very rich and big pinot noir, but lovely just the same.

From half-bottle. Served blind. Dark brown colour, with some coffee and toffee notes. The palate is very rich and sweet, with a bit of spiciness. The racy acidity on the finish had me thinking riesling but I hedged and ended up saying Alsatian varietal. Also guessing new world, since this had the colour of an old TBA but none of that complexity. To be honest, this was perhaps a bit one-dimensional, but it was a very fun way to cap off the evening.

#07-02, 8% abv. (Pop and pour) Surprisingly primary nose with a bright lime aroma, some lemongrass, pineapple, and granny smith apple. The palate is arrayed around a very linear vein of malic acid, showing some green herbs and tart pineapple. Not a concentrated, dense wine, and on the lower side of the sweetness spectrum, this is simultaneously a cerebral and pleasurable bottle of riesling. (Half a day later) This has become much deeper, showing much more density than it did this morning. A bit of red fruit has started to emerge -- I'm thinking sweet wild strawberries. The sugar shows a bit more prominently too -- in fact, this has basically just come into much sharper focus now.

From half-bottle. (Pop and pour) I swear, I'll stop opening these... soon. Very light and perfumed red fruit on the nose, with heavy stem influence. The black spice today seems to have gone AWOL. The palate is quite racy with loads of cranberry-tinged acidity and stemmy tannins. While this is not the most complex or deepest Dujac, this is still a stunningly pretty wine.

Heat-damaged.

The nose on this wine reminds me a bit of a young Barolo. There's a very lovely red-fruited nose as well as a pretty floral perfume that wafts out of the glass. Entrancingly aromatic and seductive. The palate, however, is quite tough to slog through -- this is a wine built around the acidity. Very little fruit. I'm gonna put it out there that this is likely one of the 2008s that I'd be worried about aging. I'm not sure there's enough other stuff to stand the test of time. You'll end up with a dried out husk of acid and structure. But that's not to say this isn't good right now!

#09-02, 8% abv. I'm getting a lot of green herbs on the nose of this. There's a slight hint of coconut, but mostly, it's ripe stone fruit. Incredible youth on this bottle -- I would be hard-pressed to call this as a 14-year-old wine. Amazing balance between the slatey minerality, sweet pineapple, peaches, and apples, the sugar, and the powerful vein of acidity. Finishes very long. This did get much more expressive with air but didn't become more complex (not that this wasn't to begin with).

Crumbled and deteriorated cork with signs of seepage under the capsule. With just a bit of air, a coffee tone on the nose emerges. The palate is slightly hot and hollow. I'm going to chalk this one up to a compromised cork.

#15-98, 8.5% abv. From the Bonelli cellar. A somewhat muted nose, though that just might be a function of this being too cold at the moment. The nose is intensely spicy, to the extent that this is eiswein-like. A slight bit of tropical fruit does show through, but it's very diminutive. But then you get to the palate. There's so much botrytis here, it's on the beerenauslese-level. So much fruit and density, but this is a bottle that absolutely exemplifies the ethereal quality for which Doennhoff is so rightly famous.

(Pop and pour) Fantastic nose that evokes crushed rocks, coupled with a slight bit of sweetness from sweet citrus. The palate is exactly in line with the nose, showing the same stony quality and sweet fruit. Very racy acidity as well -- the hallmarks of everything I like in a riesling. But then it finishes with a high-toned bit of alcohol that just ruins it for me... (8 hours later) This lost the heat, and showed some more mineral and ripe fruit. I'm pretty convinced this is a spot-on bottle, but for whatever reason, this just doesn't quite do it for me.

Oops. Way too young (I'll chalk -- no pun intended -- this one up FOR SCIENCE). This is one of the biggest and broadest champagnes I've had in a while. Slightly sweet, with notes of ripe pear and golden apple. Extremely dense on the palate as well. Slightly sweet but absolutely electric with the acidity. I loved the chewy chalkiness on this wine. Tons of upside here.

Initially, this was a bit more muted on the nose than I'd expect. This bottle showed a lot more ripe (and slightly overripe) fruit than the last one I had. Where's the spice? Turns out it needed some air to come out and play. At the end of the day, this was still a much more fruit-driven bottle than my previous one. This did start fading after an hour or two, which confirms my assessment that these should be drank sooner rather than later.

Very deep colour. There's just a slight bit of fur on the nose and palate. But it's very light (unlike most of the lesser CdPs I've had), and that bit of animale serves to add a lot of interest to a red- and black-fruited wine of immense depth. A very brooding and serious wine, but with a lovely refined elegance at the same time. With some more air, there was a very surprising olive note that started showing. Would drink again.

Initially I had scored this a tick higher -- perhaps it was colder and more coiled from having just been opened. Lots of stone and green citrus on the nose, as well as lovely florals. The palate is very rich and dense, and coats the tongue with a bit of waxiness. However, when I revisited it later in the evening (granted, it had warmed up by then), it got flabbier and showed just sweet waxy fruit without any acidic tension.

This is a red-fruit scented wine, that shows very light and delicate floral aromatics coupled with a (very confusing) hint of white pepper that makes this almost syrah-like. The palate is similarly light and elegant, and showing almost no sign of fur, meat, or any other sort of funkiness. If more Chateauneuf were made like this, I'm pretty sure I'd be drinking it more often.

This bottle (of the same provenance as my other note from last year -- thanks Sennma), showed a much lighter and defter touch than its sibling. Tons of stems, but elegance beyond belief. Floral and light, but still chewy tannins. Red fruited and airy but with a racy vein of cranberry-tinged acidity. My wine of the night.

Moderately ripe, but nonetheless, this is a pure classic Northern Rhone. Lots of black fruit, but the ripeness here did surprise me a little bit. This does have a fair bit of polish to it -- this definitely sits away from the rustic Cornas camp. Nonetheless, a fantastic bottle of syrah. Loved the balance between the sweet black fruit, spice, and acidity. Tannins are a bit coarse, but I can live with that. Very nice.

Double-decanted four hours before dinner. This is a brute. This is the guy who will bump you aside if you crossed his path. Big and powerful, with dense black fruit throughout the nose and palate. Brooding and massive, with just a hint of white pepper and animale, which sealed the deal for me, as it added a lot of interest to something that was otherwise a black-fruited beast.

The only miss on the table tonight. At first this was showing a moderate, but already slightly annoying, amount of oak. Fair enough, we popped and poured it. Maybe it'd get better. There was a bit of red fruit on the palate initially as well that I enjoyed. With air though, this seemed to totally fall apart, ending with a hollow palate that was marred by a big splotch of oak.

Disgorged June 2014. 72% chardonnay, 14% pinots meunier and noir. 3 g/L dosage. Almonds, minerals, chalk, and intense apples on the nose. (Before checking the label, I called this as a blend.) The palate also has an intense chalky texture, which when married with all the green apple acidity makes for a very well-balanced champagne. Juicy and delicious, and no worries about it being too brut. I found the balance here just right.

#22-11, 9.5% abv. From half bottle. Moderately pale colour. Extremely pronounced passion fruit on the nose and palate. Very floral, but dense at the same time. Think of that orange-coloured passion-fruit sauce you put on desserts. This would function as a more than suitable replacement for that in a pinch. Exuberant and long. With a bit of air, this became even more intense, with the tropical fruit completely exploding out of the glass. A bit of mango started to start popping up too.