Act 1, Scene 1 of the greatest wine drinking day of my life, this was supplied by CTer A_M, as I tried to *slowly* go through the greatest lineup since the '27 Yankees (or, for my contemporaries, the '98 Yankees). [NB: with this wine and the others with the exception of the Astralis, I don't know the decant/aeration backstories, but perhaps A_M or csimm, and dfcrutcher can add them for the wines they brought.] On the nose and palate, mostly sweet notes of orange blossom/honeysuckle, beeswax, a bit of stone fruit and the lightest touch of lemon curd adding just a touch of cut. Medium gold with a sliver of olive, medium+ bodied, thick legs. Light acidity, no heat. Good complexity, persistence and intensity. This CA White Bordeaux blends exudes sunniness and exuberance, with just enough structure to keep it from being soft. Absolutely delightful, but be forewarned; I'd not call it either light or refreshing in any way. This is perfectly executed for its sense of place, but with its creamy texture, it's enveloping, not lithe, skewing sweet, not savory, and while my familiarity with White Bordeaux can be charitably described as not great, a bit more of those qualities would have, for this drinker, been welcome. Still, along with Helen Keplinger's Rhone Blend (at a ridiculously lower price point, btw), and subject to the fact that, unlike, say a Spottswoode SB, which I could drink damn near all the time but I'd rate below this, this is my favorite CA non-chard white. Had with minimal food, but this strikes me as better on its own. In a great window and I don't have familiarity with how this ages (I'd previously just had a sip of the '13, and that was when that bottling was young), but if anyone is taking bets on the longevity of this vs. a Haut Brion Blanc, I'm all in on the HBB. 94, but I could easily see this being several points higher if the style is your jam.

First of the wines supplied by the boundlessly generous (let alone boundlessly wise about wines, csimm) to the extravaganza. Medium yellow-gold, full-bodied, medium thick legs. Perfectly attuned--more on that soon--acidity, no heat. Bat sh*t crazy complex, persistent and intense. This wine did the impossible; it rendered sfwl speechless. Yeah, it was only momentary, but this provoked dread and wonder in someone for whom such feelings are not easily provoked. Meyer Lemon, the most perfect, pristine sea you've ever encountered, white flowers and rocky minerality with faint notes of stone and tropical fruits, just in case you forgot you're in the Golden State. On first sip, I knew that, for me this was perfect; not just the best chardonnay I've ever had, not just the best white wine I've ever had, but the best wine, VERY full stop (completely copping to the inferiority of the pool of wines I drink vs. friends msu, csimm, A_M, etc.), and that feeling only increased as I drank 2 half glasses over the course of afternoon and early evening. I lazily fall back on my usual complimentary descriptors for wines I love of power, subtlety, balance and elegance, but after 2 days, I've found my personal differentiator: precision. It's not just that the salinity, sweetness, structure and secondary notes work immaculately together; it's that they are all present, and all in perfect quantities. I've thought of all manner of ridiculously non-wine analogies, but the first would be to paraphrase a favorite line from Amadeus, with a twist: "None would have wished it more" to which I'd add: or less. Expressive and beautiful without the "look at how great I am" quality which I think occasionally afflicts my previously preferred chard producer, Aubert (M&T: please *don't take this as a direction to re-route my '19s!), this is 2 parts super high end White Burg, 1 part best of CA. The perfect leanness comes without ever feeling austere; the incredible tension and tautness without being at the expense of generosity of rich texture, brilliantly concentrated without ever feeling extracted (extraction isn't a compliment in my book). I drank it before we started eating, but unlike Luc's PD, which preceded it, I think that this would be bulletproof with the gamut of fish dishes I love (although probably too rich for raw oysters and sushi) and white meat chicken, but I have to say, if someone invited me over ribeyes and said we'd be drinking this, I'm there, revving up the car 5 minutes ago (can you rev up a hybrid? idk). This is a piece of art, with the structure to age gracefully--and who knows? it could even get better, if perfection can improve--which renews my faith that, when dealing with Burgundian grapes, the locals can do only not as well, but better than our 6k distant amies (not that I'm writing any books on White Burgs, leaving that to csimm), and at what's generally a far better price point, thank you very much. Bravo, Messr. Morlet (Luc), and thank you, thank you, thank you, csimm, for bringing this, the greatest of wines on my greatest wine drinking day. Ever. Although this teeters near the top of red wine budget (and blows the white wine max), will find more. 100+

Yet another csimm contribution (I'm going to have to learn more languages to say thank you in), this and most following notes will be shorter if only because I don't want to be here for the next 24 hours, which I'm on pace for. Light golden beige, medium+ bodied, bang on acidity, no heat. Tremendous intensity, very good persistence, moderate+ complexity. Ok, so we had this wine with caviar which Brian brought (thank you, thank you, thank you, Brian), which I probably would have eaten more than my fair share of but for concerns that it might be on the verboten side of my current food ledger, and the pairing was a 98-99. This isn't one of your BdBs that actually tastes kind of sweet, and really works mostly on its own or with dessert. This is great on its own, but hits another gear when paired with the right savory foods (said caviar, raw oysters, soosh). Savory and delicious, with pinpoint nerviness and tension. I volunteered to bring a '05 Taittinger CdC and was talked out of it; good thing, as it likely would not have been better than this and probably not as good, at a far higher price point (who knew csimm was a man of value as well as outright excellence?). Against, one day removed, a Moet I had last night, the Moet looked like me running against Carl Lewis in our respective primes. If you can find this anywhere near the WS price, buy it, unless my hand is on the bottle. 94-95+, with the likelihood it will get better, maybe a lot, before it gets worse, thanks to that acidity.

First of Brian's 2 pinots. Notes on the nose of palate of red cherries and currants, earthy minerality, tree bark, some forest floor and mushroominess backed by a tannic note. Light garnet, medium bodied, light to medium legs. Medium+ tannins and really racy acidity. Great intensity and persistence, moderate complexity. Ok, so it's been too long since I've had a real (read: French) PN, and the last, a Corton-Grancey, felt like the winemaker had just finished an apprenticeship in Healdsburg, but this reminds me why we just may not have the climate, terroir or wherewithal to work with this grape in my part of the PTZ. Taut, saline and savory (may I digress a moment? every time I read a TN or pro review saying a Bordeaux or Burgundy is big and I think it circumspect, I want to ask the reviewer what s/he is smoking and asking them what their idea of a not big wine would be, as, in general, even the biggest wines this side of CdPs coming France seem lean compared to even our most reserved local products), this worked very well with Dave's Bouef Bourgongne, the lighter body of the wine more than offset as a balancing mechanism by its lively acidity and surprisingly robust tannins. Not closed by any means, but I can certainly see this becoming more generous, as the aforementioned Jagger--I know, I'm showing my increasing age--sang, time is on [its] side. Best Pinot I've had since a '01 mag of a Latricieres-Chambertin about 5 years ago. Should be administered as serum to those afflicted by too much candied fruit and baking spice from Messrs. Kosta and Brown, Martinelli, et al. Stylistically preferred vs. the '14 Marcassin Marcassin it was poured against. Not cheap at the WS price, but by no means unreasonable value vs. the inflated Burgundy universe.

CA PN brought by Brian for a compare and contrast with the Volnay. On the nose and palate, cherries and raspberries, forest floor, ground (non-baking) spice, earthy minerality and dark florals with some perfumed notes. Very dark purple for a pinot, very light tannins, moderate acidity. Medium to full bodied, medium to thick legs, no heat. Very good persistence, intensity and complexity. My first Marcassin of any sort or vintage, my reservations about CA pinots generally aside, I was very eager to try. Fulsome and rich without ever dipping into sweet, candied or boozy, with fruit with a luxury mouthfeel, not exactly taut but definitely not oleaginous, this was, for me, CA PN at its best. Good complement to the Bouef but far below, IMO, the Volnay due to that wine's superior structure, and best on its own, this wine simultaneously showcases the best of what the locals can do with this devilishly fickle grape, but that, for my palate, even our best falls below what our French friends can do, even when it's with a very good, but substantially below DRC level, example of the varietal. I'm much more of a savory and saline kind of PN guy (and even then, it's well below the best of Napa cabs, Tuscan sangios, and probably even Rhone grenaches). This would be a tough sell for me at retail, but I'm so thankful to Brian to giving me a chance to taste this super high quality wine. Excellent drinking window now and I don't expect it will go on like the Volnay, but should drink more than solidly for the better part of the decade, +/- . 94-95+, and a whole lot higher if you're a CA PN guy/gal.

Syrah contribution #2. On the nose and palate, powerful notes of sweet blueberries, smoke, dark florals, intense black pepper, rocky minerality, dry earth, leather, oak with charcoal on the background giving welcome contrast and cut. Deep violet, medium+ bodied, medium legs. Medium++ tannins and acidity, no heat. VG complexity, persistence and intensity. On the eve of our tasting, csimm humorously remarked, "Wouldn't it be something if a $40 wine was the WOTN?" Well, this was easily a sub-$100 wine, and, alas, wasn't, was at the bottom for me, but that was still a quite impressive bottom. Not knowing what to make of TNs which seemed to describe a wine that was going to smell/taste like a cross between the Florence leather market and the soil section of the neighborhood nursery yet was a top 100 wine of the WS, my source of choice outside of CT, I gave this an hour and a half of air, at which point, it was surprisingly ready to go, if not where it's ultimately going to peak, and recorked it for a couple of hours. I've not had this producer before, and am relatively inexperienced with Cornas generally (most of my Rhone experience is with grenache-driven CdPs) and while the powerful structure gives me hope that this may improve, it's certainly more open knit than I expected at this point, perfectly enjoyable on its own, perhaps incrementally better with a steak or a well-seasoned lamb dish. If you have one, I'd still probably hold, but nothing wrong with drinking now if you give it a good airing. Northern Rhone is an area I'd like to learn more about and buy from, along with WA and Italy ex-Piedmont, Veneto and Tuscany (needless to say, not because I don't love those areas, but because they're already represented), and this has done nothing to change my mind. 92+++

An unannounced but most welcome guest, this was the second wine brought by dfc. On the nose and palate, all manner of red and dark fruit from strawberries, rhubarb, red cherries to dark berries, figs and plums; dry earth, garrigue, funk, a bit of smoked meats and incense. Medium to dark garnet, medium+ bodied, medium-thick legs. Medium++ acidity, medium tannins, no heat. High on complexity, persistence and intensity. Unlike most of what we drank, the Pegau CR is an old friend, whether the late '90s-early aughts vintages with an acidity driven, red-fruited feel, or the '09 with its brettiness, darkness and almost port-like quality. This vintage did a great job of marrying qualities of both. Great structure made it my second favorite food wine of the night, hot on the heels of the '09 CH Astralis, but also rock solid on its own. While this bottling always seems to turn into a third rail wine, my experience was clearly more like the last 2 writers than the several who preceded them. Really fresh, and if the '98 is any indication, will be in great shape for a decade to come, although there's certainly no need to wait. A close second as my favorite CdP producer to Clos des Papes. Underrated on CT and a screamer at the WS price.

My contribution to the day/evening was a syrah flight, this, the Cornas and the Betz CotP, with this being the big kahuna. Aired out for 90 minutes then recorked, as it was totally good to go, for a couple of hours before arrival. On the nose and palate, dark berries, red currants, plums, lesser notes of figs and rhubarb, oak, dark florals, ground spice and a bit of pepper. Opaquely dark, medium to full bodied, thick legs. Powerful acidity, medium tannins, no heat. VG++ complexity, intensity and excellent persistence.

Ok, I'm going to riff a bit. I kind of enjoy being the dog in the manger, as readers of my TNs know, and this wine was my salvo for the day (you ask, why does he have to be the dog in the manger with his friends? Idk, but they were dog lovers.) Between the 3 CTers there other than me, they'd written almost 5k TN, monopolized by csimm, 2 of which were for Aussie wines, and dfc and A_M had so few wines in their cellars (csimm's is locked, with the key well hidden) that you could count the Aussie wines with fingers left over. Although I've had some borderline excellent Shirazes (a digression in my digression: Why the hell do the Aussies refer to syrah by the name of a place in Iran, the driest place on earth this side of the Gobi dessert (oops, a different kind of dry?)), particularly several vintages of Amon Ra, an eyedropperful of a Grange (a '09?) I barely remember at one of those best-of-the-world tastings, and the '01 Dead Arm, for those of us of a certain age, it's too easy to remember Yellow Tail (as yet another aside, I toyed with the idea of a blind tasting and seeing if anyone called this as a YT, which could be a comment on the wine, our collective level of wine sophistication or both) and think of all Aus shirazes as non-serious wines. But I protest too much. Syrah was ridiculously overplanted a couple of dozen years ago, it was reportedly narrowly bested by merlot (whether this is justifiable for merlot or not is a subject for another riff, another time) as the primary object of scorn (ok, I'm making this up) in Sideways, but truth, or at least my truth is, this is a fabulous varietal, from the relatively taut styles of the Northern Rhone to the giant ones of the Central Coast, some in Bordeaux bottles (the JLC Cornas, for one), others in the pinot-style bottles. While syrah is well behind CS in my pantheon, it's a close third behind Tuscan sangio (outside of Tuscany, sangio doesn't hit the top 1000) as an object of my affections, thriving in meat lockers and saunas, playing extraordinarily with everything--its Rhone kin, Bordeaux varietals, zins, petit sirahs (I know that might be a Rhone, blah, blah, blah), viognier, even when fortified, and succeeding, as opposed to said sangio, all over CA, WA, France, Italy (including the golden soils of you know where), the Iberian Peninsula, NZ, Chile, Argentina, and, um, Australia (again, save that syrah-shiraz argument for someone who cares), so, with superb pro reviews, very good if surprisingly third rail CT reviews and a price point which well cleared our hurdle, even if, surprise, surprise, I got a deal, it was more than fair game. Still, with knowledgeable, and equally important, deep-pocketed guests, the thought that I might embarrass myself was in mind, but I was surprised. Not "there's a discoloration on your wall that turned into a $75k water damage" fix-it bill, but there's a college friend you haven't seen in 20 years who shows up on your doorstep on your birthday with a '12 Harlan (ok, I exaggerate, a '09 LaViolette) with whom you pick things up as if you just graduated. This complex wine is fruit-driven to be sure, but the secret sauce is the acidity, IMO; it drives the wine right along with tremendous length, from its fruit notes to the secondary ones (sorry, but I never put a stopwatch on this, but it's loooong). The acidity also made it a superstar with the Bouef, for my tastes, the best food wine of the night, not that it was less than great on its own. Really, really fresh, I'd call this wine early to middle drinking window at most, with possibility of incremental improvement, and if decently stored, little chance of any cornices in sight. All that said, I'm not oblivious to other TNs, and while they're mostly excellent, there are some real clunkers. As CT friend msu points out, truth is a slippery thing when rating wines, so some of it may be personal tastes, to which I say, vive le diference, but I also wonder if there are some bad bottles floating around out there, since even the notes of some of the bad reviews hardly sound like the same bottle of wine we enjoyed. My source, and I suspect theirs, is uneven on older bottles, especially non-US ones, and this could be an issue here, seeming all the more likely to me since I had a lot of 3 CH cabs, at a much lower price point, of which one was outstanding, one was very good, and one went into, as opposed to with, a dinner. Anyway, all of that said, at the almost 3 spot price point I'm seeing on WS, albeit from only one source, I wouldn't be rushing out to buy it, but at anything with a non-crooked number in front, I'd pounce. At the risk of the whole apples and oranges thing, not at the level of the Dal Forno, yet preferred, against all odds, against the fabulous Tusk and excellent Insig. Astralis, indeed. Don't look for Aus to make a run at Napa or the Land of the Boot in my collection, but don't be too surprised if you see a few more creeping in here and there, either.

The third of 3 csimm's announced contributions; more on the unannounced part soon. I don't remember seeking out the nose on this, but by the time I got to the cabs/Bordeaux blend, we'd been at for quite a while. On the palate, dark mixed berries, some black cherries and currants, classic LPV minerality, dark chocolate, the world's strongest espresso, graphite and a Graves-like hot asphalt streak on the end. Coal black, medium-full bodied, thick legs. Powerfully tannic, medium++ acidity, no heat. Complex, very persistent and super intense. My first Double VV--I'd embarrassingly not even realized that Messr. Melka was the winemaker until I read Cristal's TN--was a revelation, not so much in terms of quality, where it was incrementally under my expectations but still excellent, but stylistically, as the writers on this thread tend to be aficianados of giant, fruit-driven cabs, which this wasn't to me, and my prior experience with the house of Melka has been 5 bottles out of 6 of the '05 V 29 Aida, the buoyancy of which stands in strong contrast to where this wine is now. I'd describe this as dark and brooding, not like a vampire in a dimly lit Eastern European castle in a horror movie, but more like a minor chord heavy orchestral passage played by the oboe section in a Bartok symphony, as you await the full symphony jumping in. There's certainly no paucity of high-quality dark fruit here, but the structure, minerality and other secondary are currently leading the fruit around by the nose, IMO, in an almost Bordeaux like manner. Is a fruit avalanche in the future? As I said, I have no experience with this bottling or VV at all (in addition to said V 29s, I did recently buy a '14 J. Daniel and a Blueprint SB, though, so I may get just a bit more familiar with the Melka style) and have a slightly more educated idea. As with all of the wines I didn't supply, I don't know what anyone else's decanting ablutions were, nor did I track this closely during the time we had it open, but much like the '13 Riverain I had recently, I'd aerate this like someone going down for an abalone. Would wait for at least a few years for sure if I had one of these otherwise. I wouldn't push my last chip into the pot, but agree with the others that the future is bright for this one, but how bright and when the future comes I'll leave to more experienced minds than mine. I was mostly done eating when I drank this, but while not striking me as the best possible match with our rich stew, think it would be more than acceptable. Would certainly consider buying, but for my tastes, would likely prefer to wait a few years, read others' TNs and see how it develops, even if becomes potentially beyond my wine spend at that point. 95++

Dfc's primary contribution to the wine orgy was particularly on point, as I found him on CT after almost 20 years of being out of touch by his TN for the '96, which I just bought a mag of. On the nose and palate, the full range of perfectly ripe blue-black fruit, minerality, dark florals, leather, tobacco with just a touch of graphite and gravel on the back end giving it a welcome backbone. Classic Napa purple, medium bodied, medium legs. Completely integrated and silky acidity and tannins, no heat (perfect 13.9% abv, IMO). VG complexity, good persistence and intensity. A big thanks to my former law partner for bringing this subtle, elegant, perfectly balanced and aged wine, and with his CdP, along with A_M's AdV and sherry, giving my Astralis company as the pre-teens contributions. Great on its own and an excellent companion to the bouef, as it would be to more straightforward and bloody red meat dishes. This wine is in a perfect drinking window, and while the complete and seamless integration of the structure suggests it is closer to the end than the start of that window, it may well be one of those wines like the '90 Montrose (it does, IMO, skew far more Bordeaux than modern Napa, as opposed to other vintages of this bottling I've had, which, if not exactly rivaling Mike Smith, are more in the middle) which hits a really good point and stays there forever. And ever. About the worst thing about I can say about this lovely bottle is that it whispered on an afternoon and evening when lots of other wines were shouting, so I think some of its pleasures weren't enjoyed quite as much as they might have been if consumed in a less crowded field. But I was thrilled to have had it, and would love to have it in front of me anytime. 95+

Ok, so here we are, hours into my greatest wine drinking day/evening ever, and I turn my attention back to the table, and that rascally csimm has popped this Tusk! I mean, he told us there might be an unannounced guest or 2, but I thought that was just going to be the 18th growth Margaux, which he forewarned should only be used to sanitize glasses, or the Chablis for contrast purposes to the extraordinary CdC (a comparison arranged by Luc to show the vast superiority of CA? More of a fair fight with a Batard!), neither of which I tried. Anyway, Tusk is a bucket list wine, even if I didn't know that this particular one existed (tempted to comment, so I will, "the cheap Tusk", as I once commented to msu, "the cheap Screagle", cheap here, if you're not in front of the velvet rope, still knocking a wine spend like mine to Kingdom Come), behind the '12 Harlan and the '16 MacDonald, but well within sniffing distance of them for sure. I'll ibid many of my comments to the VV csimm brought about darkness, although some of that may be just because it was so far into the tasting and my taste buds had been so blown away that they'd be nearly the same for any cab or Bordeaux blend, but there was added interest, at least for me, with notes of chicory coffee (perhaps WBW's bitterness comment?) and tentacles of red mixed red fruits giving more lovely contrast than the more monochromatic, at least to me, double V. Long, dark, and full bodied, if not handsome, pushed onward by terrific structure, which is moderately integrated at this point. Even with the dark elements, this wine is anything but my definition of closed, it's also anything but my definition of open knit. I'm not sure of Messr. Melka's intentions, but if it was to create anything like the slightly shopworn V 29's in my backpages, this has an ultramarathon to run, but if it's to create something profound that's not quite Modern Napa but certainly not Bordeaux either, this is off to a grand start, although, a la my note about the VV, I'm not sure what that finish looks like, or when it gets there. If you have multiple bottles, let this rip, presumably with the prescribed VV aeration, but if not, feel confident you can hold it for the better part of the half life of radium. By the time I noticed this, I was so over the bouef, not quite to the dessert, but I think that this would be a stone cold winner with the usual CS suspects as well as on its own. Stellar now, but if we, harkening the redo of the Judgment of Paris, reconvened this homage to Dionysus with the same bottlings in 5 years, or 10 for that matter, this could climb the podium next to the CdC. Huge thanks, my catty sniveling above aside, to csimm, for this delight. 96+++

A_M contribution #2 (more accurately, wine contribution #2, since he contributed an immeasurable number of other things) to the wine wingding. A_M knows that, in my prodigious free time, I like to noodle through his wine holdings--csimm has become savvy and put such behind lock and key, more durable than Fort Knox--and I've told him with enduring frequency that, while he may have any number of higher rated, even more dizzyingly expensive possessions, that this was desiderata numero uno, both on its own, and out sentimentality, as Amarone was the gateway drug to my beloved, Italian vino, particularly after a visit to its only real competitor, to the best of my knowledge, Quintarelli, and for this, the day before a birthday of dread and wonder, and after 9.5 months of so far surmounting something of equal dread and wonder, my ever-perceptive friend put it onto the tasting carte. It didn't disappoint. [How's that? Saul Bellow followed by a Hemmingway chaser.] As black and impenetrable as the double V, you could put this into a swimming pool, dive in, and never be seen again, not that you'd want to, and emitting a feeling of being in the deepest, darkest, moistest wood, with elves lighting incense and unseen bakeries selling Xmas fruitcakes. Revelatory for those drinking Amarones redolent of two parts milk chocolate bar one part black licorice, this bottling, my first DF, does have huge underlying tannins and acidity, seamlessly blended with the sweet fruit. I didn't get the reds csimm did, but then, he was spitting and I wasn't, so who are you going to believe, me or your GD eyes? Anyway, I found everything from black cherries, black currants, and cassis to figs, plums and prunes and all of the dark chocolate, espresso, tobacco and cedar notes you'd expect. There's no booziness, but my, there sure is warmth, like sitting in the most beautiful 5 star lodge in the Dolomites on a 20 below night in front of a roaring fire (sorry for the plagirism, csimm, but it won't be the last time!) under a cashmere blanket. The intensity of a fire drill bell, the persistence of Berlin Alexanderplatz, the complexity of Mulholland Dr., and the overall feel of Napa cult cab meets 100 year old Spanish port meets the witches' cauldron in MacBeth. Precision, subtlety, balance and elegance wouldn't be my first descriptors for this, and yet, against all odds, it's far from diametrically opposed to them. Rather like John Coltrane playing "My Favorite Things", this has a recognizable start and a recognizable finish, but the 95% in between takes you here, there and everywhere else you might ever want to go, and a few places you're not so sure about it until it finishes. It was just a bit big, IMO, with the bouef, although on paper, that would be one of its better pairings, and since A_M had something even more on point with my wife's plum torte, I didn't have a chance to pair it with that, although that might be more promising, but like most amarones (along with some other old world new world wines like priorats and some CdPs), this may excel most as a solo act. Far from a dowager, this is drinking fabulously with no end in sight, with the structure to keep it burning like a Roman candle for many moons to come. Could it get better? Well, it could, and I'm leaving one point for upside, but if you've got one, especially if you didn't buy it from the Dal Fornos themselves upon release and give it 4 star storage and perhaps even then with the fickleness of many Euro bottlings, I'd frankly pop it sooner than later, as it was so fabulous on Saturday. Joins an illustrious group of wines I've given this score to ('90 Montrose, '12 Ovid, '16 Spottswoode), although other than the fact that it's wine and it's red, it has about as much as common as it does with them as I did with MJ around the time we were both playing (or in my case, attempting to play) b-ball. After said visit to Amarone land in '06 and watching the matriarch at Quintarelli put labels on the bottles manually--who says bespoke is dead?--then taking a couple of bottles off of their hands which we enjoyed immensely, I've had no more of that divine juice, but have had entry and middle level offerings from Allegrini, Tomassi, Masi, Zenato and although I haven't consumed one, have a Bertani at home, and while I've enjoyed all and found them very good to excellent, none have come close to the Q's, or at least my memory of them, and I've moved on to BdMs, Barolos (yes, I'm aware that the proper plural is "Baroli", but can't type that with a straight face) and STs as primary objects of desire. I conclude with a sentiment similar to csimm's and say that this plants a flag in the ground for Amarones, or at least this Amarone, as a great wine, at least in discussion with the best of Napa, the Piedmont, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tuscany, and, maybe, the Rhone. 98-99+. Colossal shout out and thank you to A_M.

ok, we finally hit the end of homage to conspicuous overconsumption of vinified beverages, and we do so with a Bikini Atoll-sized blast--surprise, surprise!--brought by A_M, chasing the Tusk, kind of like that mid 80s playoff game with Bird and 'Nique, where each would follow the other, hitting a further out and more off balance 3, leaving you breathless and not sure quite you saw. We were properly awed by the age of this wine, if flummoxed by the label and cork, which looked as if they had been glued and input, respectively, 5 minutes before our arrival, so new you could practically smell the ink. Our awe turned to gasps of horror, as this came out of the bottle in glops, with a color the combination of military green, used motor oil brown and an extrusion after a night of too much tequilla, from what I've heard, not that I have experience in such things. If the Amarone had a note of the concoction the witches whipped up in MacBeth, this doubles that, then put through a strainer for further concentration by the witches' demented great uncle, Ted Kaczynski, then blasts it out through an 80s boombox. There's nary a trace of tannins nor acidity--if you want that, move on to another CT entry--yet there's a wonderful savoriness that keeps the whole endeavor aloft, not unlike the slim piece keeping the Jenga tower from tumbling, and aloft it stays; in fact, I may still be tasting it. I could try, but ultimately couldn't come close to, matching csimm's description of the individual elements, but what I notice in his description, and my thoughts, both then and thinking back, is that the fruit isn't high among them--I'd also add burnt creme brulee as a descriptor, but don't get me started--but there are black cherries, currants, figs and prunes. The whole thing gives the experience of Thomas Dolby's line, "drinking heavy water through a stone", which of course I had to youtube 40 years later, with a large dose of absinthe thrown in, and yet, and yet . . . it didn't suck, being even more fun to consume than it's been to write about. Not only the most interesting wine I've ever eaten--plagiarism #2 of csimm--and with a steak knife to boot, but the most interesting I've ever drank. The complexity of this is mindbending, the persistence and intensity at least as much so; just as we thought we could relax our palates, the Albala pulled us back in again, Fredo. Went well enough with my wife's wonderful plum torte, except that it kind of obliterated it entirely, as it would any food I could think of between now and next Wednesday, although those with medical dispensations seemed to be enjoying it with their cigars. I leave knowing where this is in its tasting window to others with greater dessert wine knowledge and bandwith, but I do note that, somehow, some way, these better fortified wines, even with no apparent acidity and tannins, seem to go on forever (formaldehyde?). To say that was singular is almost an insult to singular, and I'm left utterly bereft in knowing how to score it, but I come up with my nosebleedingly high number for its wonderous complexity and uniqueness, gratitude to A_M for all, and relief that this event, no matter how extraordinary, was complete, my mind, tasting palate and everything else, at least in some form, intact.

Postscript: With Goldan's completely fair, constructively critical comment in mind and fully cognizant of my grandiloquent, narcissistic prose above, here's a more narrative, traditional summary: This comes out of the bottle a not particularly pleasing shade of green-brown-deep yellow, not so much as liquid but something closer to motor oil. Notes of figs, dates, super sweet cherries, raisins, prunes and cassis mix with secondary flavors of toffee, caramel, marzipan, the deep forest, and Xmas fruitcake to produce something powerful but teetering on the edge of sickly sweet, but pulled back by a savoriness (there are no apparent tannins or acidity to do this work), that, once you get over the unfamiliarity, is delicious. This will be a polarizing quaff for sure, but I loved it, for its uniqueness for sure, but even as a standalone drink, although I may have been influenced because of the extraordinarily great personal circumstances surrounding our consumption. I have no familiarity with how this will age and it's drinking well now, but I note that, despite a lack of typical structure, that is, tannins and acidity, many of the better of these fortified wines go on forever. If you like fortified wines and this is within your wine spend, this is highly recommended.