St Juliens in NYC A nice night of St Juliens at Les Sans Culottes in NYC. A nice crowd, thanks to Arv Rao for organizing. 2001 M=F6nchof Urziger Wurzgarten Sp=E4tlese Light and lively, that UW cherry note coming across over the otherwise mostly lime fruit, Some slate on finish, nice if not especially complex at moment. B-B+ Reuter Sekt (I buttume non-vintage) I was busy dealing with some crumbly corks, and didn't give this a lot of attention. Seemed nice. 1983 Leoville Las Cases This seemed a bit mute, but a glbutt saved till the end of the evening showed much better, with rich cbuttis fruit and some smoke and earth. B- when it went around, B+ later. 1981 Leoville Las Cases Nice medium-bodied mature wine, warm and pleasant with notes of cedar and tobacco. B-B+ 1970 Lango-Barton Crumbly cork, madeirized wine. D 1978 Beychevelle Also a crumbly cork, but a nice mature wine with sweet red fruit, a little short on the finish. B 1995 Ducru Beaucaillou Sweet ,fruity, forward. More red than dark fruits. B 1996 Ducru Beaucaillou More dark and brooding, but with more potential in my eyes. B+ 1999 Ducru Beaucaillou Pleasant, herby, best of the Ducrus for drinking now, comparatively good QPR. B+ 1998 Leoville Barton Corked 1989 Branaire-Ducru Great nose, with tobacco, herbs, cedar, and earth. Plenty of fruit mixing in with all the secondary aromas, a very pleasant surprise. A- 1982 Leoville Poyferre My WOTN. Cigarbox and flowers over cbuttis fruit, great balance. A--A 1982 Branaire-Ducru Medium-bodied with ripe fruit. This bottle doesn't show quite as well as a couple of other recent tries. B 1986 Gruaud Larose Despite a crumbly cork, this is a good showing. Big and powerful, tannic but not hard. Good fruit, cedar and tobacco. B+-A- 1996 Leoville Barton Tannic and brooding, a B tonight with better potential. 1996 Leoville Poyferre Most open of the 3 '96s, good dark fruit and long finish. B+-A- 1996 Lagrange More red fruit than dark, lots of oak, tannin- needs time. B-B+ 2000 Branaire-Ducru Tight, not showing a thing. B? 2000 Beychevelle Soft, ripe, forward. B 2000 Hortevie Not a chateau I have any real experience with, this was a pretty nice wine, accessible and not as big as most 2000s. B 2000 Talbot A bit tight but my favorite of the 2000s. Needs time for the oak to integrate. Some pleasant herbal notes over the fruit and oak. B+ 1967 Niepoorts "Garrafeira" Port Overly mature for my tastes. Interesting secondary notes over a light fruit body. B--C+ 1995 Burn "Clos St. Imer" Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives Lovely, rich, luscious. Tropical fruit , long finish, A- 2001 Heiss Riesling TBA Lovely, great acidity balancing sweetness. Citrus fruit with clear botrytis. A- 2001 Feiler-Artinger Pinot Cuvee Ruster Ausbruch Intensely sweet, reminds me a bit of Tokay, peach and apricot fruit with a distinct creaminess. Joe Cz says it was a very controversial wine at his end of table. A--B+ 2001 Heiss Eiswein Spice, flowers, and sugar, not quite as zippy as the other Austrians. B-B+ Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency. 
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