TN: TTG #5 Champers and Stickies Robert, 2xDeutz, Egly, Bolly RD, Joblot, 3x'90Sauternes, ZH

3=2E The RD Flight

With the remainder of the scallops, then with a great dish of kawahagi (trigger fish) over a risotto-type base enriched with lobster.

*N.V. Egly-Ouriet Champagne Extra Brut Vieillissment Prolong=E9 Grand Cru - France, Champagne*

Ding, ding, ding! Now we've moved to young wine land. This is '98 fruit from Ambonnay, Bouzy, and Verzenay and was disgorged in May '05. Pretty color is slightly past youthful and into gold. Small-beaded mousse is restrained but oh so persistent. Nose shows strong pinot character with light plum and other light reddish fruit. These fruit notes are wrapped in nuts, yeastiness, and a bit of honeysuckle flower. On the palate, this shows great balance and good early integration of the mousse. The mousse is young, vigorous and needlely, but doesn't get in the way of a full body of cherry and some peach. Flavors are pretty primary, but there is some nuttiness here. Texturally, absolutely beautiful with a full body that never gets heavy. Finish is strong, but the flavors on the palate are still pretty primary and probably need two or three or even four more years in bottle to develop the complexity that must be lurking. Vigorous and balanced but needing some time, this is a buy for me. Thanks Oliver.

*1988 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut - France, Champagne*

Still lighter than the Deutz ros=E9, but starting to take on the coppery tones that come with time on the cork as well as the lees. Fine and integrated mousse still shows good life, but looks gentle. The nose immediately delivers the array that one expects from this wine. Wide open notes of yeast, grilled nuts, ripe apple and white plum, toast, and a wee bit of mineral. The palate shows rich creaminess and ripe apple and peach fruit, along with some smoke - and enough acid to stay in balance. Body is good throughout and the only real oxidative notes show up on the finish along with more grilled nuts and toast. Absolutely true to type, this is a clbuttic late disgorged Champagne. Disgorged in 2001, this is not coming apart but is showing the first signs that it may have had as much time on the cork as it can handle. Clbuttic and a great pleasure to drink, but I worry that the toast-cream-yeast will soon overwhelm the remaining fruit and acid. Drink it now and let it thrill you, as the '88 Bolly has held up better on cork than do many lees-aged Champagnes. Drink with pleasure but only buy to drink now and only with known storage. Thanks Michael and Lu Ping. I think you caught this one at peak.

4=2E Options Time

With a dish of perfectly cooked duck breast, garnished with clbuttic French vegetables (turnip, haricots verts, etc.)

A tough wine for the "Options" game. Easy to get (a) single varietal, (b) pinot noir, and =A9 Burgundy (from nose), but then I fell apart. Guessed '95 for the vintage because of the more mature nose allied to roughish palate. Wrong! Guessed C=F4te de Beaune for source. Wrong! Once I knew it was Chalonnais, it was an odds-on guess to limit producers to Joblot or Faiveley. Mistakenly, I chose Faiveley based on palate character rather Joblot based on plumpness and oak. I know Faiveley and Joblot are completely different, but that's why this was such a good "Options" wine. It is a schizophrenic split between (a) silkiness of Joblot oak, CdB fruit style, '99 vintage and (b) rough, somewhat tannic palate that suggested '95 and someone more traditional like Faiveley. Oh well. Didn't make a complete fool of myself. If I'd had to guess blind from the start without options, I would have guessed a lesser Lafon Santenots like the '95.

*1999 Joblot Givry Clos de la Servoisine 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, C=F4te Chalonnaise, Givry*

This was the "Options" wine. Reddish burg color starting to fade some at the edge. Nose is open from the beginning, with some oak spice but also a clbuttic pinot beetroot and cherry fruit. Nose shows some mature elements with a little forest floor and light earth. On the palate, an odd combination of creamy-silky oak and some strawberry and darker cherry fruit. Fairly big mouth presence and reasonable acidity combined with a surprising degree of tannin given the somewhat mature palate. Good concentration and moderate finish that shows very little of the mature notes from the nose. An atypical but impressive showing for the appellation and a good value, I suspect. If the oak and lovey silk on the nose settled down a bit and the sous-bois continued to grow, it would be a good value stand-in for a C=F4te d'Or Burg. If anything, at this point it was just a bit short on distinctiveness-typicity, so I'm not sure it's as pleasing in its originally intended and native role as a C=F4te Chalonnaise wine. Does that make sense? As noted above, though, it was good enough to fool me. Thanks Oliver.

5=2E Crying Time

Intended to finish out the duck and lead into the cheeses. Sophocles would have been pleased.

*1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco*

Do you know how much I hate corks? When decanted, this seemed a wee bit musty but I didn't have any reason to believe it was anything that wouldn't blow off. An hour and a half or so later, this was clearly corked, but not so much that one couldn't mournfully try to taste through the TCA. From what I could tell, it had lovely texture, good acid, a very little bit of tannic bite, and great clbuttic earthy-tarry-plummy flavors. What a damn shame!

6=2E A Pair of Sauternes

With Monbriac, Rocquefort, Tomme de Savoie, and Epoisses and dried fruit (fig, strawberry, melon).

*1990 Ch=E2teau Suduiraut - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes*

Deep golden orange color with heavy viscosity. Clearly rich, just from the appearance. On the nose, a deep deep deep honey dominates all, with highlights of brul=E9e and a little ripe stone fruit peeking out. On the palate, the viscosity and body carry a wine that is very sweet and still dominated by its honey character. Botrytis and enough acid keep this from cloying and the finish sees a little bit of orange blossom come into the honey. In the rich and seductive, but not terribly complex, school of Sauternes. This was so honey-driven that I was looking around for some feta to pour it over. Paint this on your lover. In other words, enjoy it for the very pleasurable thing it is, but look elsewhere for complexity and zing. At the right price, I'd still buy it. As the Byrds sang, "To everything - turn, turn, turn-There is a season - turn, turn, turn-And a time for every purpose under heaven." Thanks Michael and Lu Ping.

*1990 Ch=E2teau Lafaurie-Peyraguey - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes*

A great contrast to serve with the Suduiraut. Lighter in color and texture, this was no less rich - just rich in a different way. The nose showed more evident stone fruit and flowers, with the honey a step more to the background. There was an Earl Grey tea note that was hinted at on the nose and came out more strongly on the finish. There was plenty of botrytis, but the herbal-floral complexity of the nose made it less evident. Palate was less rich-sweet but had nice texture (and was plenty sweet enough). While the Suduiraut and Rieussec were richer and more hedonistic, this may have been the best-drinking bottle that night. The Rieussec will probably eclipse it at maturity, but I certainly would have found it easier to have multiple glbuttes of the L-P than of the others tonight. Best bottle of this I've had. Thanks Bryan and Amy.

7=2E The Last Two

With remainders of cheese and dried fruit, plus a dessert plate. Desserts included pear ice cream (way good!), honey ice cream, something chocolate, and something else I can't remember. At this point, I really didn't need the dessert and was content with cheese.

*1990 Ch=E2teau Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes*

Orange color that was deeper than the Suduiraut or Lafaurie. As always, rich and viscous and tempting to roll around the glbutt. Even on the nose, this is such a big wine, but has that element of botrytis lift that keeps it all fresh. Orange and lemon floral elements highlight honey and caramel. With a little time, the nose and the finish show some sort of slight herbal character to the honey that I was reminded of when tasting Greek sage and thyme honey yesterday. In the mouth, this is really big and very much in balance with good acid and lively botrytis. There's a tropical flavor reminiscent of the pbuttion fruit syrup I used to make Hurricanes last weekend and a lovely candied citrus peel flavor as well. This note is disjointed for a reason. This wine is bright and fresh but exceptionally big and concentrated. All the flavors are there, but they are a little disjointed like the note. Definitely worth buying, but it really does need time to finish coming together. Fun to drink now, but a sacrifice of what could be yet to come. Last bottle I had was more mature and integrated. Thanks David and Nicole and kudos on your storage.

*1998 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain S=E9lection de Grains Nobles - France, Alsace, Thann, Alsace Grand Cru AOC*

Young wine and old color perplexes folks at the table. In what seems to be typical for this wine (based on reports of multiple vintages showing the same appearance), it has an older bright copper look. More than any other wine tonight, this one really needs time. When first poured, the nose shows candied orange, botrytis, and honey sweetness. With vigorous aeration, it begins to show some more typical notes of sweet earth, smoky mineral, and dried apricot and raisin. The palate follows the same path. It is never cloying, but at first it only shows sweet apricot-mango and botrytis honey. Time helps bring out sweet citrus (lemon and orange) and baking spice on the palate and more earth and mineral plus floral on the finish. Paired very well with anise-scented pear ice cream. This is a big, rich, botrytised hint of what it will one day be. I'm not always thrilled with other wines from Z-H, but I love Z-H pinot gris and this one didn't disappoint. Thanks David and Nicole.

Great night though I think a few people were approaching the sugar coma stage. As always, good company and generous wine contributions from all.

Thanks to all.

Bryan and Amy -- Tag, you're it!

Jim Posted from CellarTracker