Kongsgaard The Judge and Opus One

Dinner at Brasserie on the Eighth.

2004 Kongsgaard Chardonnay The Judge - this is the reason for meeting up... to drink one of California's most expensive Chardonnays with a very small production production.  Once again I decanted the wine in the office, but as dinner was moved up a little, the wine had only spent about 45 minutes in the decanter itself before being poured back into the bottle.  When we finally poured it into glass and started drinking some 1½ hours after I pulled the cork, my friends liked the nose but I found it to be still very tight.  I kept complaining that the wine hadn't opened up but my friends thought the nose was showing pretty well...  Two hours into dinner, the nose finally blossomed and revealed its beauty, and my friends finally understood why I had been unhappy for the last two hours!  Sweet, very ripe, smooth and buttery, with toasty oak, lemon, straw and honey.  Alcoholic on the finish.  Still going very strong more than 4 hours after opening.  Not as good as the 2003 that blew me away last month, but still an incredibly good wine.  Next time I'll decant it for at least 2 hours...and yes, this is a white wine we're talking about!

1991 Opus One - I remember drinking this a few years ago, and it trumped a bunch of Bordeaux in a blind tasting.  One of us even thought it was a Petrus... Tonight the nose was all French, with didn't surprise me at all.  Lots of brett, smoke, mint hiding the fruit underneath, along with lead pencil, salty minerals which was almost like soy sauce.  Very open and lovely, but I would have guessed it to be Bordeaux in a blind tasting.

Full post on dinner is here.