Champagne and Maiden

Drinking at home.

2001 Roses de Jeanne Les Ursules - nice and a little caramelized, very elegant on the palate, almost floral.

2002 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon - really caramelized nose, drinking wonderfully, soft on the palate with lovely, toasty notes.

2000 Harlan Estate The Maiden - drank 1½ hours after decanting. Really sweet on the nose, with coconut butter. Just beautiful. Two hours later showing stewed prunes, leather, meaty notes, and more tertiary flavors.

2003 L'Evangile - drank 1 hour after decanting. A little farmy, smoky, and toasty. 1½ hours in there was more toast with leather and animal notes.

1998 Grande Añadas

Drinking at home.

1998 Artadi Grande Añadas - drank 30 minutes after decanting. Smoke and woodsy notes. Acidiy was high, slightly grippy with noticeable tannins. Two hours after decanting the nose was more open, with a little more sweetness from vanilla, but still acidic on the palate. Disappointing that this did not show better.

No pinot no chard

Dinner at Neighborhood.

2003 Chapoutier Ermitage De L'Orée - a little ripe on the nose, and definitely ripe and alcoholic on the palate, but not too oxidized as I had feared. A little sweetness and some bitterness on the palate. Almost a little tropical.

2010 Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 30 - fragrant and open, with leather and eucalyptus notes. Concentrated, pure syrah, with toasty and a little savory notes.

2010 Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 60 - more concentrated than the 30, a lot more minty, more meaty and more animal notes. Definitely the bigger wine with more potential.

2007 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape - served more than 1½ hours after opening. Still very fresh with eucalyptus, with a surprising amount of vanilla and coconut butter. Surprising because I always thought Henri Bonneau never used new oak barrels, and I certainly didn't see any during my visit in 2011.

1999 Bryant Family - opened and decanted some 3½ hours prior to serving, back in bottle 1 hour later, decanted again 1½ hours before serving. Pretty soft on the palate, silky but concentrated. 30 minutes after first pour this was really beautiful, and 1½ hours after first pour became very smoky with tobacco notes.

2018 Pierre Martin Sancerre Les Culs de Beaujeu - fresh, flinty, and tropical.

Full post on dinner is here.

Andre Clouet and Kongsgaard

Drinking at home.

André Clouet Un jour de 1911..., bouteille 1021/1911, dégorgée le 2 avril 2021 - good acidity along with good ripeness. Nice and elegant.

2006 Malartic Lagraviere Blanc - still sharp and alcoholic on the nose, ripe with acetone notes.

2004 Kongsgaard Syrah - ripe and jammy, really, really toasty, smoky, very beautiful and drinking extremely well.

AF Gros Maizières

Drinking at home.

2005 AF Gros Vosne-Romanée Maizières - light, a little plummy, toasty oak, a little bit of sweetness on the palate, a little eucalyptus.

Kokuryu and Matriarch

Dinner at Nikushou.

Kokuryu Daiginjo Tsuru (黒龍　大吟醸　つる) - seimaibuai (精米歩合) of 50%. Some fermented rice lees notes, sweet on the nose. A little short on the finish. Second pour was slightly better, a little dry mid-palate but sofer on the finish. Got better 1 hour after opening, sweet on the palate and also on the finish with a slight hint of dryness.

2004 BOND Matriarch - decanted for an hour before serving. Nose showed a little stewed prunes. After 2 hours this turned a bit savory like black olives.

Full post on dinner is here.

97 Beringer Bancroft

Drinking at home.

1997 Beringer Merlot Private Reserve Howell Mountain - served after 1½ hours in decanter. Stewed prunes, a little savory, with fragrant and woodsy notes.

2005 Transnocho

Drinking at home.

2005 Remírez de Ganuza Transnocho - nose of vanilla and coconut butter. After 1 hour in the decanter this became very, very soft on the palate, almost a little diluted. Tannins were still kinda here if one rolled the wine around the tongue. Honestly, a little disappointed.

Magnums and some oldies

Dinner at a private dining facility.

1989 André Beaufort Grand Cru Brut, en magnum, dégorgée en septembre 2011 - very sugarcane and water chestnut 竹蔗茅根 with straw notes. Good acidity in spite of the ripeness, and acidity still pretty high which is typical of Beaufort.

2004 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils - beautiful and buttery, toasty, flinty, without being overpowering.

1999 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Fuder 9, from magnum - huge, huge, nose of petrol and polyurethane. Some white flowers. Palate was definitely sweeter than expected and without the acidity to counter balance.

1950 Lhéraud - so fragrant with lots of vanilla.

2009 Louis Roederer Cristal, en magnum - drank after having been opened for some time. Good balance between acidity and ripeness, and relatively mild and elegant on the palate.

2009 Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard - very buttery, definitely more ripe and Californian.

1996 Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques - lovely and elegant, with a little more smoke than expected, showing black cherries and dried herbs.

2008 Dugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes - very toasty even after having been opened for a while. More acidic and lean on the palate than expected.

1900 Barbeito Malvazia - lots of nuts, medjool dates, plum, and honeydew melon. Needed time to open up.

Full post on dinner is here.

2020 Chacra and Krug

Dinner at Caprice.

2020 Chacra Chardonnay - flinty, tropical stone fruit, much riper on palate than expected but the acidity is there. Still going strong more than 3½ hours later, and the tropical stone fruit notes are still here.

Krug Grande Cuvée, 169ème édition, en demi-bouteille, ID 319028 - nice with marmalade notes, good acidity on the palate.

2019 Pierre-Henri Rougeot Gevrey-Chambertin En Grands Champs - minty, fresh, initially cold fruit. Still kinda young with forest notes, stemmy, black cherries, and strawberries. An hour later the nose was really full of strawberries.

Full post on dinner is here.

2006 Kongsgaard Syrah

Drinking at home.

2006 Kongsgaard Syrah - decanted 15 minutes after opening. Initially served too warm. Really jammy nose with blueberries, leather, potpourri, cedar, eucalyptus notes. Fragrant and delicious Californian syrah. One hour in decanter the nose was beautiful and luscious, but the acidity got higher on the palate and the tannins got a little grippy.

All new sake pairing

Dinner at Godenya.

Iseno Shiroki Junmai Nama Sparkling (伊勢の白酒 純米生活性), 2020-21 - served at 10°C. Seimaibuai (精米歩合) of 65%. Good fruity acidity and fizzy on the palate, with a little lactic acid.

Hoken Nakagumi Junmai Daiginjo (寳劔  中汲み 純米大吟醸), 2019-20 - served at 12°C. Seimaibuai of 40%. Very soft and rounded on the palate, but dry on the finish.

Akai Ito Junmai Ginjo Nama (赤い糸  純米吟醸  生), 2020-21 - served at 13°C. Seimaibuai of 50%. Pretty sweet on the palate.

Asahikiku Daichi Junmai Ginjo (旭菊  大地  純米吟醸), 30BY - served at 23°C. Seimaibuai of 50%. Sweet on the attack, more fermented notes on the palate, with good length on the finish.

Rumikono Sake Yamahai Junmai Yamadanishiki (るみ子の酒  山廃  純米  山田錦), 2017-18 - served at 46°C. Seimaibuai of 60%. Served pretty warm, and I could smell the acidity in the nose.

Maibijin Gaiden Yamahai Junmai Muroka Nama (舞美人  外伝  山廃純米  無濾過生原酒), 2019-20 - served at 11°C. Seimaibuai of 60%. This smelled like one of those drinking vinegars, and almost like that Japanese crab vinegar we have at home. It's got that bit of savory notes like Huadiao, but this also had some fruitiness.

Komagura Haruka Gonen Junmai Koshu (独楽蔵 悠五年  純米古酒), 2015-16 - served at 48°C. Seimaibuai of 60%. Almost smoky, oxidized, and savory. Expected for a koshu (古酒) aged for at least 5 years.

Yamagata Masamune Torotoro Umeshu (山形正宗 とろとろ梅酒)

Full post on dinner is here.