Dan hosted SOBER last night, and did a fabulous job. He greeted us
with a nice cheese plate and the 1990 Pommery "Cuvee Louise" Brut from
magnum. Too bad, because I had a mag I was planning on opening when it
was my turn to host! This showed a tad fresher than a mag I opened
couple months ago, with grapefruit and pear, some yeastiness, good
length, mature but not fading. A-

To table for the blind wines where Dan kept us on our toes with
fanciful numbering/naming of the decanters.

First flight ("Nothing is something, but 3 is an 11")
The interesting thing was how dry the Chenin seemed paired with the
Spatlese. Pretty quickly got Chenin, but I thought it was Sec for
sure.

2005 Huet Clos du Bourg Vouvray Demi-Sec
Grapefruit, chalky, stony with a cheesey note some dislike. I liked
it a lot more when I drank water and concentrated on this alone.
Somewhat tight. B for now

2002 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Spatlese
Floral, giving, a real "wow" RIesling. Mango and red fruits, lots of
minerality, rich. Craig goes Donnhoff early. Pretty close to my
Riesling ideal. A/A-

2005 Huet Clos du Bourg Vouvray Sec
Turns out Dan had also accidently opened a Huet sec thinking it was
the DS, so we got to try that also. Spiced peaches, lemon, and
grapefruit, big, stony, young. B+/A-

Second flight (with angel hair pasta with shrimp and a light touch of
fresh tomato sauce)

One of the original wines was definitely PremOxed, all caramel and
cheese rind, I neglected to get the vintage of the Latour-Giraud
Genevrieres. But the other wine and the replacement for the Latour-
Giraud were quite interesting. I was actually shocked when it turned
out they were the same wine from different vintages

1996 Coche Dury Meursault
Clearly white Burg, exuberant and exotic. Mark says "Coche" pretty
quickly, and Craig and I both show him we wrote it already (but he
said it first!). Lovely, great concentration, white fruits,some
vanilla, and excellent length. I thought it had to be a 1er. Mark
saves some and gives me a sniff later- coconut city! A-/A

1995 Coche Dury Meursault
Comparatively austere, leaner, someone guesses Chablis which seems
reasonable to me. Very surprised when revealed. With time it gets some
hazelnut and fruit fleshes out a bit, but I never like near as much as
the '96. B/B+

Third Flight (with a mushroom soup with porcini ravioli)

1990 Poggio Antico Brunello
First bottle was corked, but Dan had a backup. Sweet red fruit, some
cassis, leather. Some Bordeaux guesses, but I went for Unico from the
lifted nose. B/B+ (some sensitive to VA really disliked)

1987 Mouton-Rothschild
Cassis, herb, tobacco, good length. B+/A-

Fourth Flight (" the King, the Queen, and the Pawn" - the beef, fries,
and green beans were served with this flight)

1990 Beychevelle
corked. We deterred Dan from finding a replacement, we had plenty of
wine.

1990 MommessinClos de Tart
clearly Burgundy, elegant, balanced, red raspberry fruit with earth,
mushroom, a little spice. A-/B+

1990 Guigal Hermitage
Sweet red fruit, a little tar, midweight but with persistence. Once
Dan said it wasn't Burgundy, due to the tar I said Northern Rhone or
Piedmont, but should have declared decisively. This is a straight up
Hermitage, which apparently doesn't sell for very much, quite nice. B+

Flight Five (Elvis, Fat Man, and Little Boy)

1961 Beychevelle
Lovely and elegant, shows much younger. Cassis, black plums, truffles,
earth. A-

1971 Lafite-Rothschild (from mag)
"A wonderful Burg" Red fruit, cedar, a bit of mushroom. Not very
big, but really lithe and classy. A-

1982 Latour a Pomerol
Fleshier, denser, herby. Probably would have paid more attention to
this if I wasn't so enthralled with its flightmates. A-/B+

A great night, where the fact I was driving was the only downnote!

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.*