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Ewan
 
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Default TN '94 Mondavi Moscato d'Oro/Mara '01 Zin

[As I was about to type this, I just wondered: does anyone actually use
these TN of wines that are most unlikely to be currently available? If
so, for what? Not that there's anything wrong with the info for its own
sake, just curious. Anyway..]

Good wine weekend .

One of my favourite CA sweet wines when we first had it ('96, I think?),
this turns out to have aged gloriously. Overwhelmingly floral, to me
prompting thoughts of hibiscus but I'm not a flower guy . More
powerful than when young, smoother but lost nothing in complexity or
length, refreshing while still intense. Really very good - glad we have
more. Opened somewhat unlikely-ly (yuk, sorry) to go with or (we
thought more likely) after Chicken Tikka Masala, which turned out to be
an unexpected pleasure of a match. This was a really pleasant way to
end the day: A (stealing Dale's scale). I think this was $11 back then,
and it lists for ~$15 now. For us, novices at any storing of wine
long-term, this was an eye-opening experience.

On Sat we made a rare foray into NYC and had lunch at Chanterelle.
Didn't really live up to my expectations: the high points were sublime,
but it was a lot more inconsistent than I expected. No worries - we had
very good friends and lots of time. The four of us had a variety of
choices, but tending toward the rich/heavy (the lamb, which would have
been potentially the gamiest, got sent back(!) though). Anyway, the
point of this was to note that we drank the 2001 Mara Napa (Marquise
Reserve) Zin which was full of character and spice, and well-suited to
drinking with the various dishes; better with food than alone, as the
slightly oversharp impact was blunted to where we wanted it. $70 at
restaurant price. Dried cherry, lots of pepper, felt very well-crafted
with good residual flavour. Probably a B- if drunk alone but a B+ to A-
with food.