Our newest member Franco hosted SOBER in Chelsea last night. Lovely
loft space, great food, fun lineup of wines, great company.

We arrived to find a nice spread with cheeses, rabbit pate, cured
meats. Opening wine was a Dosnon and Lepage Champagne that I liked but
didn't love, no notes taken.

To table for the blind wines
White Flight
#1- Beautiful Riesling, light petrol, plenty of slate, complex, long,
fresh. I'm delighted to find out its the 1983 Zilliken Saarburger
Rausch Goldkapsel Auslese as I still have one bottle, hope mine shows
as well. A-/A

#2 - ok, thank God I didn't blurt out first thing I thought. I got
this before #1, and took a whiff. Big herbal nose, loaded with mint. I
almost said "Ramonet" without tasting. OK, but one taste made clear it
wasn't white Burg! Solid delicious Riesling, without the complexity of
the '83 GKA.1983 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Auslese B+

Red Flight #1 (with excellent lamb rib chops, homemade pita chips,
tzatiki, and baba ganoush)
#1 - Meaty, perfumed, good complexity. Someone had called it Northern
Rhone before I even smelled. Bacon, herbs, and black raspberries.
Nice texture. Someone suggested it might have been better couple years
ago, but mostly holding VERY well. 1990 Graillot "La Guiraude" Crozes-
Hermitage B+/A-

#2 - this I really didn't like at first. Red stewed fruit, some VA, a
little dirty, seemed clipped. But while I was concentrating on the
Graillot it really turned around. Fresher red fruit with a little
kirsch note, leather, cigarbox. Still prefer the Crozes, but while I
initially was in C territory this moved way up. 1964 Marques de
Murrieta "Ygay" Rioja Gran Reserva B/B+

Red Flight #2 (great chicken and mushroom stew )*
#1- People quickly centered on Piedmont. Beautiful red fruit, clean
and vibrant acidity, the sweet fruit has a brown sugar edge to it,
along with orange zest, rose petals,and just a hint of tar. Once
Franco said not Barolo John quickly said Barbaresco and then '64.
Lovely lovely lovely.
My WOTN (and WOTY so far). 1964 Gaja Barbaresco. A

#2 -softer, a bit animal, seems a little tired but holds on ok.
Outclassed by its flightmate, my guess of old CdP is wrong. Someone
guesses Algerian (joking?) and the light dawns- John says Lebanon.
Actually I think if it hadn't been next to the Gaja I would have liked
more, but this was good in any case. 1964 Chateau Musar.B/B-

Red Flight # 3
just putting my notes here, comments below
#1 - my favorite, bright, raspberry.cranberry fruit, herby, good
body.
1985 Bourdy Cotes du Jura .B+
#2 - high acids, raspberry, a bit lifted. Tasty. 1953*Bourdy Cotes du
Jura. B
#3 - ripe, red, full, soft, nice but with a little
caramel.maderization edge, I liked others better. 1947 Bourdy Cotes du
Jura B/B-

OK, so it took forever to get this. I thought Piedmont, but someone
else guessed and was told no. Rioja? No. I thought maybe pre-1975
CalCab? No. Finally I think Cliff got Jura. I've had a few Jura reds,
but never more than 5 years from vintage. These were unusual and tasty
wines. The '47 surely deserves a better score than I gave, 60+ year
old Pinot blends should have a little caramel/madeira edge!

Really fun tasting. I liked all the wines, and loved some. I was
fighting a cold and was feeling like a wasted trip on way end, but
ended up having a ball. Oldest Musar I've had, oldest Juras by huge
factor, oldest Gaja, oldest Graillot. Thanks Franco for a great
evening (and John for ride home).

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.