Tonight, I came home to find Jean preparing a dinner of ribeyes, corn on
the cob and Tater Tots (catering to Andrew's food preferences) --
actually the steaks were waiting for me to grill, which I did. When we
sat down to dinner, I was greeted with a brown-bagged bottle:

1995 Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron
color: dark garnet center going brick on the edges
nose: initially, pencil lead and dark fruit; after a splash decant, mint
and cedar
palate: somewhat closed in, cassis, slightly coarse tannins that
softened after the decant

Of course, I was asked to guess what I was drinking. My first thought
was Bordeaux, but I switched to a structured CalCab (of which we have a
few) after failing to get much in the way of the secondary
characteristics I usually get in Bordeaux (earthy, herbal) and getting
clear Cabernet Sauvignon character. My final guess was of a '94
California Cabernet. When I saw that it was a '95 Pauillac, I didn't
feel too bad about my acumen, but I was still surprised at the relative
simplicity of the wine. We saved half the bottle for later evaluation
to see how it would evolve.

Mark Lipton
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