From the past couple of weeks....

Vercesi del Castellazzo, Oltrepo Pavese "Gugiarolo" - Pinot Nero Bianco
I beleive this is the 2002 and yes, that's right, a white wine made from
pinot noir grapes. Very white-gold colored, with a spicy gooseberry nose.
Not much on the charmless palate beyond tartish lemon drops and a dry,
chalky, linden-flower finish. Rather short and sour. 13.5% alcohol. B

Pesquera, Ribera del Duero, Crianza, 1991
I love old-time Pesquera and this one did not disappoint. Still depply
dusty plum red in color, there are cinnamon laced plums on the nose.
Plums, blackcurrants, with bottle sweetness...quite smooth. Similar in
weight and feel to old claret. In the finish there's almost a
mouvedre-like sweaty saddle quality. Polish with rusticity. 13% A- / 91

Zind-Humbrecht, Gerwurztraminer, Herrenweg Turckheim, 1989, vendange
tardive
Out of the old stash comes this deeply golden colored monster. Bitter
almonds and faint peach on the nose. Very thick and unctious in texture
when poured; I wonder how much glycerin is in this? Peach and apricot
pits, some lychee, and a lingering bitter almond finish. A sweet, almost
burnt palm sugar in there as well. Points given more for intensity of the
experience than for complexity or drinkability. I feel this would have
been better from 3-6 years ago. B+ / 89

Brigaldara, Amarone della Valpolicella, 1998
A dark dusty almost maroonish red. Takes awhile to open up, but when it
does it reveals lovely aromas of mulberries, dusty Itlaian plums and fresh
picked field tobacco. These echo in the mouth, along with smoky cherry,
licorice, and spicy mulled plums with a warm finish. Very tight at the
moment and could use a few years, but maybe not much more, since the
tannins are chalky instead of stern. B+ / 89

Chateau Montrose, Saint Estephe, 1986
Claret red with bricking. This almost smells mildly corked when first
opened, but hey, it's been 18 years in the bottle and it simply needs to
wake up from it's slumber. Cassis and cedar buried in a tough wall of
tannin but this opens up more with air and the glass 2 hours later tastes
better than the first, with good concentration and lots of intense smoke,
black cherry, blackcurrant, and the leather-cedary thing going on as well.
Young by several years. If I had another bottle, I'd wait 3-5 years before
opening again, but if you do now, DECANT. A- / 90-91

Chateau Raymond-Lafon, Sauternese, 1989
Simple notes for a delicious desert wine: apricot and peach, candied
orange-tangerine with tons of botrytis, some caramel and maple syrup
toffee. Nice finsih. A / 92


Technical question: When I opened up the newsgroup this am there were no
threads. Even in summer I cannot believe nobody has written in over a
week. Anybody else experiencing this?

Mark S

--

Thanks for notes. Every time I opened an '86 Bdx I wish I'd waited longer.

Must be something with your newsfeed, AFW has been reasonably busy.

best,
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

Thanks for notes. Every time I opened an '86 Bdx I wish I'd waited longer.

Must be something with your newsfeed, AFW has been reasonably busy.

best,
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

wrote:

> Chateau Montrose, Saint Estephe, 1986
> Claret red with bricking. This almost smells mildly corked when first
> opened, but hey, it's been 18 years in the bottle and it simply needs to
> wake up from it's slumber. Cassis and cedar buried in a tough wall of
> tannin but this opens up more with air and the glass 2 hours later tastes
> better than the first, with good concentration and lots of intense smoke,
> black cherry, blackcurrant, and the leather-cedary thing going on as well.
> Young by several years. If I had another bottle, I'd wait 3-5 years before
> opening again, but if you do now, DECANT. A- / 90-91

Infanticide!! I don't have the Montrose, but do have the Gruaud-Larose
from this year. A little bird tells me to wait another decade or so...

> Technical question: When I opened up the newsgroup this am there were no
> threads. Even in summer I cannot believe nobody has written in over a
> week. Anybody else experiencing this?

Nope. As Dale says, it may be that Syracuse's newsfeed hiccupped for
some reason, or it could be that tin dropped a bunch of headers. Is
there a feature in tin to "refresh headers" or something like that?

Mark Lipton

wrote:

> Chateau Montrose, Saint Estephe, 1986
> Claret red with bricking. This almost smells mildly corked when first
> opened, but hey, it's been 18 years in the bottle and it simply needs to
> wake up from it's slumber. Cassis and cedar buried in a tough wall of
> tannin but this opens up more with air and the glass 2 hours later tastes
> better than the first, with good concentration and lots of intense smoke,
> black cherry, blackcurrant, and the leather-cedary thing going on as well.
> Young by several years. If I had another bottle, I'd wait 3-5 years before
> opening again, but if you do now, DECANT. A- / 90-91

Infanticide!! I don't have the Montrose, but do have the Gruaud-Larose
from this year. A little bird tells me to wait another decade or so...

> Technical question: When I opened up the newsgroup this am there were no
> threads. Even in summer I cannot believe nobody has written in over a
> week. Anybody else experiencing this?

Nope. As Dale says, it may be that Syracuse's newsfeed hiccupped for
some reason, or it could be that tin dropped a bunch of headers. Is
there a feature in tin to "refresh headers" or something like that?

Mark Lipton