h, back to wine. Friday Patrick was in town from CO and a nice group met at Fabio Cucina Italiana for a 1995/1996 Bordeaux showdown. 8 people, 16 bottles of red Bordeaux (plus 4 starters). Everyone kept saying "too much wine" but no one offered to not bring theirs.

We started with some assorted appetizers- crabcake, calamari, and buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto. And the starting wines:

1999 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
Another good showing of a fave, fullbodied yet with a sense of lightness, very fresh, clean Bosc pear with brioche, citrus peel, and chalky accents. Good length. A-

1999 Carbonnieux blanc
Fresh fruit with an interesting waxy note but oak pretty dominant, and good use a little more acidic grip. B

2010 Jadot (Magenta) "La Garenne" Puligny-Montrachet
This seemed a bit tight when I first had, but I really liked on a revisit. Apple and citrus deftly accented by light oak touches. Very good acids, bright and young. A-/B+

2009 Zind-Humbrecht "Clos st Urbain" Gewurztraminer
This was a 3 (midpoint) on the ZH scale- plenty of sugar (modern Spatlese/old style Auslese levels), A bit ponderous for my tastes. I think I liked a sip as afterwards a bit more, but my initial note says B-

On to the pairings. Wines were paired but blind. Patrick paired and wrapped them, and then Ramon numbered pairs. So they also didn't know what was in each flight.

8A More tannic than B, young, a little herbal note, good. B
8B Redder fruit, cigarbox, very good,. A-/B+

We had a trio of pastas here

7A Cassis, graphite, brawny. B/B+
7B Also blackcurrant, cedar, similar but maybe a bit more restrained.B/B+

6A Soft texture, black fruits, pretty open. B+
6B Redder fruits, quite tannic, needs time. B

5A Lovely, my fave so far, elegant and long with a lot of stuffing. A-
5B So corked I couldn't get my face to glass!

for main I had chicken breast in a porcini sauce

4A Lush, balanced, fruit framed by some nice minty herbal notes (I was thinking this was Pichon Lalande)A-
4B Firm, young, maybe most in need of time. B+/B for now

3 A Good, balanced, nice finish. B+
3B Big, full, lush fruit with lots of, tobacco. A-/B+

2A Black fruit, pencil lead, an odd note- eventually conclude mildly corked
2B Full, red and black fruits, pencil lead. B+

1A Somewhat kirschy, medium bodied, sweet. B+/B
1B Very good, more open than some, cassis with tobacco and cedar shavings. A-/B+

8A 1996 Calon Segur
8B 1995 Calon Segur
7A 1995 Grand Puy Lacoste
7B 1996 Grand Puy Lacoste
6A1996 Magdelaine
6B 1995 Magdelaine
5A 1995 Pichon Lalande
5B 1996 Pichon Lalande
4A 1995 Cos d'Estournel
4B 1996 Cos d'Estournel
3 A 1995 Ducru-Beaucaillou
3B 1996 Ducru-Beaucaillou
2A 1996 Pichon Baron
2B 1995 Pichon Baron
1A 1995 Leoville Poyferre
1B 1996 Leoville Poyferre

OK, first of all the most surprising thing to me is that I liked a '96 St Emilion more than a '95. Second was that my favorite wines included the '95 Cos, which didn't show well last time I had. I had a slight edge overall to the '96 Medocs, but '95s showed well too and with the exception of the corked wines there was nothing I wouldn't be happy to have on my dinner table. Certainly not a night where I felt one vintage showed clearly superior, lots of super wines (most of which need time).

Fun night, great crowd.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.