With pasta and pesto, the 2004 Clos Roche Blanche "Numero 5" Sauvignon
(Touraine). Rich Sauvignon catpee/gooseberry nose, with some
grapefruit/Fresca© notes over gooseberry and green apple fruit (I like
Fresca, the only soft drink I ever buy). A little too cold at first, as
it warmed some mineral/flinty notes appeared on a fairly long finish.
Now, at some point I seem to have some memory (real? imagined?) that an
earlier vintage of the #5 was supposed to be a section that got some
botrytis, but I don't get any sign of that here. What I do get is some
rich ripe deep Sauvignon Blanc fruit (to tell you the truth, blind I
would probably guessed NZ, but damn good NZ), but with the mineral
notes adding a lot of complexity. Nice interesting wine. B+

As noted before, I picked up a half-bottle of the 2002 Pagodes de Cos
(St. Estephe) for $9 since I had quite liked the 2002 Cos d'Estournel.
Opened a half while baching it Thursday. Lots of oak, and surprisingly
big/hard tannins for a second. But there's quite a bit of cassis and
blackberry fruit. Might be decent if the oak integrates in a few years.
I might pick up a few more 375s next time I'm through Scarsdale for
2010 or so, but if they sell out before I get there I won't cry. B/B-

With a small steak and a red-wine & shallot sauce, the 2002 Ch.
Lagrange (St. Julien). Dense deep blackcurrant/cassis fruit, earth and
leather on the nose, but not quite as expressive as a few months ago -
I think this is shutting down a bit. At moment a B/B+, but this is an
excellent structured wine for the price ($22) that needs to allowed to
rest a bit.

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.

On 18 Mar 2006 10:54:41 -0800, "DaleW" > wrote:

>With a small steak and a red-wine & shallot sauce, the 2002 Ch.
>Lagrange (St. Julien). Dense deep blackcurrant/cassis fruit, earth and
>leather on the nose, but not quite as expressive as a few months ago -
>I think this is shutting down a bit. At moment a B/B+, but this is an
>excellent structured wine for the price ($22) that needs to allowed to
>rest a bit.

I bought a six-pack of the '02 Lagrange through Sam's. When I ordered,
it was a direct result of a broad tasting article in the Wall Street
Journal on '02 Bordeaux and was one of several highly recommended
wines. Also on that list was the '02 Pontet-Canet, so that made it a
full case.

When ordered, it was "futures" although the WSJ seemed to have no
trouble getting bottles. With my move overlapping the delivery, I
feared I might miss it, but shouldn't have feared. Once I moved into
my house, I called Sam's and they were ready to box it up and ship
immediately.

But, unlike you, I've so far managed to resist checking out the
quality. Glad to have your TN to support the WSJ wine-snobs.

BTW, at Sam's the Lagrange was $26. The Pontet-Canet was $30.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

My buy was at PJs in NYC, I got in pretty early because I had tried
this pre-release (a dinner with Marcel Ducasse from Lagrange, as well
as owners of Ch. d'Issan and Corbin). If you havent tried yet, probably
good to go ahead and wait a bit.