More fine wines at Lavelle's Bistro in Fairbanks, Alaska.

[JimHow]

We've been drinking well a couple nights a week.
After closing arguments on Monday the heavy lifting will be over and it will be out of our hands.
Win or lose, we are planning one last wine dinner this coming week.

On Wednesday we had a 2014 Cakebread Cellars Merlot, the 14.8% alcohol flirted with disaster all night long but never went over the top. It was luscious and sexy, big-busted, powerful nose, lots of chocolate, a volatile beast, a bit of a wild ride but I enjoyed it. 92 points.

The 2010 Pechenino bricco Botti Dogliani Superiore was beautiful, full bodied, deeply purple colored at the twelve year mark, this was a substantial wine that went quickly on the table last night, when Frank and his wife Dana joined us. 92 points.

We drank four bottles last night between the four drinkers at the table, including a 2018 Kistler Russian River Valley Pinot Noir that was bigger and more youthful, obviously, than the 2015 Kistler Pinot we had earlier in the trip. Same idea though, lots of spicy pinot notes, delicious. 91 points.

With sumptuous chocolate desserts we had the 2015 Argiano Non Confunditur Toscana IGT, (no picture) this was a very delicious wine that complemented the desserts perfectly, lots of fruit, structure, not anything terribly complex but a crowd-pleaser. Excellent. 91 points.

By the end of the night the manager asked us to move to another table as a larger party was coming in, and they offered me to pick a wine off their list, I picked a simple 2017 Allegrini Valpolicella, simple but fun, the perfect end to a great night. 89 points.

The very friendly staff knows us, we've been dining there at least four nights per week over the past month.

There wasn't a drop of wine left behind. We will drink well again this week, either in victory or defeat. What an incredible trip this has been. Many stories to tell. It has been a very intense, dogfight of a trial. The judge has been very fair. We will report back in a few days.

[DavidG]

Or Yquem…

[PghMike]

Looks like some great evenings up there. What about the menu? Any standout dishes? Looks like I'll be eating at Lavelle's myself a few times the second week of March.

[AKR]

Weirdly enough I just listened to a podcast on Dolcetto, and Pecchechino's Dogliani DOC was mentioned as a standout serious bottling. I had Vietti's unoaked one over the summer; it was ok. These are varietals I have every few years to remind myself why I don't care about them....

[Dom_P]

Those oysters look really good. Were they local to Alaska?

[JimHow]

Yes Dom they are great, from Jinhi Bay.

[marcs]

whenever Jim slaps a 94 on some new young 15% alcohol St Emilion, I'm going to remember his fondness for Cakebread Merlot