2009 Chrismas Dinner Wines

[Harry C.]

I had the wonderful pleasure to host a Christmas dinner with friends and family. These are the wine notes, such as they are.:
I did not get to taste the 2002 Doennhoff Niederhauser Hermannshoele Spatlese, but I decanted for a few hours and the nose was typical and wonderful. My impressions of the other wines:
1996 Bollinger Grand Annee: Pale gold. Fine bubbles. Nose of brioche and citrus, vanilla. Taste was the same, smooth. I think it is at plateau (95/100).
1996 Jacquart Blanc de blancs Millisime. Odd. Nose was off, but hard for me to describe. Taste was slightly off balance, and it was only with the retronasal smell/exhale where TCA was noted. I think my first where TCA was in the taste more than the smell. NR.
1996 Veuve Clicquot Brut Gold. Medium to fine bubbles. Nose of toast, vanilla. Taste was smooth, yeasty and vanilla. I think time to drink up. (92/100)
2005 Peter Michael Point Rouge Chardonnay. Pale Yellow. Nose was a tropical fruit salad, mangoes, papaya, citrus, flowers. Mouth was amazingly smooth and Cal Chard mouthfilling. Just glorious. (97/100)
2003 Aubert Ritchie Chardonnay. Yellow. Nose was smooth, rich, vanilla, winter spices a hint of oak still. Taste was similar. Very good. (93/100)
1990 Chateau Latour Grand Vin. Garnet,deep. Nose was Pauillac with tobacco, dried spices, licorice. Taste was the same taken up a notch. Wonderful, but I see Parker's point that this should be closer to the magic 100 but it seems to still be slightly closed. (96+/100)
1990 Chateau La Conseillante. Garnet. Odd nose that was all over the place. Black fruits, tobacco, vanilla. I couldn't really get a handle on it. Others liked it better than I. Taste was an older mellow Bordeaux, kinda hard to place where it was from. (88?/100)
1993 Harlan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep garnet. Nose was closer to a middle aged Bordeaux than Cal Cab Cult. Taste was smooth, nice, mouthfilling. (94/100)
1998 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St Urbain SGN. Gold. Nose was a Rose parade with spices thrown in. Taste was mouthfilling that wouldn't let go, moderately sweet with caramel, spices, vanilla ice cream. A majorly great wine. 98/100).

[DavidG]

Sounds like a few nice wines to go with dinner there, Harry. Sorry to hear that the Jacquart was corked, and it sounds like the Conseillante was an off bottle. We had a recent one that was outstanding. I've got a lone bottle of '90 Latour and was thinking about when to crack it. After reading your note I think I will let it sleep another 5 years. Happy holidays!

[Winona Chief]

Too bad about the Jacquart 1996. I was able to enjoy a fine bottle of this at a DC wine dinner at Dino on Tuesday night. It was just wonderful, very nutty with slight oxidation (in a good way).

Chris Bublitz

[JonoB]

Agree with David re. 90 Conseillante... its a stupendous wine when on form, as are most Conseillantes from great vintages (and some not so great).
The 90 is singing right now. I certainly hope you have a few more, it would be a shame if your only/last one was a baddy!

[Harry C.]

I have not had good luck with both Conseillante and Clinet. The failure rate is over 50% in my limited experience. I spend my money elsewhere these days.