A large business group I'm in held their annual Christmas party at a promenient venue last night and rather than drink their house pour (Mondavi Napa wines, white and red) I opted to take a few bottles.
For starters we opened a Charles Ellner NV Champagne. This bottle, like the last one I had from this source, was less than vigorous and I would say disappointing. Bought on a close-out and probably not a good buy. I'm sure not representative of a typical Ellner.
With a meaty lobster bisque I poured a Macon Villages '07 (I will edit this post to include the producer soon). This was clean, crisp and on-point and perfect with the lobster. One out of two so far!
Then with a portebello mushroom and quail (funny that a non wine-geek would manage to pick these two that go so well together) I re-opened a Bouchard '05 Beaune de Chateau 1st Cru. I had opened and double decanted about two hours earlier. This had "gained wieght" and was beautiful, maybe 91 pts. and perfect with the quail. Shows a lot of promise for future development. I had salmon with this wine but others were having tenderloin so I opened:
Sociando Mallet 2000 Haut Medoc. Best ever showing for this wine. After a 5 hour decant I put back in the (rinsed out) bottle, chilled a little and poured. It was stunning. Probably 93-94 pts. and just perfect. They had with beef and I had with a chocolate dessert. Only cigars could have been a better pairing.
If you are holding any of this I would say that it is (with a 4-5 hour decant) starting to approach its drinking window.
Great wine night, but I was the only one that was really digging the wines. Ever been there?