All wines served blind and provided by attendees.
First Flight:
1) Brett, empty midpalate, no fruit in the finish, tired. Last place for me. 02 Serafini & Vidotto "Phigaia", Cab Franc & Merlot, Veneto
2) Dust, pepper, restrained fruit, holding power, gets better, very very good. 99 La Fleur a Boiiard, Lalande de Pomerol. Group 1st, my 2nd.
3) Young, raspberry fruit, complex, spice, some alcohol, def new world, very well made and complete. My co-third place wine. 05 Wattle Creek, a Cab-Merlot-PV blend from the Yorkville Highlands, Cloverdale, California. (This had us pulling out an atlas the next morning.)
4) Dusty, old book, leathery fruit, loved it at first but it fades quickly. Seemed more like a goner than a sleeper, but I could be wrong. 5th place for me, but 3rd for the group based mostly on the initial nose vs. overall performance. 95 Prieure Lichine.
5) Vibrant fruit, earthy, a little funky, sensual, Bordeauxish. My 1st, group 2nd, and a wine I brought: 99 Barde Haut, St. Emilion.
6) Great nose, tight midpalate, oodles of potential here but this one's not open for business. Again, I'm the only one who seems to understand the difference between sleepy time and not there at all, so it's my co-3rd place wine but the group's last. '98 Grand Puy Ducasse.
Second Flight:
My note-taking diminished seriously between the two flights.
1) Oddly, especially since it was my first place wine, I took no detail notes on this one--I guess I was just enjoying it too much to stay on task. But suffice to say that the 1990 Chateau de Pez was drinking very, very well this night. The group 'got it' too, and gave it 2nd.
2) Tight, starchy, not showing well at this moment in its life. The group and I both gave it 5th place, 2005 Chateau Lalande Borie, St. Julien.
3) Very old world, med weight, shows some maturity, spicy and complex, delicious. My 3rd, group 4th. My other contribution to the event: 2000 Providence Matakana, New Zealand.
4) Rich and tobacco-y, cedar, black cherry and black currant; big, suave and silky. Ah, no wonder, it's California, a 97 Beaulieu Georges La Tour. My 4th, group first place.
5) Very old world profile here, drinking fine it seems but very primary and showing no real character. 5th place for me and the group. 2005 Chateau Clarke, Listra-Medoc, a Rothschild property.
6) New world, big and extracted with a green streak. Did someone bring an Aussie? HA! It's the 2005 Michel Rolland Winemakers Collection Cuvee #1 from the Haut-Medoc, complete with Michel's photo on the label. What a hoot--a brilliant fake ringer brought by Kriss Reed, and everybody's last place wine. There IS a god.
6A) The green streak in the Michel Rolland fooled our host into thinking it was TCA so he immediately pumped a substitute into the line-up. Nice choice. Deep, brooding, black, concentrated, new worldish temperament but not sweet, hard to place and intriguing. Aha! It's South African, the 2000 De Toren Fusion V. The group and I both gave it 2nd place.
I'll amend my copy. I guess if I had posted this note on another board I might have typed "Winebob Collection". 