2000 Domaine Larose VV Chablis 1er Cru "Les Fourchaumes"
Sipped at cool room temp over three hours: Initial shy nose and flavors of grapefruit and brown paper bag blossomed into a wider range of sweeter citrus fruit and flinty minerals with that unmistakable chablis character that is, to me, mildly petrolish. The wine evolved beautifully in the glass and developed a fleeting cinnamon spark on the finish. Though it has the acidity to hold here for years, I can't imagine the wine being better than it is now.
1999 Kanonkop Pinotage, South Africa
A chef friend came over to play in the kitchen and I gave him his choice of wines to sip on while we prepped. We were making Ethiopian food so he asked for something from the African continent, and I chose this. I used to like pinotage better than I do now, or at least, what I strongly dislike is any wine from anywhere that tastes like what I used to call burned campfire logs but which Dale summed up neatly as "ash tray". I don't remember these 99's having that in their youth, but it's unmistakably all over the wine now and I'm unable to conceal my dislike even though the wine is drinking excellently right now for someone who doesn't mind a fistful of ashes among the berries.
1994 Swan Zinfandel, Ziegler Vineyard, Sonoma
Interesting wine. Dark red towards black color, only slight clearing at the rim. In flavor, shows dull but overripe raspberry fruit on the first pass, but when tasted with food the wine wakes up instantly with bright raspberry, plum, sandalwood, spice and chinese incense notes. Stays like that to the last drop. This wine isn't tanking any time soon.