2005 Domaine Jean Collet, Chablis 1er Cru, Mont de Milieu. I always enjoy Collet's Chablis. It was really fresh and somewhat dense. Bright fruitiness.
2003 Siduri, Sonatera Vineyard, Pinot Noir. Decanted for 45 minutes. I purchased it when I visited their "garage" winery back in 2004 and waited until tonight. Sonatera is a vineyard in the south of Santa Rosa in Sonoma. Everybody went crazy for this wine tonight! It's rich, ripe, and had the sexy exotic fruity aroma. The palate was really smooth. It's a big wine but the balance was excellent. i was glad that I waited until now.
1996 Chateau Beycheville, St-Julien. Decanted for about 1 hour. Slightly vegetal with the good amount of fruit (cassis) and earthiness. Well-balanced.
2003 Domaine Font de Michelle, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Cuvee Etienne Gonnet. No decanting, because the wine had the full perfumy aroma in the Burgundy glass. The last time I had this wine was some months ago. It was their 1999 vintage and I thought it was excellent. Today's 2003 vintage was even better! The blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and 15% Mourvedre and aged for 12 months (1-3 year old oak). The average age of the vines are over 80 years old and they make only 15,000 bottles of this wine. The aroma was really perfumy with dark cherry and rose. The palate is intense but the tannins were very smooth. It's a very elegant wine. This estate itself has been there since 19th century, and Etienne Gonnet started the domaine in 1950. Since 1974, his sons, Jean and Michelle, took over the domaine and make the organic wines.
All the wines were really nice tonight, especially with the beautiful dishes by Chef Zboray! It was such a happy night.
