Then the reds, by which time I had started to
scribble pointlessly rather than make notes.
This despite my initial efforts too being more
cryptic than normal.

Columbia Winery Peninsula Red Willow Vineyard 09
stone fruit and chocolate, a fine, mature wine in
a neo-Bordeaux style, mostly Cab S I'd think.

Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz 12
very classy and smooth; fully mature now but could
live a lot longer. Ripe plum and camembert cheese,
wood, long legs, good structure. A wonderful wine.

Long Shadows Sequel Syrah vintage unrecorded?
I was majorly impressed by this. Meaty and rich,
cocoa and blackberries. A step above even the
better PacNW wines.

B. Leighton Gratitude 15
another fine Washington product, sort of a chimera,
because it's a Rhony wine but from a cooler climate.
Rather darker than its inspirations.

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Three Twins Vineyard 11
I gave this a star in my note, why I'm not sure. It was
smooth and classy, with ripe, almost overripe fruit but
danced a fine line between rich and delicate.

Katnook Odyssey Cabernet Sauvignon 01
a little hypermature, the tannins going a bit flat but
still good fruit and no heavy oxidation. I could see
this with a roast chicken, but it didn't show that
great in this setting.

Bedrock Heirloom Red Wine 09 (Sonoma)
a pretty fine wine, too, though perhaps also not showing
so spectacularly given the competition and the setting.
This is said to be mostly Zinfandel with assorted other
bits and pieces. I've always liked Sonoma Zins and their
berries and pepper and would have liked to have had more
time with this to get to figure it out.

Someone brought a bottle of wine from a rare grape called
Cabernet Pfeffer. I didn't get to try it.

Beaulieu Reserve Georges de la Tour Cabernet 85
Danny's friend Tom from the wine boards brought this
- he's obviously trying to drink down his cellar; it was
more dried cherry and plummy than blackcurranty and had
thankfully lost all its greenness if it ever had any. A
bit of cigar box. Still very respectable but didn't seem
to be a food wine any more.

Prager Royal Escort Port 05
a lighter wine in the New Worldy style, cherries on the
nose, followed by menthol - you might say cough syrup,
but in a good way. I'm generally more into the tannic
thick Portuguese wines, but I can see the appeal of
this, plus it's less problematic with dessert.

Yalumba Muscat Reserve, nv, from the 70's
Tom brought this as well; it was deep golden brown,
presented with an odd bitter aroma, continued with an
intriguing mess of oxidation, honey, dried fruit,
medium sweetness and considerable bitterness that
might have had a Botrytis component but was also the
sign of advanced decomposition. The finish was long,
and many of the diners were struck by the glyceriney
cling leading to a citrusy mushroomy cheesy raisiny
aftertate that lasted for minutes or even longer. It
was sort of like me - of a certain eminence (though a
low-budget one) many years ago, but with longevity on
its side and a certain bittersweet appeal.

Another successful event, and kudos to Dan the host for this.
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