548615 Thu Aug 14 08:03:55 -0700 2008 2 34 Wine 0 3956468 1996 Salon Le Mesnil Wow! Unctuous and rich caremelized nose of figs, white flowers, and toffee leads to a rich, almost syrupy palate, but with enough acid to provide lift. Incredibly long finish heavy on the maple syrup. Plenty of RS here. This is a baby, I would not touch again for at least 5 years. I much prefer the '95 we had a few weeks ago. That said, this didn't suck! 93(+) 1991 Leroy Clos de la Roche The best Leroy I've ever had. The nose is a smorgasord of flower petals, red raspberries, red cherries, dates, underbrush, and a hint of both brown spice and minerality. Medium-bodied, rich, full of flavor yet light on its feet. The finish is incredible. THIS is what wine is all about. May continue to drink very well for a very long time, but to me, this is in perfect drinking shape right now. Up until the next wine of the evening, this was probably the best wine I'd had in over a year. 94.5 1997 DRC La Tache When first opened, this was very stemmy. But as the wine sat in the glass... Oh my goodness!!! Black raspberry pie! Christmas! Adirondack pine! A hint of moss; a hint of dates. The nose was just captiviating and rich and I could smell it all day. The palate was medium plus bodied with all these wonderful fruit, brown spice and mineral flavors. The finish was at least a minute. As the night wore of the fig and date component to the nose became that much more powerful. The best wine I've had in well over a year, probably the best Burgundy I've ever had. This will probably continue to improve for another 5+ years, but it is SO good right now. 95.5 2001 La Spinetta Barolo Campe Decanted 2 1/2 hours. Dark, rich, Bordeaux-lilke nose but with none of the weedy green tobacco character. Lots of brown spices, plumbs, black cherries, cassis, black raspberries, blueberries on the palate. Full bodied for a Barolo. Rich and intense. Long, long finish with tons of medium-grained tannins. This is more modern in style than I thought it would be, given the vintage, and this seemed a bit out of place relative to the other wines. This will get better over the next 5 or 6 years, but I do not expect it to be incredibly long lived. 94. ........................................................... These are my friend's notes: '96 Salon Amazing, very youthful, and delicious, but not what I expected. After having recently tried the '95, which is spectacular, this is quite possibly the antithesis to it. Where the '95 is bold, and creamy, it is also bone dry, with great minerality and acidity. This is showing some residual sugar with a sweet, fat, glycerin filled mid-section just before the palate staining long finish kicks in. There is plenty of lifting acidity, but I was quite surprised to see this full throttle, overtly ripe style with Salon. Well balanced, but different. In time I think this will integrate and be very special, but it's not much more than an intriguing experiment right now. I prefer the '95 even so. With the benefit of the doubt...94+ pts. '91 Leroy Clos de La Roche What a treat....perfect bottle. Deep garnet in color with no sign of bricking (but it was too dark in the room to really tell). Notes of baking spices, sous bois, clove, red rose petal, and pipe tobacco. Very harmonious. Great volume and long finish. For me, this is drinking in it's prime and should hold for at least another 3-5 years. 94 pts. '97 DRC La Tache Boy did this take coaxing. Not like the last time I had it a couple years ago when I recall it being very lush and full of fruit. Very stemmy at first with dark fruit and spice hiding in the back. After about 2 hours it really started coming around. Notes of stem, sous bois, underbrush, black rasberry and kirsch fruit, clove, cinnamon, sandalwood, and cardamom. Great volume and precision here as well. Slightly disjointed and needs time at this point, as I think it is currently migrating through adolescense on it's way to maturity. Should provide great pleasure once mature...95+ pts. '01 Spinetta Barolo I'll have to have Mr. Winetarelli finish my thoughts here as I never actually fully got to this. At first, the nose was full of acetone/etOH and Bordeaux like aromas. This settled down with a 2 hour massage in the decanter, and had lovely aromatics of black cherry, ginger, and brown spice. I was wined out by the end of the night and pacing myself for a sober ride home so my glass went to the wait staff......93 pt. nose.... .......................... Dinner was at Plumpjack Cafe in SF. Report here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/548548 Overall, the best food/wine meal I can recall having in a long time. Thu Aug 14 08:03:56 -0700 2008 50041 whiner 1 3957129 You're a lucky lucky lucky person to have had those particular wines in ONE sitting. Thanks for the notes -- I hope I can get my hands on a bottle of La Tache someday. Thu Aug 14 11:16:46 -0700 2008 3956468 16011 oolah 2 3957291 :-D I am. You know, the thing about great Burgundy is that it is haunting in an inexplicable way. I mean, I've scored many wines 94+ in the past year, and a handful 95+, but despite similar scores, that Leroy and La Tache... these are the wines that dreams are made of and that continue to linger in your mind long long after consumed. Of course, I am very lucky that I have such generous friends; the Spinetta and 1/3 of the Salon was my contribution to the evening... Thu Aug 14 12:05:41 -0700 2008 3957129 50041 whiner