A few days of decadence

Finally escaping Chicago's heat for a few days, we headed to the Hamptons and NY to visit some friends.
Lot of fun and great company and on top of that great wines !

First gem was a magnificent 1999 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Rosé. I believe 1999 was the 1st ever vintage for the rosé. Coming from a chalk soil, this is the lightest rosé I have ever seen colorwise. It barely have any pinkish hue. Brine, see breeze, almond with subtle red fruits. It is very elegant and intense on the palate at the same time. A great Champagne, still a little young in my opinion.
Then a battle of syrah and shiraz followed. The 1999 Côte Rôtie La Mouline and 1999 Côte Rôtie La Turque battled agains a 1994 Penfolds Grange. Ok, ok, for purist it is a battle of Shirah/Viognier against Shiraz/Cabernet.
Well, at least for me, it was not even close....While I thought the Grange showed a nice balance and interesting complexity but a little too ripe. On the other hand, La Mouline opened faster than the Turque (more viognier in the Mouline) but after 2 hours, La Turque won me over with nice bacon fat notes and a finish which lasted almost 3mn. Very impressive and it was nice to see the oak was already digested even if La Turque showed some hint of new oak for the first 30mn.



Next day, the honors were reserved for Bordeaux. A nice, austere and structured 1982 Lynch Bages opened the dinner. I really enjoy their style, never over the top. I was skeptic about the 2000 Cos d'Estournel which followed. But from the very 1st sip, I loved the Asian spices and smoky notes. Pure fruit with very good acidity, especially for 2000, it's slowly entering its drinking window.

We finished with a great 1990 Domaine des Baumard, Quarts de Chaume. It was an explosion of honey, orchard fruit backed up by terrific acidity. Very good wine.



Thanks God the cold I caught was only after all this drinking...!

Great friends, great wines in a beautiful place....Perfect weekend !