Last night I had the traditional Christmas Bouchard Beaune Greves Vigne De L'Enfant Jesus with my standing rib roast. This year (and last) we had 1999, which seems to have a bright future.

I went American last night:

2002 Schramsberg Reserve, and 2004 Match Butterdragon Cab with Ribeye Roast. I opened the Match a couple hours early and decanted it. It was really lovely (I rarely use that word to describe a Cab). I have another 2004, which I'll let sit for a few years.

BIL brought over 3 mags of

drinking pretty well right now but not much complexity

We drank a Match Butterdragon on x-mas eve a 2006 IIRC

For our Dec 24 Christmas Réveillon dinner we had a 2005 Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes that was pretty decent with Rougié bloc de foie Gras. Champagne Egly-Ouriet Les Vignes de Vrigny, (100% Pinot Meunier) with other appetizers that included various mousses and terrines.
Sanford Pinot Noir 2002 from Santa Barbara Hills and a very nice Roots Pinot noir from Oregon were good pairings with the roasted turkey (stuffed with fresh thyme, garlic, lemon and olive oil). Chateau Bonnet Bordeaux 2005 was fine with the cheese course (good Camembert, Cantal, Tomme de Savoie, Roquefort and chèvre). We had a good Chateau Haut-Sarthes Montravel 2005 with the Bûche de Noel au chocolat.
And we enjoyed a great Eau de vie de poire Morand from Martigny, in Valais, Switzerland after dinner.

Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed....
I was expecting more feedback regarding some interesting wines drunk with good meals and in good company during the holidays.
It is time to revive this thread.

I bought a Monchhoff Estate Riesling ($20) for New Years Eve. It got 93 points from Wine Spectator, whatever that means. I opened the bottle and right away I knew it would be too sweet for my wife. So I opened a cheap bottle of Prosecco which kept her happy. This was to accompany a fondue. Honestly, even I, a fan of the grape, found the Riesling a little on the sweet side.

On the other end of the spectrum, my wife and I picked up a bottle of 2006 Ramon Bilbao Crianza from Schaefer's over the weekend. They were pouring tastes and had it one sale for $7, marked down from $14. This is a 100% tempranillo from Rioja. We opened it tonight and it was quite good; good for $14 and amazing for $7. So we went on-line and ordered 6 more bottles with free delivery from Schaefer's.

Two sets of grandparents in town translates into four nights of Christmas revelry for the Davoodas and the vino flows freely:

Tuesday 12/21 - Heavy hors d'oeuvres with Chandon Etoile Brut NV. We first tried this as newlyweds in 1998 and it's become a Christmas tradition on the first night the family gathers.

Wednesday 12/22 - Del Carmen's East pizzas (BBQ chicken, La Carmencita, pepperoni, sausage & onion) with 2005 Los Toros 100% Tempranillo from WTSO. A bargain at $8.99 per bottle. Complimented the pies quite well.

Thursday 12/23 - Baked Virginia ham, potatoes dauphinoise, butter-lemon broccoli with 2006 Sineann Red Table Wine - a blend of their pinot noirs from that vintage. Delicious pinot for $16/bottle. Chocolate-dipped strawberries for dessert with a 1977 Vintage Dow Oporto - sublime.

Christmas Eve - Various cheeses, BBQ meatballs, pate and relish tray, crackers with 2001 Dom Perignon - another tradition. Whole beef tenderloin, "party potatoes," grilled root veggies and a double-mag of 2004 St. Supery Cab. Very difficult to open large format bottle but worth it. Decanted 60-minutes prior to dining and it had opened nicely.

Looking forward to Christmas 2011 - I have laid down dueling magnums of Match Butterdragon - 2005 & 2007. From the glowing reviews of Butterdragon posted above, it will likely be worth the wait

Davooda wrote:Looking forward to Christmas 2011 - I have laid down dueling magnums of Match Butterdragon - 2005 & 2007. From the glowing reviews of Butterdragon posted above, it will likely be worth the wait

Awesome! I'm keeping my other bottle of '04 Butterdragon for a few years, but will open the '05 next year. Or I'll wait until you open yours, and see what you have to say about it.

In addition to drinking the '04 Butterdragon on Christmas (mentioned above), for day-after-Christmas games & fire, we opened a bottle of the 2006 Brochelle Zinfandel for sipping. An intensely raisin-y wine with baking spices and almond undertones, which, when coupled with the heat from the high alcohol in the Zin (that I believe is about 16.4%), almost made me feel like I was sipping a very balanced glass of Glögg.



For NYE, in anticipation of a pork-heavy meal, I, too, brought a couple of tempranillos for dinner. Both were fairly perfunctory, an '08 Emilio Moro Ribera, but I enjoyed the chewy rusticity of the 2005 Burgo Viejo Crianza Riojo (90% tempranillo, 10% graciano), and for $8 at Wine Discount, it's a positive bargain.



For toasting the New Year, we brought a magnum of René Geoffroy Rosé de Saigné.

drank a little Swiss wine and then some CnP
last week



Not wine but part of a wine dinner at a friend's house in Geneva

Our very generous host opened 5 vintages of Pegau for dinner

MHILL

I love the Aigle Les Murailles. Where did you buy it in Chicago? Was the price decent?
If you like the Abricotine from Morand, try their spectacular Eau de Vie de Poire. For years its quality had declined but it went back to top last year.
I brought a bottle back from Switzerland in November. But I know that it is available in Chicago somewhere.

Alain

alain40 wrote:MHILL

I love the Aigle Les Murailles. Where did you buy it in Chicago? Was the price decent?
If you like the Abricotine from Morand, try their spectacular Eau de Vie de Poire. For years its quality had declined but it went back to top last year.
I brought a bottle back from Switzerland in November. But I know that it is available in Chicago somewhere.

Alain

I was in Switzerland at it was at the COOP grocery store for about $21 swiss francs. I did like the Abricotine but a little goes a long way not sure I'm going to invest in buying a bottle

My Morand's "Williamine", in fact the exact brand name for the pear eau de vie made from Williams (European equivalent of Bartlett) pears, was bought also at COOP in Geneva.
I'm a bit disappointed by the news since I was hoping that you had found the Aigle in Chicago...

this is what the 18 of us drank last night at our annual Rhône wine dinner.
Last year mostly Northern Rhône and this year almost all CnP and just two
American wines. The oldest was the 1978 Chante Cigale and the youngest
a 2009 Tercero Grenache Blanc.
Sadly, the 1998 VT and the 2004 Beaucastel VV were corked
(just slightly but corked none the less)

Great collection of CdPs, but I couldn't help by notice the Egly - I'm a big fan of the Blanc de Noir Grand Cru (I think you've got a Brut Tradition Grand Cru pictured). Yeah for the Prager too but those bottles are obviously taking a backseat to all those Rhone reds . . .

Besides the marvelous Egly-Ouriet ( that I had for Christmas eve Reveillon dinner ) and a bottle of la Part des Anges, I've noticed that you also had a Northern CDR blanc, a great Condrieu, and went way south to Bandol with the Domaine Tempier.
So it is a more eclectic choice that you seemed to imply.
Nevertheless that impressive selection filled me with a lot of jealousy.
Santé....
Alain

Leftover Marramiero "Inferi" 2006
Montepulciano d'abruzzo

Opened it to eat with takeout pizza the other night, having the leftovers with Mexicoid stew tonight.

Last night I dined at a friends house and 6 of us polished off 7 bottles of Clos de la Roche. The offerings included 1990,1995 and 1999 Ponsot Vielles Vignes, 1996 Truchot, 1998 Dujac, 1995 Lignier and 1990 Leroy. The 1995 Ponsot was a bit out of it's league, but fortunately it was the first wine served so we could only calibrate it against the 1996 Truchot as we had two glasses per person. The last bottle, 1990 Leroy, was pretty unforgettable. We finished every drop from every bottle by the end of the night (which started with a beautiful 2002 Gimmonet Special Club).

I'll be very lucky if I have a better night of wine drinking this year. I'm certainly going to try.

Last night's dinner of grilled Salmon, asparagus and potatoes (done on a cedar plank) - fish courtesy of Dirk's - was accompanied by Williams Selyem 2003 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. I found that it had an annoying glycerine-y feel and alcohol-y taste (I think that's what it was). I've liked other of their wines better.

As a committed beer geek, I feel odd posting this, but here goes: Cascina Bongiovanni 2003 Barolo, very kindly gifted from a friend. I was a bit worried when I took my first whiff, as it's definitely pretty alcoholic to my nose, but it's smooth and silky, and with a touch of amber color to it. I'm no wine expert, so I will refrain from copious tasting comments. My favorite note, however, is a distinctly toasted marshmallow or burnt sugar bit that comes out in the end and lingers. Perhaps I'm crazy, but if so--crazy tastes pretty good.