82 mouton…. 
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Just rub it in that Fu isn’t there.
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I tend to hit it better the morning after a night like that!
Outstanding
You lushes need to sober up and do next year’s Charleston Offlineorama.
This year’s event is t minus 20 days and counting.
Wot, no Riesling? Definitely a sorry bunch… 
Last night was the '82 Flight (mostly Bordeaux, one Conterno), and while I didn’t have space to take notes but I will go from memory, and hope my memory serves me.
Each flight was served single-blind - we knew the wines in the flight, but still went through the exercise of guessing which was which. The main flight (2nd one), everybody guessed the same, though there was quite a bit of discussion, some changed guesses, but all settling on the same correct call.
1982 Chateau Meyney - A bit faded, heavy on the graphite, leather, but the red fruits were a bit dusty and shy. Color definitely showed decline as well, bricked compared to the La Lagune. Not bad, per se, but clearly outclassed by the other wine in the flight, and while it wasn’t at peak, it was still enjoyable (to me).
1982 Chateau La Lagune - this wine really popped on the nose and on the palate, very lively and bright and exciting, great energy. Could have gone another 2-3 decades, based on color and liveliness. Tart and sweet red and blue fruit, many of the secondary characteristics were still in the background, with the structure and fruit taking front stage at this time. Very nice
2nd flight: (great flight, I was unable to decide on a ranking of these wines for most of the evening, until the La Mish started to fall off)
1982 La Mission Haut Brion - Very expressive and rewarding nose, floral, bit of spice, smelled luxurious, which made me think immediately that it had to be either Mouton or La Mish, but the perfumed aspect pulled me toward La Mish. Fully integrated at first couple tastings, cassis and saddle leather, darker fruited, finish wasn’t terribly long, but after a short time the entire wine started to fall off a bit.
1982 Leoville Las Cases - the ‘fun’ wine of the group - more racy, interesting, not as polished as the others but very exciting. Bit of olive oil, milk chocolate, red fruits on the nose. Nice sort of bright brambly red fruit on the palate, lively and grippy, finish long.
1982 Mouton Rothschild - gorgeous, elegant nose, expressive but refined. The palate has the same sort of polish to it, so I immediately assumed Mouton. Nose had baking spices, licorice, cherry, bit of pine. Palate has a full satiny weight, predominantly red cherry palate, finish strong and holds well. For sure the polished wine of the flight
3rd ‘Flight’
We were going to open two '82 Baroli (this and a Scavino) but decided on just one, with our food, as it was all perfect Barolo food.
1982 Conterno Cascia Francia - At first, the rest of the table really loved this wine, but I wasn’t interested. Nose was nice, roses and honey, tar, but the palate, at first, was far to brightly acidic, almost vinegar-like to me. Over the course of an hour, it changed drastically, and became much more interesting overall, and the mouthfeel went from overly-acidic to balanced and bright and perfect with food.
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Wait, What? The things you miss when you take a Berserker break…
Have fun and next time you can substitute the Dominican for the Puerto Rican!
Thanks to pepto and a 3 mile hike with 1000 feet of elevation change at 4900 feet, and an ease into wines at Paoletti’s, I managed to rally and be in great shape at dinner. Carnes is clearly a rock star in Highlands. Our service was exceptional and my elk chop was one of the most enjoyable entrees I’ve had in the past few years. Amazing. The wine service by Kyle, the Paoletti’s somm, was also exceptional.
But before we headed to the restaurant we hit up sum Fuviar from Astrea, Kaluga, Oscetria, and Schrenki. Fantastic stuff with a couple of champagnes to lube up.
Laherte Freres A Chavot Ultradition Rose An interesting and fun starter made of 100% meunier. Musky peach, pomegranate and lemon with some spicy notes. Very nice, if a bit less complex than some of the other wines we’ve been drinking. Lovely wine for enjoying the truly spectacular view on Carnes’s porch. 90-91
2002 Dom Perignon P2 Holy shit the density and intensity on this champagne is unreal. The color is intensely yellow. The nose is a hair shy at first but opens up to intense lemon oil, chalky minerality, ginger, and kiwi with a tiny hint of lemongrass. This is so packed with intensity. I think this is really phenomenal stuff. So dense, so fresh, so intense, citric and just killer. A ball of vinous energy. Phenomenal. Where the Cristal is open and lush and fruity and giving, this is a dense ball of verve and bright energy. Stunning. Can age another 20 years. 97-98.
Shortly after these champagnes is when I hit the pepto, which had high toned notes of chalk, chalky artificial bubble gum, and chalky strawberry scented grundle.
As we pulled up to Paoletti’s I admit I was a bit shaky. I think Carnes and I were in the same spot. Feeling full, maybe a little heartburn, definitely hung over. Small sipping at first. Then the pepto kicked in and we rallied and felt phenomenal.
3 Flights at Paoletti’s. All 82s.
The first flight was single blind 82 Meyney v 82 La Lagune. I flipped the wines. I assumed the more lively, better structured, and fresher wine was the 82 Meyney, in part because it is not a medoc, and also because the fill on the bottle was sensational.
1982 La Lagune This is fresh and vibrant with cherry and raspberry, sharpened pencil, hint of earth, and really nice baking spice and cinnamon. Nice acidity and good structure. I actually really enjoyed this wine and found it fresh and vibrant. 92ish
1982 Meyney This smells and tastes a little over the hill to me. This is forest floor and desiccated fruit turning to that over the hill note. The structure is, to me, a little faded and lacking verve. This is like 83-84 for me.
The second flight was the big dog flight. 1982 La Mission Haut Brion, 1982 Leoville Las Cases, 1982 Mouton.
1982 Mouton Really fine and balanced with nice red and black fruit, chinese five spice, nice hints of cedar and licorice. This is beautiful and after tasting this first, I’m not sure it’s going to be beat. Over time, this hangs in there or gets better. Just rock solid, excellent balance. The color on this was excellent, and its aromatics are just lovely. Good stuff. 96-97
1982 Leoville Las Cases This is a fascinating wine. It’s very well structured, very dark in color, black fruit, hint of tobacco, spice, licorice. What was odd was that even with the deep black fruit, and really lovely blackberry notes, there is a pyrazine green pepper note. I really like it, and the acid and tannins on this are spot on. This can continue to age. It’s in a great spot. Really rock solid here too. 96-97
1982 La Mission Haut Brion Wow, what a bright nose of raspberry, blackberry, crushed rocks, bright red licorice, hint of wood, violets. I might have guessed Margaux if this was double blind. The acid here is nice, and the structure is killer. Unfortunately, this actually started to fade over the next hour, and the fruit went from bright to faded and slightly muddy. This went from first to third for me. It was so bright and so good, and then it wasn’t at the end of the dinner. 93-94
By the end of dinner, I could not decide whether I like the Mouton or LLC more. Obviously, I wish the La Mish had not started fading because it was so bright and killer at first.
Third “flight” was just a non-blind 82 Barolo with entrees.
1982 Giacomo Conterno Cascina Francia Riserva Barolo I was a little worried on the nose at first because it was iron and tar, but not showing much fruit and a little musky. Then I took a sip. Bright tart cherry, rose, tarry, spicy earthy finish with bright acidity and stout tannins keeping everything upright. This is money. And the nose opened up to show some of that bright cherry as this evolved. Really nice. 93-94.
While not the star of the show, we started with a really nice white burgundy to set the stage.
2017 Vincent and Sophie Morey Chassagne Montrachet Started with this at the restaurant. A really nice, vibrant chard with great minerality, good complexity. Great lemon oil, bright apple, asian pear, limestone notes. Solid wine. 91ish
For full disclosure, and I did disclose it, when the blind big boy flight was poured, I saw that the second wine was the LLC because it had a tiny piece of tape on the bottom of the decanter and the somm’s hand didn’t cover it when he poured. I looked away on the last and never saw the first, so I had to guess La Mish and Mouton and did. Everyone nailed all 3, actually, which was amazing.
Kyle, the somm at Paoletti’s, was awesome and Julio, our waiter, was one of the best servers I’ve had at any restaurant.
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Gotta at least post Kane’s breakfast pic. Black truffle eggs with Fuviar, 2008 Comtes and 2002 Krug. Both amazing champagnes.
Tu madre! Jejeje
Baby mama wouldn’t let me go. Otherwise that list of wines would have had a lot more burgundy and Rhône! But they’ve been sending me pics.
Alfert took a video at the top of the hike looking down on all the trees changing color, I showed my wife and she said “oh I would have totally gone if I knew it was this”
Me “you weren’t invited tho?”
Her “oh ok. Good you didn’t go then.”
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Breakfast Saturday morning has been tremendous. Jorge made a breakfast omelet that looked like a calzone with like 8 pounds of sausage and bacon bits and gorgonzola. I had to flex on him so fuggin hard so I made an exquisitely cooked black truffle omelet with a sprinkling of mozz and kerrygold irish butter, topped with kaluga hybrid caviar and paired with 2008 Taittinger Comtes and 2002 Krug champagne.
Champagne is funny stuff. It’s hard not to get rolling when you’re drinking champagne this good. Alfert had to switch from La Croix to Comtes after swearing he was going without. His will lasted six minutes seventeen seconds.
2008 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne I love a good blanc de blanc and A. Weinberg is right that this is so freaking good now. It’s bright, intense, and giving all at the same time. Bright citrus, mandarin, ginger, hit of shortbread. Great energy, but expressive, bright fruit. It’s so good and fresh. Nice spice on the back end. 95-96ish. Yum.
2002 Krug Oh my goodness we’re drinking such good champagne this trip. This is showing a slightly more oxidative style, but it is also fresh with an interesting combination of lemon, lemon curd, biscuit, baked spiced apples, hint of oak and peach. This is so structured and actually has tannins. Acidity that makes my mouth water, with a hint of tannins that dries things out. 95-96 too. Tough to pick a favorite. This Krug is a long hauler. If you’re looking for a Krug to age decades, I think this might be it.
Oh, and the omelet was g-damn fabulous. I look forward to my first Mich star.
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That was the comment where I naturally thought she was talking about us Studly sweaty dudes posing on the mountain top cliff, but no, she meant the trees.
Kyle posted a picture of the wines in one of our FB groups and I commented that I couldn’t make the boyz weekend and he replied
“They made the comment “should we text Charlie?”. I kinda thought it was you when they said “he wouldn’t like any of this shit”. 
”
ha i thought the same thing!
Keep them coming boys!
Awesome
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Super lazy writing. I assumed the Meyney would be more structured because I associate that with many wines from St Estephe. As opposed to the Lagune, which is Haut Medoc, and not always as structured from my experience.
Ok, the omelet was off the charts!!! Amazing
2005 Vatan Clos de Neore
A truly spectacular nose. Like stop in your tracks, time slows, don’t even bother a taste. Super bright tropical and white fruits. White florals. Lanolin and honey. And perhaps a slight oxidative nose. Palate drops off a little bit, but still in the spectacular range. River bed stones, yellow fruits, including sweet concentrated yellow raisins. Still has some chewiness. I’ve had a lot of Vatan these last few years but none with this level of maturity. I have a case of mixed vintages, and my allocation has been shut off, but now I know to sit on them for ten to fifteen or more years. This 2005 still has more time to evolve, to allow the palate to match the nose. All together a stunning wine. (96-97 pts.)
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