One of the best wines of the night, and easily the WOTN if you factor in the "WOW!" factor. This 14 year old wine is easily one of the 2 best CA Chards I've ever tasted (the other is 1 out of 3 bottles of 2001 Walter Hansel Cuvee Alyce). Hazelnuts and figs and dates started soaring from the glass once the wine had been open a little while. The palate had great viscosity, not too heavy but just ever so slightly oil, and the finish was 40+ seconds. Really a remarkable wine. I'd drink this now, I don't think it will get any better, but I was expecting a shadow of a wine and what I got was really a remarkable wine. 94+

1992 Marcassin Chardonnay, Upper Barn, Gauer Vineyard, Alexander Mtn. Estate.

Tasted last night at an offline at Kingfish in San Mateo.

This was a huge surprise for me. I've had this exact wine twice in the past two years. Both times the stuff was absolutely glorious on opening but after 45 minutes or so its' wonderful flavors turned in to (being kind) nail polish; So bad that the rest of each bottle was flushed down the slope-chute.

Well this stuff last night hung together like a pair of elephant's balls.
Huge nose of caramel, coffee beans, orange rind and hazelnuts. Explodes in the mouth with the caramel leading the pack. Behind is Mr. Caramel and his old team of pineapple and mellow yellow lemon/orange. The caramel lingers on the pallet for over 40 seconds.

If you've got a bottle of this there is no realy hurry to open it . Judging from the opulance of this bottle last night, and despite that Mr Parker says it was OTH in 1999, IMO it has at least 4-5 years to go. If you've got two bottles I would drink one now and another in 2009. If you have one bottle go ahead and pop the cork now.