Last night I had the great pleasure of spending a few memorable hours at Clancy's in New Orleans with Wineaux and a couple of fellow wine loving friends. Wineaux was kind enough to gather me from my hotel and deliver me safely back again (boy was I glad I didn't attempt the walk as I was considering!). The service and the food at Clancy's was outstanding (the smoked duck over dirty rice - WOW!), and the company was captivating. I took no notes other than to record the wines the four of us consumed:

2000 Girardin Corton Charlemagne - Outstanding! Rich, viscous, full of minerals and lemon, just a baby.

1999 Brundlmayer Zobinger Heilgenstein Kamptal Riesling - very dry, classic petrol notes, refreshing and excellent.

1988 Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir - what can I say, my contribution to the line up and showing better than ever.

1996 Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir - What a treat to compare a young and old version of the same wine. Amazingly, the '96 echos faithfully the characteristics of the '88, just younger - excellent!

1999 Nicolas Poter Satanay "Clos de Tavannes" - Really awesome with my duck, great fruit and it really evolved nicely in the glass over time.

2002 Sineann Resonance Pinot Noir (Oregon) - the closest to a fruit bomb of the bunch, rich, extraced, and vibrant, but still retaining a certain something that makes it impossible to confuse with CA pinots of the same description (which not a critisism of either!).

Thanks for the warm welcome and wonderful company. Wineaux - we will see you in SF very soon!

I was waiting for you to post your notes - glad you wrote down the reisling because I sure wasn't going to remember its name.

Brief thoughts on the wines:

The '00 Girardin Corton-Charlie has put on quite a bit of weight since I had it last (1/03) with its strong mineral/petrol characteristics starting to emerge. It's excellent now but should improve even more with time.

The '88 Williams Selyem was a real treat and showed remarkably well despite being a teenager - smooth, very elegant w/ complex notes of fruit, earth, mushrooms and a mature sweet spiceness (something like Chinese five spice) that I couldn't quite peg.

The '96 Williams Selyem showed that it was headed for the same direction as the '88 but still showed lots of youthful fruit and sweet oak.

The '99 Potel Santenay surprised me, exceeding my expectations, as it was less tannic and quite showy despite being from a vintage that generally needs much more time.

I opened the '02 Sineann last - a mistake since we were all wearing down.

The evening was a blast but it took it toll on me today. I'll being going to sleep early tonight.

Sounds like a great evening. How much time in the decanter did the Resonance need?

Cool.

great write up. small mini offline dinners are the way to go, especially when there is way to much wine

Board-O, the Resonance did not see a decanter- was opened last and poured right away. That said, I really don't think it suffered as a result.

Tuesday night was the 2nd time I've opened the Resonance. In February, I drank the first bottle over 2 days and the wine showed better after having been opened for a while. That said, I'd suggest a 1 hour decanting at this time.

Thanks. When I tasted the barrel sample a year ago, I thought it was one of the best of the 2002 vintage.