Our friend MikeWylde came this week from Austria,
we came this week from Denmark and we had a dinner to celebrate the ocassion.


For starters we had Aquavit we brought from Denmark with herring, which my wife refused even to touch despite her "viking" roots. Wel, more for us.

Mike brought the bottle of 1974 Vietti Barbera d'Alba Bussia. I didn't expect 1974 Barbera to be alive but it was. Not at it's peak, but still very drinkable, porcini mushrooms on the nose, rusty color, the wine opened up with air tremendously and we marked it as "philosophycal wine". If you have it, it's over the top and time to drink between now-next few years.

I opened the bottle of 1983 Château Mouton Rothschild with trepiration. Foil didn't spin, the cork was pushed out about 2 mm, mid shoulder ulage, not a pretty sight.
After pulling the cork, the view got even scarrier:
soaked cork
with
"mushroom top"
I could see easily the imprint of the embosed foil on top of the cork, covered with dried wine resedue.
But......the wine was alive , VERY alive and was singing songs of joy after 3 hours of Audouzing. Integrated fruit, sweet tannins, VERY long finish, color showed no signs of aging. VERY good wine and under $200 a bottle with at least 5-10 more years left in it, despite it's less than perfect storage.
I got it from Chamber Street Wine in NYC and will try getting some more.

I don't know how Cuban Monte Christos made to our house, probably they were left behind by "house sitters", as I refuse to even think that Mike has smuggled them from Europe!


375ml of 2001 Château Doisy-Daëne with French Cheeses has finished the meal.