This meeting of my Oenarchs group was an exceptional blind tasting hosted by one of our members, Lee Kirby Smith. It was easy to guess that we were dealing with white Rhône Rangers in Flight 1, and Syrah-based wines in the following flights. The evening began with three unblind brilliant Champagnes. Surprisingly, the 1996 Salon Blancs de Blanc held its own alongside the two full-bodied wines, the 1996 Pol Roger Cuvée Winston Churchill and the 1990 Krug. The Salon is a young, powerful, exceptionally promising Champagne (100% Chardonnay)  that remains an infant in terms of development.
We then moved to a relatively disappointing flight of white Rhône Rangers, with the highs very high and the lows very low. Oxidized bottles of the 2002 Alban Vineyards Roussanne and the Copain 2004 Roussanne James Berry Vineyard as well as a corked bottle of the 2005 SQN 2005 The Petition were made up for by the brilliant quality of the SQN 2001 Albino and the 2004 SQN Rejuvenator. The next flight was dominated by the virtually perfect 1999 Syrah Lorraine Vineyard from Alban Vineyards. This won the flight along with the Carlisle 2001 Syrah Dry Creek and the 2002 Paloma Syrah, two North Coast efforts. The other wines were very good, even outstanding in some cases, but the aforementioned three stood out for their extraordinary complexity and richness.

Flight III was a tour de force, as was the last flight. Flight III was an incredible showing for the superb vineyard site planted on white limestone, the James Berry Vineyard. The 2002 and 2003 Saxum James Berry Vineyard Bone Rock tied for first place. While every wine in this flight was special, these two were extraordinary for their complexity and richness. The 2003 Villa Creek High Road James Berry Vineyard was only slightly less intense, but it was not lacking in either personality or flavor character. In the last flight, the top three wines included a perfect Colgin IX Estate 2003 Syrah, followed by SQN’s 2002 Just For the Love of It and SQN’s 2000 In Flagrante. Coming in fourth was the 2004 Saxum Syrah Broken Stones. I sure would like to have another sip of the 2003 Colgin IX Estate Syrah as it was extraordinary. I frequently have the SQN Just For the Love of It, so its profound showing was not surprising.

We finished with a beautiful Graham’s 1985 Vintage Port, which was just hitting its period of adolescence.

As for the food, Cindy Wolf, Baltimore’s finest chef as well as a perennial James Beard nominee, created one great course after another, led by the pan-roasted squab and pan-roasted magret.