Unauthorized

Another sumptuous Dim Sum luncheon at Mark's Duck House included their fabulous crab, lobster, shrimp, and scallop dumplings, pork buns, roasted pork, and the world's finest pot stickers.

The white wines included a slightly oxidized, but still interesting, complex 1973 Krug. While controversial, I loved its full-bodied, Burgundian flavors. A beautiful, still young 1999 Chave white Hermitage had not yet entered that closed, reductive stage these big white Hermitages tend to go through. However, the white that blew everyone away was a brilliant 1985 Comtes Lafon Clos de la Barre from my cellar. Incredibly rich yet fresh, pure, and young, it is a testament to white Burgundy's remarkable aging potential. This wine has another decade of life remaining.

The reds began with a very mature 1988 Jamet Côte Rôtie. I had hoped this wine would perform better as it was fabulous during its first decade of life. However, it was beginning to decline and is now on the downslope. From the Languedoc-Roussillon's finest estate, Château Negly, we had the debut vintage of Clos des Truffières, the 1997. This superb, still young wine exhibited vivid notes of blackberries, licorice, and espresso, a full-bodied, opulent palate, and tremendous purity. Essentially cut from the same cloth, the 2000 Clos des Truffières was younger, bigger, and richer. Both of these wines, which were aged in 100% new oak, soak up the wood beautifully. Both must have achieved 14+% alcohol. The stunning 2003 Clos des Tart is fresh, lively, and super-concentrated with 20+ years of life ahead of it. Tannic and austere, with some kirsch and raspberry characteristics, the hard 1994 Lafleur was difficult to appreciate. I would have loved to have had this wine decanted 4-5 hours in advance, but it seemed completely shut down. Totally open, fully mature, and best drunk over the next few years is the 1983 Noel Verset Cornas. It offered wonderful notes of scorched earth, smoked herbs, black currants, and cherries in its perfumed, opulent personality. This vintage appears to have finally shed its tough tannin to reveal and beautiful wine.

Still tasting like a barrel sample, the 1986 Mouton Rothschild is a monumental Bordeaux that will undoubtedly outlive anybody alive today. Amazingly youthful, with a dense purple color, it is an extraordinary wine that should age for a century or more. Tasted blind, I would have guessed it to be a 2-3 year old first-growth Bordeaux. A fully mature, beautiful effort is the smoky, herbaceous, spicy, round, heady, and delicious 1990 Paul Jaboulet-Ainé Crozes-Hermitage Domaine Thalabert. The modern-styled 1997 Tardieu-Laurent Bandol was impressively made, but not complex.

We had a brilliant, still young and backward bottle of the 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste as well as the 1982 Certan de May (half bottles), which was closer to full maturity. The 1998 Trotanoy is a great wine, the finest Trotanoy since 1961. We finished with a couple of brilliant offerings from Beckmen Vineyards in Santa Barbara County. The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon was surprisingly rich, with loads of cassis, no herbaceousness, and a beautiful texture. That wine was eclipsed by the magnificent 2003 Beckmen Syrah Purisma Mountain Vineyard, which offered loads of creosote, blackberry, graphite, smoke, and pepper characteristics. It is a beautiful, full-bodied, opulent Syrah that should drink well for 5-6 years.

The only bad bottle of the day was the 1996 Verget Chablis Valmur, which was completely corked.