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At pretty short notice, Chris Doty and I met for dinner this evening. We both had too much work on so when he arrived late, I was still churning out emails and was grateful for the extra time I got.

The TCP menu has changed substantially and has much more choice than before. We both ate off the "this week only" Beaujoulais Nouveau menu - which I think I enjoyed much more than Chris. Dinner was washed down with Cos D'Estournel 1989 (dark, young, farmyardy nose, full of sweet fruit and still a bit of a tannic beast - 85/100), Noval 1985 (which I last tasted in 2005 - and was very quaffable, 86/100) and Noval 1994 (which Chris tells me was much better than the bottles that Christian brought to the recent Berry's tasting; sweet and lovely, 87/100).

Overall, too much work meant too little time but it was great to have the chance to catch up and surprise each other with the wines. When I get the chance, I'll post some tasting notes.

Thanks Chris.

What a wonderful dinner!

1994 Quinta do Noval (CASK SAMPLE)
Having had the '94 Noval poured by Christian himself at the BBR event only a few weeks ago, I was SHOCKED to learn that this was a cask sample of the same wine. Much darker, denser, chewy-er and more exotic on the nose, I figured this must have been an '07 (as it didn't seem at all closed, but wasn't mature either). Really a crazy motha given that the '94 is universally recognized as a middling effort for the vintage. I hope some of this finds its way to C.S., as I've be keen to hear his opinion. 88 points

1989 Cos d'Estrounel
The '89 Cos was another monster. At a nice stage in its evolution, beyond primary fruit but still with tons of vibrance and development left in the tank, I guessed a left bank effort from '96. I was again stunned to learn that not only was it an '89, but that it was from a HALF BOTTLE! Geez. Blind tasting makes fools of us all (I happen to enjoy being a fool at EVERY tasting!). I don't know how AHB scores this only an 85 -- I thought this is such a classic expression of cab-based bordeaux. It's only 'flaw,' in my view, is that it is perhaps a bit TOO correct. Everything is in order and buttoned up. It doesn't seem to take any risks, and therefore, doesn't really get any reward. Still, we are being awfully nitpicky, as this is a great wine. 91 points.

1985 Quinta do Noval
Not knowing I was showing up to a gunfight, I brought my last bottle of '85 Noval, having been inspiried by AHB's recent (and surprisingly positive) note on the '85 Taylor he had the prior week. I had previously viewed the two wines as the duds of the vintage, and wanted to see if a fresh opinion was in order. This bottle showed well above the prior one I poured at an event at TCP, though the nose was just as odd an unbalanced. This had greater body that my prior bottle, and was drinking reasonably well, but not above 'meh' territory to my palate. 84 points

Again -- a really great dinner with Alex. Next time I will try my very very best to be more timely!