1998 Poliziano Vino Nobile di Montepulciano "Asinone", 13.5% alc.: A darker garnet than the previous wine, it shows darker fruit too, with spicy black cherry and tarry undertones, but with a BIG smack of sweet oak, it smells more Californian than Italian, and it tastes that way too. A bit more tannic than the regular model, with the requisite acidity, but again, I’d like more body, depth and intensity. Not a "bad" wine by any means, but not my cup of tea either, and way overpriced at the suggested $42.99. Neither wine went over very well with the congregation; in fact my impressions were more forgiving than many.

There was a brief break from the red stuff, as Larry appeared with a giant platter of steamed mussels, and a couple more whites were uncorked.

1996 Domaine du Closel Savenničres, 13.5% alc.: This pale straw shows anise right away on the nose, with stony dry apple following up. Flavors echo with the apple coming a bit more to the fore, an added hint of detergent, good acidity and a nice long finish. Larry hijacked my notebook and wrote "great with the mussels," and I wouldn’t THINK of contradicting him!

(Larry’s own notes read: "…talk about a wine made for my mussels!!! A beguiling nose of sea air, a rainy forest, and ground anise...later more floral and wet stone. Lime and grapefruit combine with herbs and mineral on the palate and are set off against a racy, beguiling acidity. Why, oh why did I add so much of this wine to the broth??? I'll pacify myself by saying it made the "sauce" taste great. Super wine/ super match for $15.")

1979 Clos du Papillon Savenničres, 13% alc.: Larry commented that this medium straw has a surprising amount of oak, and Moe called it "almost butterscotch-y;" I agreed and added impressions of plenty of wet stones and green apple. It has good acidity, a rich character and a nice finish, which earned it plenty of thumbs up.

1994 Ridge Lytton Springs, 1.5 L, 80% Zinfandel, 13% Petite Sirah, 4% Carignan, 2% Grenache, 1% Alicante, 14.3% alc.: This dark garnet Mr. Ridge is only faintly rusty at this point in its evolution; a hint of funk blows off, leaving a Draper kiss of oak over lots of raspberries and cherries on the nose. The flavors echo, though not as ebulliently as many vintages before or after, with good acidity and some tannins still to resolve. It could finish a little longer for me, but all in all, this is the best ’94 LS that I’ve tasted. Maybe the larger format bottle has something to do with that? A big hit with most, and Andy’s Wine of the Night.

1997 Ridge Paso Robles Zinfandel Late Picked, 95% Zinfandel, 5% Petite Sirah, 15.6% alc.: Typically dark garnet, big overripe raspberry and mulberry with a kick of alcohol explode from the glass, and flavors more than echo, with LOTS of acidity. Amy chimed in with impressions of "medicine cabinet, kind of Band-aid-y rubber gloves." The obligatory Draper perfume is somewhat overwhelmed by all the fruit. It’s good though.

1999 Domaine l’Aigueličre Coteaux du Languedoc Montpeyroux Côte Doree, 12.5% alc.: This inky garnet has big coffee and dark berry flavors and aromas, with just a hint of the barnyard, some tarry notes and a little garrigue too. Not too tannic to really enjoy now; Moe informed me that this is made up of lots of Syrah, with Grenach and MoeVedre in support. One of the Wines of the Night for this taster.

Mary and Kim (right)

1992 Spottswoode Napa Cabernet Sauvignon: I missed the alcohol content on this inky dark garnet; it’s possible that it wasn’t listed. All I know is that as far as I can remember, it was my first ever taste of this producer’s wares (you know me, I’m not a big Cabernet guy), and I was mighty impressed. It still smells young, with sweet oak, cassis and raspberry flavors and aromas shaded with a little cigar box, and I wouldn’t argue with Larry’s impressions of cedar and charcoal either. Still some tannins to mellow here, and decent acidity. Like it says in my notebook, nice stuff!

1993 Heitz Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Trailside, 13.5% alc.: This is a slightly rusty dark garnet with an effusive red currant, cassis nose graced with a lovely kiss of oak; just so pretty! These follow through on the palate with good acidity and a very nice finish, and the tannins don’t intrude upon the lovely character. These notes don’t do the wine justice, and this may well have been my Wine of the Night. (Larry added impressions of "toasty cedar on the nose; dusty; plenty of cassis on the palate; cedar stick/spicy finish.)

By this time, we’d had a swim and performed our ritual chanting in the pool, so I was through taking notes. But there were more wines to try (for Larry, Moe and me anyway), and Larry did the honors by acting as the scribe.

It was a terrific night, but I didn’t even come close to trying all of the wines that were opened. Larry helped me out again on some of the ones that I missed. (How did I NOT try the Ogier?! I put it off for a while, having already  tasted it last August, and then it was simply gone…)