1999 ANDREW WILL MERLOT KLIPSUN Bought this one bottle seven years ago, the only bottle of Andrew Will Merlot I bought that year because the tough tannins scared me off. Now I kind of wish I bought more. The tannins are now silky, the Cassis nose is faint but the berry fruit still comes through strong on the mid-palate and medium finish. Back in '99 Merlot was an ultra-trendy WA red wine and Klipsun was still arguably the best Merlot vineyard in the state, treated with respect by its owners and the winemakers who bought the grapes. And Chris Camarda at Andrew Will was making lovely single vineyard Merlots, especially Klipsuns. Now, unless I'm mistaken, Camarda has stopped making single vineyard Merlots, guys in movies spit in disgust when they hear the word Merlot -- and Klipsun sure ain't what it used to be. Wish I'd bought more.
2002 PIERRE LUNEAU-PAPIN SEMPER EXCELSIOR MUSCADET SEVRE ET MAINE "Semper"? Well, maybe not forever, but I bet this one will go twenty years -- and put many a grand crus Chablis to shame. I love it. Loads of steel, sheets of mouth-puckering acid and enough minerals to let you know there are going to be a mine of them a few years away. It's a measly twenty-five bucks or thereabouts and is being distributed now. A Louis/Dressner import, but your probably guessed that.