2006 Stags Leap Chardonnay redux: I posted on this recently to the effect that the wine was rather thin, might have used the word 'dilute', and underwelming. I have to post again to say that two subsequent bottles were much, much better, and in fact one of them, opened and then put back in the fridge for a few days before drinking, was the best of all. The first bottle might have been flawed, but maybe not--this wine needs time to show well, and the first bottle might have simply been the most backward of the three. Good apple and pear flavor, subdued oak, classy. Wish I had more!
2005 Acacia Chardonnay: Bright lemon and ripe apple fruit, but disturbingly short of acid. Don't hold.
1996 Arthurs Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, Australia: A delicious example of aged Australian cabernet from a boutique producer that I was first introduced to as a gift from an importer friend. When I mentionied here years ago that I had a bottle, it dropped some jaws in the southern hemisphere as this wine was highly sought after but virtually unobtainable there. We drank it too soon but it was gorgeous, and quite restrained in style for an Aussie. So it was a very welcome surprise about two years ago to score a case of this wine, apparently still unknown on the U.S. marketplace, at auction wine for a ridiculous $3/bottle. It's drinking very well right now, with black raspberry, plum and cedar notes. There's just enough acidity here to suffice in the immediate near term, but the dusty tannins are mostly resolved and I won't hold my remaining bottles.