With an Indian flavored dinner last night, we opened the 2003 Piety Flats Syrah from Washington state. It was my second of two bottles. The first bottle opened about a year ago was quite peppery and spicy with a lot of complex floral notes and bright red fruit on a frame that's more minerally and acidic than typical of domestic syrahs, let alone Washingtonians (thank god). This bottle shows signs of decline, though still good--especially with food--it just has overall less of everything and the last pour just kind of faded away. Great buy for a drink early, European styled syrah at $25, though.
The night before we opened a 2003 Blue Mountain Stripe Label Pinot Gris from British Columbia. Though I still regret buying so much of this in a hot vintage, unlike the last bottle which showed some oxidation, this one was in fine shape and true to both it's grape and terroir with rich, ripe pear fruit and heavy mineral underpinning.