A small group of us met at Scott's house for an informal cull party (i.e. open up the cellar dogs). Turns out none of the attendees own much bad wine, but we found a few that were certainly uninspiring enough to make us feel as though we had wasted cellar space. One funny thing is that the "brie" was corked!
Scott had a 2001 Bernard Bachelet Puligny-Montrachet Les Grands Champs open when I arrived. It was nice enough but ultimately a boring wine. Would it have been nice with a grilled lemon chicken - sure, but not worth cellaring. One down.
I served the 2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit Rosé blind. I did not find it enjoyable at all, as the very pretty fruit and spice flavors were horribly marked by excessive, spritiy hot alcohol. It tasted like strawberry cinnamon vodka to me. Others liked it a lot more (though all thought it was hot), so I'm glad I opened it. Bleh! Two down (IMO).
The 1999 Alain Michaud Brouilly Prestige de Viellies Vignes was initially very offputting (rotting cabbage) on the nose, but eventually that blew off & it became akin to a simple, old Pinot Noir. So yes it has "pinosity" but wasn't really anything worth drinking. For what it's worth, this bottle appeared to be in absolute pristine condition. Three down.
I had been worried about my bottle of 1996 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile, and I think I can put showings of prior bottles down to subtle heat damage (i.e. prolonged moderate temps in a store). This initially seemed way too young, but after about an hour it got rather tired and worn out. It's like the strength had been sapped from it. I'm glad to have it out of the cellar, as I doubt time would have been kind to it. Four down.
A bottle of 2000 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes was oxidized to hell and back. Worst wine of the night. Spencer "wins". Five down.
The big surprise of the night was the 1994 Lenz Cabernet Sauvignon from the North Fork of Long Island. Initially it smelled very candied, but eventually it settled down into an extremely pretty, lighter weight (light middle weight?) Cabernet with lovely, resolved texture and good flavor. If more wines from the North Fork were like this I would have a lot of them. I don't completely recall, but I think '94 was the watershed vintage for the North Fork (vintage of the century?), so that might have helped a lot!
A bottle of 1995 Jaboulet Hermitage Pied de la Cote was simple and disappointing. an hour of air got it to half decent Crozes Hermitage quality, but it never became representative of anything it should have been. Six down.
Scott then opened another surprise, the 1979 Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford which was fantastic! Complex, aromatic, structurally resolved but holding together really well, this was old school Napa Cabernet & great drinking. Damn I wish I had a steak.
The 1996 Poderi Colla Barbaresco Roncaglie was a Piemontese brother of the Jaboulet Hermitage - boring, boring, boring. Completely correct wine with no soul, no notable aromatic or flavor quality, no nothing. Sadly there's 2 more bottles in my cellar that I do not know what to do with. Even worse, I once gifted a bottle of this to someone who cellars wine (long term) because at the time I thought it was quite good. Seven down.
A bottle of the 1989 August Eser Oestricher Lenchen Riesling Auslese was all dried orange peel and tart clove. A dried out husk of a wine. Eight down.
Finally, a bottle of 1998 Franz Karl Schmitt Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Auslese was just lovely - pretty peach fruit, good balancing acidity for hte sweetness & a touch of smokiness. Actually a very nice way to end the evening.