A 2001 Domaine Jaboulet 'Thalabert' Crozes-Hermitage was too tight recently to be enjoyable, so we recorked it and put it in the fridge. A few days later it was singing: all tar and green olives with a nice sweetness to the fruit on the finish. It should hold here for a good while but for my tastes, it's at peak Crozes form. Wonderful.
Last night, we opened the first of a few bottles of 2004 Emilio Primo 'Terre de Marchesato', a really meaty, earthy, full-bodied Bolgheri. It was actually too big and pushy for the marinara I'd prepared and so we pulled and drank a 2005 Coultibuono Chianti Classico to drink instead. The Coultibuono was spot-on: zesty cherry and tomato flavors with a bit of wood-spice and raisin; open, refreshing and balanced. Not special, just good to very good, but a wine that helped the food shine which is just what the situation called for. Later while cleaning up after dinner, I tasted the Primo a second time, and all the initial rough spots were gone. It still needed a steak, but wouldn't have been at all bad to sip alone, the black and red fruit filling in all the empty spaces on the mid-palate and the tannins now relaxed. Good complexity with tomato, herb and coffee, and showing very traditional and Italian even though this kind of rambunctious size isn't something I'm used to from Italian wine. Very good to excellent, and a lot of fun. Looking forward to the rest of it tonight with the kind of food it needs.