What we opened this weekend:
2004 Château Beauchêne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Grande Réserve Red Rhone Blend
A bit tight on initial opening with more acidity than fruit, but two hours in a decanter smoothed that out somewhat. My best guess is that another year or two will bring it around completely.
2006 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend
Thanks to recent CT posts, we pulled a bottle of this yesterday to pair with stuffed eggplant. It's wonderful: burnished red color, classic Donjon cinnamon bark and nutmeg spice on the nose, plummy fruit with good acidity, and a long finish. Fully ready, though it needs about an hour decant to reach full openness. With special thanks to my Vancouver buddies like Bill Spohn for exposing me to well-aged bottles of this beginning with the amazing '98s, if I had to choose one CdP to drink exclusively for the rest of my life it would be Donjon. Every bottle captivates.
2001 Château Léoville Barton St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend
In early '16 I thought it not quite ready, but it's fully ready now. Elegant mouthfeel with cassis, spice, a touch of cedar, tobacco and some floral notes. Drink over the next 5 years.
2012 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Séchet
Initial before-dinner pour (wherein we switched to a Bordeaux) seemed teetering on the edge of oxidation, but when we came back to it after dinner that had blown off. Very dry and minerally with notes of lemon, lettuce, flint and chalk dust. Drink now.