Dinner at Anthos last night!

I have been to Anthos about 4 times now. Very consistent. Steep $35 corkage per btl, but service is excellent and food is very good. Oysters tonight were off the hook, and I am not an oyster kinda guy. Onto the wines...all were served BLIND...except the 2002 Taittinger Comte de Champagne Rose, that was absolutely beautiful...

1) Very Austrian Gruner like qualities. A very tasty wine. Lost a little flavor but beautiful bouquet...2000 Prager Riesling Klaus.

2) This wine screamed SB. Most kept thinking NZ. I picked up a little more body and some oak, so I guessed California SB...a nice wine. Many loved it. 2007 Jonata SB.

3) 99 Chave Hermitage Blanc...maderized.

4) Howard thought Chardonnay. Almost got me thinking that, but this wine had an oily texture and a rich acid that screamed Northern Rhone Roussanne. I stuck with that guess. At first, I was not in the love with the finish on this. Had some bite, but that quickly blew off. Over the course of the evening, this wine grew and grew and grew. WOW! 2001 SQN Rien Va Plus Roussanne.

5) Howard was having a tough night and said CDP. I put my nose in the glass, and said Burgundy. I had a feeling this was a wine I brought, so I stopped guessing. Absolutely delicious. 2002 Lucien LeMoine Clos de la Roche.

6) This was a little shutdown, or so I thought. I pegged it as Grenache. I kept expecting more. In the end, I guessed 2000 CDP...turned out to be 2000 Clos du Caillou CDP Cuvee Quartz. Very disappointing!

7) Possibly corked, but clearly not correct. I was guessing a decent amount of Cab Franc from Bordeaux. Hard to guess as wine was flawed...1985 Lafite

8) Another wine I was not in love with. A few dissenters, but most agreed something was a miss here. I thought old Napa Cabernet (guessed 20 years old) . Turned out to be a magnum of 1989 Aldo Conterno Barolo Granbussia Riserva.

9) Unintersting dessert wine. I guessed 1998 or 99 Climens, turned out to be 2002.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

SQN, and Lemoine were delicious. Prager was interesting. Jonata was a nice wine.