There's always next year: San Antonio post-mortem

It has taken a while for me to post this. The pain of the Final Four loss to Kansas was just too much. I will say though, that Kansas fans are true basketball fans and a class act. So very different from Duke fans, who I don’t think even like basketball, they just like Duke.

After watching my beloved Tarheels first embarrass themselves, and then come back to within 4 points, I needed some sort of consolation. After a bit of research on the internet, I stumbled across this place which was close to our hotel (note: don’t stay at a golf resort if you don’t play golf). Neat little restaurant called the Grey Moss Inn in the middle of Grey Forest, TX. There was an outdoor wood-fired grill for the steaks and other meats. If you are ever in the San Antonio area, it is worth visiting. The owners are very nice folks that like wine quite a bit and the list has some gems on it.

2005 Dönnhoff Riesling Estate

Bigger boned than past versions (well, maybe not 2001) but still delicious. I’ve been enjoying this for so long, I don’t think that I give it the attention it deserves. A much better wine than most estates can hope to put out.

1999 Girardin Chassagne 1er Ruchottes

Now, I’m not much for Giradin, not really the type of wine I generally get into (negoce, bought must, new wood), but Ruchottes is a very good vineyard and I thought I heard that the source for this fruit was top notch. Whatever. The wine was quite good with our mid-course of rockfish (even though the fish wasn’t that good, reminder, don’t eat fish in the middle of nowhere Texas).

1991 de Vogüé Musigny Vieilles Vignes

Their last bottle and an interesting one for me. I’ve never been a real big de Vogüé fan, the wines are just too blocky and Bordeaux-like for me, but I have fond memories of the 1991 from when I just began in the wine business. It was my first Musigny and was really impressive. Well, this bottle was on the downside (pristine bottle might fare better) but still had an excellent mouthfeel and inner mouth perfume, even if the nose was not explosive or particularly driving. It was a nice quiet wine, which was just fine since it was only $110 off the list.

1995 Sorrel Hermitage Le Gréal

This was the wine of the night, and by a large margin. Deep and strong with meaty black fruits as well as notes of licorice that have started to evolve toward maturity. At a perfect place to drink, IMO because it still retained enough structure to go with our big Texas steaks and still had some fruit, which I personally like. That said, I found it perfectly balanced with a beautiful nose and velvety texture, strong persistence, and the tannin were of the finer grain. Lovely stuff. I could have easily had another bottle by myself.