Saturday's Winners, Loser and...?

Mostly winners, with one notable exception courtesy of Bordeaux, France. Without further ado here is what I tasted (and in some instances, drank) this past Saturday at work and then at Terroir.

WINNERS

Anchor Steam San Francisco

A local classic. Not the best or most exciting beer, but pretty darn tasty.

2006 Domaine de Tournelle Savagnin Arbois

Great acidity and freshness. This one tastes a bit more like white Burg than I remember.

NV Foreau Vouvray Brut

Solid sparkling Chenin. In the realm of Vouvray with bubbles I still prefer Huet when I want richness and complexity, Pinon when I want something bright and delicious, but Foreau is still very good.

2005 Jacques Puffeney Chardonnay Arbois

Classic Puff-puff: very broad, generous, persistent, and Jurassic like 5.

2005 Jacques Puffeney Trousseau Arbois

My sole/soul red for the evening....

2005 Domaine Rollin Pernand-Vergeless "Sous Fretille" 1er Cru

This wine showed better than when I last tasted 5 months ago, less oaky, and better put together. Still not as much to my liking as their 2004 villages, though.

LOSER

1999 Cos d'Estournel St.Estephe

I hereby pronounce this wine dead. Mort. Unfortunately, tasted several times over the past year, with consistent impressions.

WINES IN NEED OF MORE TIME

2000 Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape

A tough wine to taste, especially after several glasses of higher acid white. I did not find that the wine budged much over the course of an hour. Grenache continues to form a major blind spot in my tasting experience. As I remarked to Jake of Cherries and Clay, who was in SF prior to heading back to his hometown for the Olympics, if I have a difficult time appreciating Rayas then it must be official: I have no love for grenache.

2006 Henri Gouges Cotes de Nuits Village Clos des Porrets St George

Very tight and unyielding right now. I'll check back in on this bottle a bit later this week.