Blind tasting notes:

2008 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc – opened after a nice Chablis turned
out to be corked! Grass and tropical fruit nose, good acid at end.
Very good.

1996 Cape Mentelle Zinfandel – I was on the right track in guessing
this an American wine, I suppose. Medium dark with watery rim, coconut
in the nose, sweet entry but a bit lean in midpalate narrowing at the
end with a slightly hot finish.

1982 Cos d’Estournel – nice classic claret nose, mostly cab with a
slight green hint, mellow and medium full in the mouth with a long
balanced finish.

2000 Penfolds Bin 389 – this baby Grange was interesting a couple of
days after tasting an earlier vintage of Grange itself. Eucalyptus
nose that later added some burnt sugar and cherry. Sweet and fairly
soft in the mouth, ready to drink but lots of soft tannins, so no
rush.

2000 Ch. Gloria – WTF? Henri Martin must be spinning in his grave!
This is the first time I have tasted this vintage and it was a great
disappointment to me, not because it was a bad wine – it wasn’t, but
because it seems to be a sell out to the forces of evil. A one note
burnt sugar and vanilla nose, sweet entry and sweet on palate with
surprisingly little tannin, shorter than I’d like and very slight bit
of sourness at the end. This may play well at a California wine fair,
with the lush fruit and obvious big flavour and single note nose, but
what a come-down for a classic over achieving Bordeaux producer!
Think I may have to go pop a bottle of the 75 or the 88 to restore my
perspective!

1999 Stellenzicht – this is the estate wine of this Stellenbosch
winery, a cab based blend, I believe. Nice nose with good fruit
levels there and on palate, mellow wine, good length. On plateau now?

1997 Dom. Coursedon St. Joseph La Sensonne – a soy and leather nose,
medium body, smooth in the mouth, but with less evident Rhone
characteristics than other bottles have shown. Not the best I’ve
tasted.

1996 Ch. Beaumont (Haut Medoc) – lightweight forgettable claret with
warm cabernet nose, woody, ending acidic and dilute. If you have it,
find a nice piece of meat that needs marinating!

2005 Iniskillin Zinfandel – a number of BC vineyards are in suitably
hot microclimates to ripen Zin. This certainly wasn’t among the best
I’ve tasted. Simple with wine good colour, decent fruit in the nose,
but overly sweet. A wine looking for a Two Buck Chuck talent scout.

1985 Grahams – nice to end on an up note after the previous 2 duds.
Colour on this one getting a bit lighter than other 85s, slightly hot
nose, and although the entry was certainly sweet, it wasn’t as sweet
as I usually expect for Grahams. Nice concentration in the middle and
lingering finish made this pleasurable but if this bottle was typical,
I should be looking at my bottles earlier than I had thought
appropriate.