Another delightful, informal gathering of wine and food enthusiasts at an eating and wine free-for-all known as Mark’s Duck House. As always, the dumplings, specially ordered several days in advance, were out of sight - better than any I have had in Hong Kong, which is not unusual. These dumplings are not the usual fare available on the restaurant’s dim sum carts.

With respect to the wines, the Domaine Weinbach 2003 Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste. Catherine revealed none of the overripeness or top-heavy character that is often mis-attributed to this vintage. This beautiful white offered great acidity along with wonderful notes of crushed rocks, flowers, and honeyed grapefruit. I have had better bottles of the 1999 Trimbach Clos Ste. Hune as this one seemed slightly monolithic as well as tightly knit and backward. One would expect an 8-year old Riesling to be starting to fall apart, but this one is still an infant. The overly-oaked 2004 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes Blanc had plenty of good fruit, but the wood component was too strong.

A bevy of California wines included a gorgeous 2003 Vieux-Os Zinfandel Carter Vineyard Old Vine, from a vineyard planted near Calistoga, the spectacular 2003 Schrader Cabernet Sauvignon from the To-Kalon Vineyard in Oakville, a true first-growth site, and a good, but uninspirng 2003 Schrader Cabernet Sauvignon Double Diamond from the Mayacamas Range. The beautiful Marcassin 2002 Pinot Noir Three Sisters Vineyard was significantly better than the 1996 DRC La Tâche, which was the major disappointment of the day. This vintage is entirely too acidic, and the wine does not have enough depth or fruit to stand up to all the acid. The aromas of forest floor, herbs, and blue and red fruits merit 90 points, but in the mouth, the wine is exceptionally tart and out of balance. Moreover, it possesses little weight or depth. I suspect it will only become more desiccated and unattractive. Give me the great La Tâches (1980, 1989, 1990, 1999, and 2003) twenty-four seven, but the off years are outrageously over-priced wines.

Next came a flight of Rhône Valley wines, which included an odd bottle of 1989 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon. This cuvée can often flirt with perfection, but this bottle just did not sing. Storage did not seem to be the problem. The 1990 Ermitage Le Pavillon was much sweeter and richer with pure crème de cassis fruit as well as beautiful aromatics of truffles, incense, fruitcake, and spice. From a sleeper vintage, the 1991 Le Pavillon does not have the weight, alcohol, or volume of the 1990, or the muscle of the 1989, but it is a beautiful wine of elegance, symmetry, and overall balance. The 1997 Le Pavillon is on a fast evolutionary track and is drinking beautifully at age ten. It should keep for another decade.

We next had two nearly perfect drinking experiences. The extraordinarily perfumed, exotic, opulent, plush 1998 Guigal Côte Rôtie La Mouline is a sensational, flamboyant, compelling wine for current drinking. It was followed by the monumental 2001 Mordorée Châteauneuf du Pape Reine des Bois. While still an infant, it is sumptuous, complex, and rich.

Lastly, the two blockbuster Bordeaux included the elegant 2001 Pavie-Decesse, which offered notes of sweet cherries, spicy new oak, licorice, earth, and graphite. That wine was nearly over-whelmed by the monster 2000 Péby-Faugères, an inky/purple-colored effort boasting notes of espresso roast, scorched earth, sweet crème de cassis, coffee, and spice. The Pavie-Decesse needs another 4-5 years of bottle age, and the Péby-Faugères another 5-10 years; it should be a 40-year wine.