At Mark’s Duck House, it’s always the identical menu, with the extras depending on how hungry the group is. As always, the highlights are the shrimp, scallop, and lobster dumplings, the potstickers, the barbecue pork stuffed buns, and of course, their superb roasted pork. I have had some very oxidized bottles of 1995 Verget Chablis Valmur, but this one, which was apparently a special bottling with a green wax capsule, was superb. Lemon oil, honeysuckle, crushed rock, and white currants dominated the freshness and the intense fruit aromatics. This medium to full-bodied wine was in great shape, a classic, compelling example of grand cru Chablis. A great vintage in the Russian River is 2002, and that was evidenced by Martinelli’s 2002 Chardonnay Goldridge, which actually tastes younger now than it did when it was bottled, a remarkable evolution. The wine displays a light straw color, a lovely nose of nectarines, orange marmalade, and honeyed citrus in a full-bodied, crisp, zesty style, with some earthy undertones – a beautiful Chardonnay.

It seemed to me that we didn’t drink very many whites at this occasion, as all but one of the rest of the wines were an assortment of reds, nearly all of them showing well. Unfortunately, one of the bottles I brought had completely oxidized, a dead 1990 Tertre Roteboeuf from St.-Emilion. I know this wine well, and it’s drinking great, but this bottle was an embarrassment. The only bottle of red Burgundy also came from my cellar, the last bottle I had of the 1983 Henri Jayer Echézeaux, and it smelled like rotting garbage and notes of a stinky sewer. Appallingly bad! The only other wine from the Pinot Noir grape was a beautiful bottle of Martinelli’s 2002 Pinot Noir Zio Tony. With luscious berry fruit intermixed with forest floor and spring flowers, a  beautiful, textured mouthfeel, but no evidence of any oak whatsoever, this is a lovely wine to drink over the next 4-5 years, possibly longer. Complex in an almost Burgundian way was the aromatic, medium-bodied 1995 Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904. These wines have an uncanny ability to age very well, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this wine still showing very good quality 10 or 15 years from now. A blockbuster and a fabulous Malbec from Argentina is Michel Rolland’s 2003 Yacochuya. Notes of camphor, graphite, blackberry, and truffle emerge from this full-bodied, opulent, sumptuously textured wine. It is just beginning to drink well, and is certainly one of the finest Malbecs I have ever tasted from Argentina. It should age for at least another 10 to 15 years, should anyone be able to defer their gratification. Another blockbuster wine was a blend of equal parts Touriga and Cabernet Sauvignon, the NV Return of the Living Red from Australia. This was actually a sensational wine with a very individualistic character. I would love to have a shot at this wine at a tasting in a vacuum as opposed to tasting it with a group of apples and oranges surrounding it. It was young and seemed to have a lot of terroir character in it, with earth, new saddle leather, spring flowers, and dense fruit. Fully mature, and finally exhibiting some serious character after years of being tannic and closed is the 1989 Beaucastel Châteauneuf du Pape. This was the best showing in many a year for this wine, which displays notes of smoked duck, burning embers, red and black fruits, garrigue, and pepper. It is full-bodied, but the tannins have finally melted away, and the wine is drinking beautifully. Another Châteauneuf du Pape, the 2000 Charbonnière Vieilles Vignes, was excellent. This is an underrated producer who consistently makes outstanding wine. The wine is classic Châteauneuf du Pape with loamy soil notes intermixed with resiny pine forest and kirsch liqueur in a full-bodied style. The 1999 Serafin Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes was beautiful, still young, dense ruby in color, with sweet notes of spring flowers, damp earth, forest floor, and some raspberries. Another inexpensive Burgundy is the rejuvenated Remoissenet, the 2006 Bourgogne Blanc. Pierre Rovani, who was at the lunch and works for Remoissenet, said that this was made from 80% declassified Puligny-Montrachet. The wine was elegant, displaying notes of lemon oil intermixed with crushed rocks and lots of fruit, but good, zesty acidity, and terrific purity. Readers looking for an inexpensive white Burgundy should check this out. I have always felt that Philip Togni’s Cabernet Sauvignons need a good 10 to 15 years before they resolve their tannins and drop some of their herbaceousness, and the 1992 Togni Cabernet Sauvignon certainly proved that point. Still as dark as a moonless night, but gorgeous, its notes of graphite, burning embers, crème de cassis, and blackberry, as well as hints of charcoal and background earth make for a full-bodied, sumptuous Cabernet Sauvignon that is still in its pre-adolescent stage and set for at least another 25 to 30 years of aging. The 2004 Noon Eclipse from McLaren Vale was a beauty. Elegant black cherry and black currant notes intermixed with some forest floor and damp earth notes were quite complex. In the mouth, it was medium to full-bodied, surprisingly elegant for a South Australia red, but beautifully textured and quite long. I would opt for drinking this one over the next 4 to 5 years.