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Recently I spent back-to-back nights in two different cellars in two different states. The first night was at The Don’s, the unofficial church of Burgundy here in America. A delicious lineup of five different wines had me thanking the wine Gods accordingly.

We started with a delicious 1990 Dauvissat Chablis La Forest. This wine really knocked me out and cemented the fact that 1990 may be the greatest Chablis vintage of my lifetime. (Yes, I know, 1996 could be as well). The nose was so warm and mature, yeasty in the best way possible, giving way to earth, smoke, baked yellow fruits and hay. The palate was rich and saucy, meaty and chewy, full of mild citrus and terroir flavors. While at its peak, the La Forest was pure hedonism and had me forgetting about the trees (94).

We paired it with a 1989 Raveneau Butteaux. The Raveneau was much more anisy and spiny, showing more citrus and minerals. It was more wound up, pungent in a good way, clean and long. It had more smack and was more youthful than the La Forest, but it didn’t quite deliver the same pleasure quota, although in five years it may be the better wine (93+)

A 2003 Haut Brion Blanc was a welcome introduction to dinner. The nose was sweet and giving, rare for a young HBB. The appeal of the 2003 vintage made itself known immediately, as sweet aromas of Sauvignon and Semillon fruit combined with the usual suspects of glue, hay and smoke. Almost tropical, the HBB was so delicious, sweet and balanced, elegant yet full-bodied. It didn’t feel like it was on a fast evolutionary track, but rather one of those wines that will always be enjoyable from the word go (95).

A pair of 1999 Leroys rounded out our evening. It has been a while since I have had any Leroy ‘99s, and I love ‘99s, so this was perfect as far as I was concerned. The first was the 1999 Leroy Vosne Romanee Beauxmonts. It had the signature, beefy Leroy style, dripping with black and red fruits, earth, and a long, defined finish. The Vosne maintained its inherent, elegant nature and gave off a silky impression (93).

As impressive as the Vosne initially was, the 1999 Leroy Corton Renardes just bullied over its sibling. It made the Vosne seem lighter and less of a wine, to be frank. The power of the Corton was searing. Its acidity and tannins stomped all over the Beauxmonts, and it kept a rich, powerful core of dense fruit to match its everlasting finish. This was impressive stuff (96).

On the next night, I found myself down South with a longstanding collector of forty years. While half of his cellar had been sold off due to divorce many years ago, and thousands of bottles had been consumed over the years, there was still a lot of great juice left, much of which you will hopefully be seeing soon at auction. We sampled a bunch of wines from the cellar, more eclectic and value selections since we wanted to save the best stuff for the auction. The result was a great testament to the ageability of quality wines in general, and how taken for granted many older wines have become. This evening proved that a wine doesn’t have to be a First Growth or or from only the greatest of vintages to age gracefully and provide much pleasure.

We started with a wine that was never commercially available, a 1979 C.I.B. Corton Bressandes. The CIB is an organization in Burgundy that makes selections and wines every year for seminars that it conducts about Burgundy. My friend happened to help organize a series of their events here in America many years ago, and he was allowed to keep the leftovers as long as he promised not to sell them. He kept his promise, and was I ever glad for it. This wine was stunning, hauntingly delicious, showing mature nuances of game, black raspberry, earth and truffle. It was in a perfect spot and a wine that I could just keep drinking endlessly for hours. It was flat-out delicious. It, coupled with the extraordinary Ponsot that I had sampled recently, made me want to find more 1979 reds! This was a generic Corton Bressandes, mind you. It was what Burgundy was all about ”“ gamy, sweet fruit, supple body and fleshy yet firm texture. This was 99 points on the enjoyment scale; it was that good. I couldn’t stop drinking it, and if it ever did come up for auction, it would probably be less than $50 (95).

We turned to California next with an off-the-trodden selection from one of his favorite winemakers and former friends, Joe Heitz. The 1977 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Fay Vineyard was another excellent wine. It was taut and mineral driven in that Heitz style, flirting with anise and chock full of earth, coffee, slate and hints of chocolate. Long and fine with good grit, this was still holding up well after all these years, from a vintage to which no one pays any mind anymore. It just goes to show that great producers make great, or at least really good, wines every year. This is another wine that if it ever came up for sale, it would probably only get $40 or $50, if that. Now that would be money well spent (93).

We went to dinner, and I grabbed a 1978 Heitz Pinot Chardonnay, because curiosity killed the critic. The kick was up, it’ssss goooooood! It was still rich and yeasty, smoky and woody, a solid wine that was clearly mature but still enjoyable. Mature flavors of cobwebs and campfire rounded out this piece of history, and although some alley crept in, it didn’t cross the line. Remind me why they don’t make wine in California like they used to again (90)?

I picked another curiosity, a 1968 Chateau Ste. Michelle White Oak Cabernet Sauvignon. Well, you can’t win ‘em all. The nose wasn’t bad, giving off cedar, cassis and lots of slate, but the palate was a bit sour and thin. It was still fun to try, and drinkable for a 40-year old Washington wine (83).

Since there was a lot of Bordeaux in the cellar, I insisted on one claret, and we had a half-bottle of 1970 Latour. Out of half, the Latour was a bit more mature than your average bottle but still excellent. It was gritty and sandpapery, framed by chunky black fruits and hints of coffee. It went down easy and remains a solid Latour, although not as great as many initially felt it was (93).

This gentleman has a great German collection, so we finished with a 1976 Albert Kallfelz Riesling Beerenauslese Merler Stephansberg, a producer whose family has been making wine since 1450. Now that’s a family tradition! The BA was very good, showing mature aromas and flavors of yeast, peach, basement, lychee, rainwater and minerals. It was a great way to end this evening, one that reminded me how great wine is, especially when you find great ones that aren’t the so-called great ones (92).

The bill for dinner was quite reasonable, especially the $2 corkage fee per bottle. You gotta love the South”¦