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We moved on to Bordeaux with a classic bottle of 1955 Haut Brion. It was delicious with loads of chocolate and caramel flavors, make that more caramel. Despite its exotic sweetness, it was definitively dry with the length to carry it. Yum. I love ’55 Bordeaux (96).

As good as the ’55 HB was, the 1955 La Mission Haut Brion was on another level. What a great bottle! It has been a prolific summer for great, old bottles of La Mission, and it is tough to argue that it isn’t consistently the greatest overall Chateau of the 20th Century. Rich, deep, long and intense, it was all that and then some. One of the wines of the year (99)!

The 1955 Lafleur was no slouch either, even though it didn’t hit the high note that the La Miss did. It was still a #1 record. It was stony and zippy but distinctively Pomerol. The chunk was in the trunk, and the plummy/chocolaty mélange was so sexy, it is banned in at least 21 countries (97).

The last flight of the night was a most memorable one, even though my memory cells were at extremely low levels by this point lol. My handwriting was also atrocious. The 1976 J.L. Chave Hermitage was like a wild animal with which we had to reckon. No one made any sudden movements; just the nose deeper and deeper into the glass, and the glass ever so slowly to our lips. Any sudden movements might prove too much for us mortals, except Tom of course, as this bottle was a great wine that cooked with its bacon and cleared sinuses with its menthol. 1983 came to mind for a couple of guests (96).

The 1976 Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline was rich and decadent. It was more hedonistic than the Chave, more concentrated, although I was conflicted over which wine I preferred. La Mouline is probably the only other Northern Rhone wine that can sometimes outduel a Chave. The youthfulness of the La Mouline, by comparison, won my mind over. This was still a bit inky and seemed on a slower evolutionary trail (97).

Finding old Rayas is a tough proposition, but well worth the struggle. The 1976 Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape was such a delicious bottle and just the perfect way to end the festivities. It had that sweet, mature, unique Rayas kink, showing the Grenache grape in all of its glory. There are a handful of wines in the world that are truly unique, and Rayas is one of them thanks to its amazing terroir. I would put Vega Sicilia Unico, Soldera Brunello, maybe even a Penfolds Grange in this category, and certainly Chateau Musar. I think that’s a solid top-five unique wines of the world. Any other votes out there (97).

We ended up back on the boat the next day for Lulu’s official birthday. While I am not a big proponent of daytime drinking, I do make exceptions to my rule lol. We began with a rare, first vintage of 1961 Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Speciale. It needed time to open but open it did. There were all the classic components there: tar, leather, tobacco. Its citrus kept expanding it from excellent to outstanding. There was great acidity, and despite that old Italian browned quality, it held in the glass quite well (95).

I don’t get to drink as much older California Cabs as I would like, because I do like, and they aren’t really worth selling for the price to quality ratio, to be honest. One of the few wines that do deliver a “fine and rare” price is the 1974 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard. It also delivered a fine and rare experience. It showed all the signature Heitz notes of mint and eucalyptus; this was a true classic bottle of this wine. It had lots of richness, but I felt like it was on a plateau. Not going anywhere soon, but there. It was mature, fresh and creamy (97).

The 1980 Ponsot Clos de la Roche VV was a beauty, still having all the elegance of the ’80 vintage even though it was Ponsot. Beef and blood came out with time, but not in a heavy way. This was long and round with excellent purple fruit flavors. This gave me nice, earthy kisses. I love you, too, man (96).

Even the redoubtable Jetski couldn’t deny that the 1991 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze was ‘f’ing good.’ He was right about that! The 1991 Rousseau was deeply complex and still ascending. Rich, ripe and sexy, it was full of loads of red cherry and great spice. This wine put the pedal to the metal; it was so decadent and sumptuous. Jetski changed his mind, now the Rousseau was ‘f’ing phenomenal.’ He added, ‘still 20 years too young’ (98).

The 1993 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze was a nice place to go next; it was a Beast in the East! This one was so much more brooding and deep, very complicated. It was rich, beefy and bloody, rippling like minerals through its black cherry forest. Its length was extreme…insert your own activity here (98).

We sort of enjoyed a 1978 Georges Lignier Clos de la Roche next. It was nice, friendly, mature and good, but it couldn’t hang (91).

Just short of outstanding, the 2002 DRC Romanée Saint Vivant was solid but a bit cedary. It had that kiss of leanness that I often get with The Domaine’s RSV (94).

And so our night ended, but there was still one more day left on The Boat.

We started off with a stony and strong bottle of 1999 Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Pucelles. This was a masculine, full-bodied wine with big, brawny fruit, nice yellow hues and mineral flavors. It had a rocky finish that required some digging out of (94).

Though I preferred the Pucelles, the 1990 Ramonet Batard Montrachet had lots of the exotic mint one looks for in Ramonet. It was full of ‘pineapple cream’ and some nice candy corn flavors, but it just didn’t have the stuffing of great vintage. I’m not sure 1990 ever will be for White Burgundy (92).

The 1992 Leflaive Batard Montrachet was corked, but behind the flaw, I was able to see the wine’s tropical maturity. Jetski was liking it still, with its tea-like flavors and tropical pineapple and mango. It improved, gaining some corn and dry caramel notes, and this bottle seemed fully mature, a comment about 1992 in general (95A).

We struck out again with a corked 1990 Raveneau Valmur, but the palate was better with some rich citrus, yeast, and shells. This was better than the ‘90s from the Cote de Beaune with great richness and sweetness in that yeasty way (95A).