The next white wine was serious Burgundy, ‘as good as it gets,’ I wrote. The nose was kinky, sweet and sexy. There was a lot going on in this complicated wine. There were super fireplace aromas amongst its drippingly wet fruit. This was a crazy wine, ‘so kinky’ I wrote again. There were aromas and flavors of yellow, white and orange fruits, butter, honey, toast and leather, with the whips and chains. I was thinking Coche, and it was. Yeah, baby : ) This 1997 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres was spectacular. It was fat and ‘roasted,’ and even better than the 1996 that I had five days prior. That was still pretty damn good, too (97).

We were clearly in red Bordeaux territory with the next wine. It had a deep, rich nose of cassis, chocolate, coffee, bandaid, earth and a touch of garden goodness. There were lots of wild herbs and wild child action in this very old wine. The palate was tangy, rich and spicy with more chocolate and game flavors. It was revealed to be a 1928 Margaux, wow! There was so much power in this ancient warrior, a testament to the vintage. This was rich, sumptuous and saucy. Plush and long, the Margaux also had caramel flavors develop. While spectacular for the first glass and refill, it did start to fade with time, but by that time, there wasn’t much left. When wines are old, enjoy them right away and don’t hesitate (96).

Europe 2016 is off to a good start.

We moved quickly on to the Burgundies, which would keep us busy for most of our 150+ minute flight. The first was a 2002 Roumier Bonnes Mares that was a beauty. It had a classic nose that was smooth and still shy, but there was rusty, rosy, earthy and minty black fruits that kept growing and growing. While a bit in hibernation, the Roumier was sexy and satiny, tight yet great. There was more stuffing to this than the wine that followed. Pits called it a ‘Time Machine’ (96).

The 2002 Dujac Bonnes Mares was much more expressive with lots of grape and purple aromas. It was very fruit forward and creamy. Its violets were singing. Its nose was richer and more decadent than the Roumier, but the Roumier had much more booty. The Dujac was more ready and more pleasurable on this night, and Pits found it ‘bright’ (95).

A pair of 1990s was next, beginning with a 1990 Drouhin Chambertin. It was deep and open with lots of fruit and spice. Iron, earth and minerals provided a great frame for this sturdy and zippy wine. Rich and flavorful, it had a long finish with menthol kisses (94).

The 1990 Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques was sweet and gamy with aromas of cherry, mint, more red fruit and iodine. There was lots of spice and acidity with rusty orange flavors and thick slate on its finish. It was almost right thurr (96).

We began our initial descent with a 1964 Dom Perignon, which had an herbal essence to it, along with the usual suspects of vanilla and white sugar. I found it very similar to the ’85 qualitatively, and Alexander The Great noted ‘caramel.’ It got a bit woodsy but still held its own (96).

We made it to our ultimate destination and began with a 2005 Ramonet Bienvenues Batard Montrachet. It had a milky nose with a rich, meaty, honeyed and buttery flavor. It was tasty with caramel, corn and mint qualities (93).

Operation Starfish set the bar high off the list with a magnum of 1937 Lafite Rothschild. It was super classy in the nose, with aromas of pencil, cedar and nuts. It was a bit lighter in the palate, smooth and chalky with nice flavors and honey kisses. We discovered it was reconditioned at Bern’s in 1991. This was solid and classic in many ways, but, like almost every Bordeaux from the entire decade, only in the very good to excellent category (93M).

A 1953 Ponnelle Pommard Epenots was tight and acidic, yet it had lots of strawberry goodness. It was long and a bit bitey. 12 Gauge found it ‘alive and enjoyable, not gone but not glowing’ (90).

The 1962 DRC Romanee St. Vivant (Marey-Monge) had a deep, pungent nose full of bouillon and Asian spice. It was beautiful with smooth and tender beef satay flavors, and honey bean ones, too. There were flavors of garden and leaves with green and brown shades, all in autumnal mode. There was a nice swell of flavors to this mature red (94).

The last wine on this extended evening blew everything else away, but it wasn’t a Bordeaux or Burgundy. It was a 1964 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle. While the 1961 gets all the attention and sometimes deservedly so, there are many great, old La Chapelles. This 1964 was spectacular, equaling the quality of a different bottle already sampled this year. This is a special, secret wine! There were oceans of black and purple fruits to go with its rich, meaty personality. The garrigue qualities said Rhone all the way. It was so delicious, and it smoked everything. It had a great balance of fruit and acidity. ‘What a beautiful and special bottle,’ 12 Gauge concurred (98).

Sunday began with a very late breakfast, and I couldn’t help but notice WWE superstar John Cena having brunch at the hotel as well. I was so tempted to go flip over his table, flex in his face and then have an ultimate stare down, but I was too hungover. I’ll get him next time lol.

The 1985 Krug Clos du Mesnil showed why it is the Romanee-Conti of Champagne. It crushed and hushed the Selosse with its large and in charge personality. This was huuuuge like a Republican Presidential candidate. This was big like a butterball or a butterbomb, take your pick. ‘Brioche, cereal grains and clover honey’ came from 12 Gauge (97+).

A 1988 Raveneau Chablis Montee de Tonnerre was deliciously mature. There wasn’t much minerality left, but there were thick, yellow, sun-dried and tasty flavors. This was mature Chablis just hitting its stride, both gamy and good. ‘White and Acacia flowers’ came from the crowd (94).

The last “pool” wine was a 1999 DRC Romanee St. Vivant. 1999 + DRC = Legend! Aubert once casually mentioned to me that he thought that 1999 is the greatest vintage DRC ever made. I wouldn’t disagree. This was an awesome wine, concentrated yet pure. Its stony acidity sizzled, while its meaty and fleshy palate chewed up the rest of its fat. This was a long and strong wine, and as good as I remember any RSV from DRC…ever (96+).

The next wine was from one of my favorite, secret vintages in the last 100 years in Bordeaux. The 1922 Pichon Lalande had a great nose with big aromas of cedar, chocolate, aged cassis and smokehouse. Its palate was delicious, round and satiny. It was also smoky, rich and buttery. This was another sexy 1922. I have had maybe five wines from this vintage in the last couple of years, and they have all been delicious (95).

We continued with the 1922 Lagrange. ‘How good is that?’ I wrote. There was amazing cassis fruit. This was a wow wine; I thought it was fifty years younger! Long, round and soft, it was different in style than the Pichon, but equally qualitative. This was a dark forest of a wine (95).

Wintergreen, gingerbread and light molasses permeated through the nose of the 1942 Ausone. It had a soft palate that was interesting in a gamey and tangy way. There was a web to its way, and its flavors were sundried. Alexander The Great found lots of ‘iron’ in this gritty wine (93).

There was one more wine on our agenda, a 1978 Bouchard La Romanee. Its terroir shined through its rock solid structure. It was very vigorous and youthful, full of beef and bouillon flavors. It was tasty with great acidity. La Romanee is one of the greatest terroirs in Burgundy, no doubt (95).

We flew back after dinner because it was just that easy. We got back after midnight, but the slipper still fit. Mission accomplished thanks to our fearless leader, Operation Starfish. I will always be ready for duty, sir!

A jeroboam of 2000 Roulot Meursault Perrieres luckily followed next. This would be the second jero of Roulot I had this year, and I would happily have more. This was a delicious wine, clean like the vintage, friendly and tasty. Like a typical Roulot wine, it was sheer drinking pleasure, although this was a wine from an atypically great vineyard. It had that classic Roulot kiss of ‘je ne sais quoi,’ except it was easy to know if you know Roulot. Roulot’s a living legend and I’ll tell you why; everyone wants to be him, and he’s still alive (96J).

We sat down to a 1979 Krug Collection magnum, and I was under-impressed by the particular magnum served to me. This is usually quite reliable, and there was nice fruit and freshness, but yeast, mildew and weediness were too prevalent. There were some rich buttery qualities, but when it came to this magnum, I wish I never met her at all (90M?).

The Punisher punished us all with a jero of 1985 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet. Its nose was raining honey, and its personality was definitely gamey. The color was darker as older white Burgs are prone to be, and the wine was A-OK. While more obvious at first, there was no doubting this wine was very tropical. It was oily and rich, and JS found it definitively ‘Leflaive.’ It was flyer than a piece of paper bearing my name (95J).

The 1974 Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva was also delicious, but more mature. There were lots of cracker aromas, including wheat, rye and graham. This was fleshy, but also a bit muddy, and possessed lots more chocolate. 1974 is definitely a vintage to drink up when it comes to Italy, but it got better, we ordered another round (94).

The 1978 Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva was rock solid and classic in every which way. It was long and smooth, solid and laser-like with its precision. This was outstanding juice. I didn’t write much more to read all about it, but it got the job done. I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man (96).

There was a moment of silence for the great Paul Pontallier of Chateau Margaux, who recently passed away unexpectedly from cancer, and we toasted him with magnums of 1983 Margaux. He was a great man, and one of the greatest ambassadors for wine to ever walk the Earth. He will be missed.

When it came to the final flight, it wasn’t about where we been, but where we’re about to go. A jeroboam of 1961 Latour was so youthful, it still seemed like infanticide! Black fruits and wheat dominated the nose, and violet and smoke were the supporting actors. The wine was rich, sumptuous and decadent but shy. The Mogul similarly found it ‘inside of itself,’ aka introverted. There was still depth to this behemoth, but it probably would have been just right at six in the morning (95+J).

It was an amazing night that ultimately ended at about 3am, or so I heard, as I had to leave Cinderella style when the clock struck midnight, as I had an auction the next day. This was an epic night, one that showed that wine dreams do come true. Eternal thanks to Sir Robert for such a memorable evening. I will always sip from your cup ’til it runneth over. Holy Grail!

When in Hong Kong, it is always a great pleasure to be a guest of honor of The Emperor. Alexander The Great and I came straight from Singapore for dinner in Hong Kong, and we were running 15 minutes late due to the natural course of events. Thankfully, The Emperor has an open door policy, and he did not remove our seats from the table for tardiness. If he did, I would have missed an incredible wine night fit for an emperor, The Emperor, to be exact.

The next wine was also from 1959, and ‘the best bottle I ever had,’ per Dr. Feelgood. I think he meant the particular wine, but it could have been every bottle ever as this 1959 Lafite Rothschild was staggeringly good. This was classic in every sense of the word. The cedar, the wheat, the pencil…this was a rich and thick wine that was as good as Bordeaux gets. Sebastien found it ‘deep,’ and there was super sweet fruit with a dry edge. The Emperor found it ‘flawless’ (99).

The four most experienced palates voted for the Lafite, while the Haut Brion got two votes. Bordeaux showed why it is still great, just give it some time. Long live The Emperor.