At a recent staff tasting, I had the opportunity to taste a handful of amazing wines from a few legends including Stag's Leap, Heitz and Frederic Magnien. I'd like to share my thoughts with you.

Believe it or not, the time leading up to such an event is as much fun as the actual event! The anticipation for the wine builds during the day knowing that at dinner, I will be in for a surprise. We usually aren't told what the wine line-up looks like until we arrive at the restaurant. This time, upon arrival, I noticed a full box of assorted bottles, and I knew I was in for an adventure. For the most part, this night was all about Burgundy! In fact, the wine of the night was from Burgundy.

However, before I talk about the Burgs, I want to diverge a bit and focus on a battle from 1997 and from the soils of California involving two outstanding wineries: Stag's Leap and Heitz. Cask 23 is the cream of the crop for Stag's Leap and is one of their most famous wines. I've tasted some recent vintages of Cask 23, and I've always found it to be an alluring wine. So, to have the opportunity to experience an older vintage of Cask 23 was a privilege to say the least.  My excitement grew as I swirled the wine around my glass, awaking the elder juice and bringing it to life. Dark fruit and berries found their way into my senses, and the lusciousness of the wine made me yearn for more. I knew that there was another wine from the 1997 vintage, and when the distinctive label of Heitz began to make its way out of the box, my eyes lit up. 1997 Heitz Martha's Vineyard is a classic single vineyard wine, and to no surprise, this bottle also presented the distinctive smell of eucalyptus associated with Heitz wines. At fourteen years old, this wine was still an infant, bold and powerful, and still showing at least 10 years of life. Had I tasted it without knowing what vintage it was, I would have guessed something around as young as 2005.

Getting back to the Burgundy wines, the night started off in style with a bottle of 2006 Batard Montrachet from Gagnard Delagrange. This wine was round on the palate with a little wet stone on the nose, and delicious notes of citrus came to mind as I tasted it. With only 40 cases imported, tasting this wine was a treat. The second wine we tasted was a bottle of Pierre Yves Colin Morey Meursault Narvaux from the 2009 vintage. I was excited to see a bottle from the 2009 vintage since it was an excellent year for Burgundy. This was also a fun wine to taste because Colin is a great, up-and-coming producer. Scoring 92 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, I thought it had the right balance and acidity. It's a wine that is drinking well now, but I think it will be even better in a few years.

Like I said in the beginning, the feature of the night came from Burgundy. What was this wine? 1996 Frederic Magnien Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru. It's not every day that you get to enjoy a bottle of back-vintage Grand Cru Burgundy, the highest label a wine from Burgundy can hold. This wine was absolutely incredible. It had the most outstanding nose, and that was a point of discussion amongst many of us that night. The spicy scent hit the inside of my nose, tickling my olfactory, and the fragrance of rose pedals balanced out the aromas making it one for the memory box.