At a rather festive tasting dinner (recipes follow in cooking conferences only): Savennieres '79, Clos du Papillon (Loire): Still pale-colored, good acid. Quite dry. After a bit of sulfur on opening, a floral nose, a little cooked on the palate. Medium finish, a little lemon droppish, a little medicinal. Somewhat thin, but not at all unattractive. Angelo Papagni Chardonnay '78 (Madera): Dark golden - a terrific tropical fruit bouquet. Unctuous texture, low acid, high glycerin, some oak - reminiscent of some more recent Australian efforts. A little bitter with a not unpleasant hint of oxidation. Huge, unbelievably long finish: easily five minutes. Fruit - lychees and apricots throughout. Why isn't more wine available from the area around Fresno? Wine wine, I mean, not Wild Irish Rose. I drank two glasses (which means that it wasn't half bad) and used about 1/4 of the bottle in the sauce for the fish. Puligny-Montrachet '90, St. Aubin: Thinnish, light straw color. Very delicate flowery nose, followed by a citrusy flavor. Medium finish. Served with, and a bit dominated by, the fish course of shad roe etuve in butter and one giant prawn per person, sauce of Angelo Papagni Chardonnay and cream. Went better with the vegetables - zucchini sauteed in EVOO, garlic mashed potatoes, and carrots and ginger in Pernod: this last dish brought out a latent spiciness in the wine. Vougeot '57 Clos de la Perriere, Lupe-Cholet: When the cork was popped, the whole room filled with a fruity aroma. Opening, disappointingly, a little moldy (wet cardboard, perhaps) but with tremendous fruit - which kept evolving throughout the evening; opinions ranged among plum, apricot, sour cherry, with different flavors coming up at different times. Color deep burgundy, gradually fading but still strong everywhere but the very edge after two hours. Moldy-musty smell dissipated in about 15 minutes, replaced by an agreeable cedary-animalish scent. Fruit (I thought sour cherry) predominated on the palate; some tannin and strong acid. A rich meaty roundness that went well with the roast chicken. More complexities showed with the cheeses, which were a Crottin de Chavignol (which I didn't try, being put off by the strong woolly odor), an aged goat's milk Gouda (which I didn't like, but which went okay), a 10-year-old ordinary Gouda, which was terrific and lent a certain rich background to the wine, and a 3-year-old Parmigiano. This wine kept changing over two hours but stayed vigorous until the decanter was empty. Finish over a minute, with plums and cherries and cedar throughout. Sandeman Imperial Corregidor '94 bottling, blend: Slightly raw, with alcohol just barely subjugated by figgy dried fruit and wood; medium sweetness. Deep sherry color, long finish. A vigorous, attractive wine, clearly related to but without the finesse of Sandeman Imperial Corregidor '75 bottling of '95 unblended cask: After a hundred years, the alcohol is tamed, and the wine is totally harmonious. Along with the same flavors evident in the younger Corregidor, there was a warm toasted nut aspect. The finish of this was not so long nor so powerful as that of the younger wine, but here was a drink you could drink and drink without becoming tired of it (if you had the opportunity). This was one of 660 bottles filled in honor of Arthur Fiedler's 80th birthday in 1975. I was invited to make a zabaglione out of the rest of the old Corregidor (there are still several left in the host's cellar, and they have to be used up), but I declined.