Oldish Bordeaux Dinner - Arlington 4/16

[ericindc]

Joel had the 6 of us over for a dinner at his place and we opened alot of good older Bordeaux. Really only one wine that didnt show well. Nothing corked otherwise and a bunch of really good wines.


2002 Lanson Noble Cuvee - Bigger, riper, yeasty, fuller bodied champagne. Still young, but quite nice. This evolved alot and held together all night and for me was my favorite of the champagnes, but I like this style.

2008 Bereche Cote, 1er, really sweet when this first opened. Surprisingly fuller bodied. The sweetness level moderated over time, and came more into balance. It just seemed a bit less complex the the Lanson. I just wanted more out of it. Still a good champagne tho.

1970 Vieux Chateau Certan This was nice, but a touch lighter in style. Overall really a good wine, but it just didnt have the body of some of the others

1970 Mouton Rothschild This was great right off the bat. I was worried as it was about mid shoulder and the cork disintegrated, but this had a great nose of strong fruit, earthy notes and some cedar. On the palate was full of nice fruit, tons of earth leather, great mid palate, some light herbal noted. Mid bodied. Really nice, but this did fall off a bit after an hour or so, but was still hanging together after 5 hrs. My #2 wine

1975 Haut Brion This was pretty maderized in my opinion, it was drinkable and did bring some joy as it changed and slow oxed over a couple hours. Some fruit and brown sugar notes did eventually come out, but not much. This bottle was done.

1982 La Lagune This really held its own against the others. Product of the year I guess. This was classic, just didnt have the complexity of fruit of some the others.

1982 Cos D'Estournel - Really nice, wierdly this was lighter bodied than I expected. I have no idea when Cos when all spoofy, but this was a light/medium bodied, lighter red fruits, some oak/cedar and the expected leather earthy mature notes, but was muted.

1983 Beychevelle This had perhaps the best nose of the night. My ideal of what a Bordeaux nose should be. A little lighter than some of the others but really tasty and classic.

1985 Beychevelle (1/2 bottle) Wow, crazy good for something out of a half bottle. Nice fruit, tons of mature notes, great depth of flavor. This and the Mouton had more viscocity and body which just made them seem like better wines. #1 WOTN for me

1985 Cos D'Estournel Nice wine, outshown by the Beychevelles. Very, very good wine tho. Classic, medium bodied, pretty strong fruit, bit more structure, not quite as much mature notes. It was all there, Maybe one of the younger tasting wines.

1985 Lynch Bages In there tastings there is always one wine that gets lost for me. And this was it. I dont remember much about this other than it was good, but didnt wow me. Maybe Joel will chime in.

1990 Chateau de Fargues Weirdly, my first one of these. Again, classic, everything you'd want. Even was starting to get some mature toffee and creme brulee notes, but not too much bitterness. Medium bodied for a sauternes, very good balance of acid/sugar. Quite fine.

Again, great night, even if I did pay for it the next day.

[Nicklasss]

Wow, congratulations.

I brought once a bottle of the 1990 de Fargues, in 2003 Montreal mini-offline and i thought it was treat.

1982 Cos, i would agree, has nothing modern. Great Saint- Estèphe.

I hope the 2016 Beychevelle will turn like the 1985 you had.

Thanks for tn Eric.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the notes Eric, what a great line up!

Good bottles of 1970 Mouton are thrilling. In our Mouton dinner in Nov 2019 it was my (but not the group’s) wine of the night in a line up which included the 1961, the 1982 and the 1986.

I have heard great things about 1985 Beychevelle but cannot remember trying one.

[DavidG]

Thanks Eric, what a nice selection! Been a while since I’ve had 82 or 85 Cos or 85 Lynch. I remember liking Cos better too.

[JimHow]

Great report, Eric, thanks!

[jckba]

Nice notes and agree on (a) the ‘70 Mouton as good bottles are sublime as well as (b) there is something about the way the ‘85 vintage wines are drinking, fully resolved and hauntingly beautiful that seem to get me every time.

[barsacpinci]

Sounds like you had better luck with the ‘82 La Lagune than I did. De fargues is one of my favorites but difficult to find. Nice notes!

[Musigny 151]

The Lynch 1985 seems to have some variation. Some bottles have an unpleasant greenness to them. I am all for herbal but the Lynch is too much. Others are light, pleasant. Then there are the showstopper bottles which are brilliant. I found a cache of these and consider myself lucky. But I think in the future, I would stay clear.

Nice notes; glad the Mouton showed well.

[AKR]

Nice notes. That Chagall label on the 1970 Mouton is one of their great ones.

Personally I would have expected most of those wines to be fairly tired, even if held from release.

[JoelD]

Notes to follow

[JoelD]

Thanks for posting, Eric. Been a busy week and I've been slacking on my notes.

This was just an absolutely wonderful night of wines and good talks. Considering that it was basically put together 2-3 days before, it was a home run. Started as an 80's Bordeaux theme and merged down towards 1970 and obviously finished with the 1990 De Fargues. A night like this makes me fully understand why some on this board love the classics so much. Exactly what I was hoping to get all in one place, in a smaller setting where we really got to track the wines over 5-6 hours. I certainly hope to recreate a smaller tasting like this with more BWE-ers involved. The wines were all poured in order of vintage to start, prior to lamb chops. Approximately 1hr slow ox per bottle then PNP. Then once all tasted, we ate and went back through them as we pleased. Honestly, all showed very good-great. Even the one "off" bottle, still showed well to me, and as well as one or two other bottles.

2002 Lanson Noble Cuvee - I found this wine to have a good first taste, front of the palate but a bit round and creamy. Not as much mousse as I would have liked. Enjoyable but lacking complexity. Maybe in a weird middle age spot? This may sound crazy, but I am not that into 2002 champagnes as much as their price/stature warrants. 92pts

2008 (Raphael&Vincent) Bereche Cote, 1er-Bereche negotiant bottling (Disgorged 2014, 6g/l dosage) I was extremely happy with this wine. Beautiful and balanced in style. Really showed good tart fruit, and balanced acidity. Great mousse. Very happy to have 2 more of these and I am a big fan of the producer. Everything I look for these days. Something bordering extra brut. 95pts

1970 Vieux Chateau Certan- The oldest VCC that I have tried thus far. Great floral nose, definitely a bit better than the palate. Lean but not thin wine. Still had a decently long finish and just a touch of fruit left. Could have shown more tertiary notes at this stage. I think probably a little past it's prime but still fun to try. 93pts

1970 Mouton Rothschild- This really showed a lot of different and beautifully integrated notes. Big dark fruit. Some leather and spices. The closest wine I've had lately to this was the 1983 VCC that I raved about in January (my WOTY so far). This was one of those rare bordeaux wines that had so many different layers, notes and depth that it really didn't need much food. Almost one of David's "cocktail" wines in all the best ways possible. My #1 or #2 wotn. So hard to say. 96pts

1975 Haut Brion- Very interesting to taste this wine and get the differing views from the table. My initial reaction was that this was had the most maderized notes of a non maderized wine. In retrospect, it probably was a bit. Or stored improperly at some point. The quality of the wine showed through though and brought out some complex flavors and sugars. Minimal fruit. 93pts

1982 La Lagune- So fun to try my first good bottle of La Lagune. Not sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it. Very bright red and tart fruits with racy acidity. Nose like a quality Beaujolais or Etna Rosso. Great structure underneath and didn't fall apart at all. Basically the dead opposite of another cult/classic wine that I've had recently in the 1995 Bel Air Marquis d'Alegre. This is more my style. Totally held up to the wonderful competition but as we went down the lineup, became middle of the pack at best for me. 94pts

1982 Cos D'Estournel - Just a wonderful, deep and structured wine out of the gate that quickly showed its mature notes. Tobacco, Cedar and beautiful but restrained red fruits. At least early on, this was far and away the most classic and balanced wine on the table. It held for a couple hours but did fall off towards the end. 95+pts

1983 Beychevelle- Very pleasantly surprised with this bottle, my oldest Beychevelle thus far. Leaner wine like the VCC but great nose, red fruit and a bit of the Beaujolais style like the La Lagune. It probably got lost in this lineup a bit but certainly held its own as well. 94pts

1985 Beychevelle (375ml)- Just an add-in bottle and better than the previous 375 of this I had on a BWE zoom last year. I was worried this wouldn't show well but it really came around and got big and meaty. With some herbacious notes as well. Closest wine on the table to the Mouton but a little behind. 94pts

1985 Cos D'Estournel- Probably the most classic and structured wine on the table from opening. Not showing a ton of fruit but just a deep and masculine wine, without having too much weight. It was my WOTN for a while, but its charm didn't grow while others caught up. 96pts

1985 Lynch Bages- Early on this showed well but didn't wow. Probably the wine with the most green pepper on the table, but in a very good and subtle way. However, just like the 1990 Lynch that MichaelP poured in napa, this one slowly unfurled and just got better and better. Great fruit, balanced spices and lovely green-ness. I saved the last glass for the next day and it was still singing. Dare I say, the best Lynch I've had? Either this or the 89 that Tim brought to the Saturday dinner. Probably WOTN if I had to choose. 96+pts

1990 Chateau de Fargues- My first time trying this as well, just lovely tropical fruits, great richness but balanced with acidity. Perfect color for its age. A treat. Held up well the next two days also. 95pts.

All in, just an absolutely wonderful evening. Reaffirming to me that as great as Burgundy and Champagne can be, Bordeaux is my favorite region. Best QPR for sure. Best for wines in this age range. Although Burgundy with 15-25 years of age can give it a run for its money. Bordeaux with 20-50 years of age has a wider margin and I love it. Also reaffirmed, the classics may be the best but I still love some of the semi modern and modern Bordeaux wines as well. As long as they aren't too Rolandized or over 14.5% ABV

[Comte Flaneur]

Well done and congratulations for hosting this Joel.

Your notes just brim with effusive enthusiasm for these legendary wines

Between us all we still have stocks of many of these legends as they become even more scarce

Sharing them among friends in our community is what this brotherhood of BWE is all about…

….With apologies to lurking females, we want more of you signing up and posting on BWE

[Nicklasss]

Great post Joel.

We can feel your enthusiast, just like if we would have been next to you.

When stating your favorite wine of the night is difficult, we know you have a great moment.

I like to read that a not so powerful but very balanced vintage like 1985, can hold it stuff on the long run. This is all what red Bordeaux is all about.

Me too i think great Bordeaux wines at 20-40 yo are among my preferred wines. It is just the waiting that i don't prefer so much. I think Bourgogne wines are giving more younger than Bordeaux wines, but that statement is of course very simplified, as the wines are so different.

[DavidG]

Great notes Joel, as are Eric’s. Very interesting to compare.

[JoelD]

The Lynch 1985 seems to have some variation. Some bottles have an unpleasant greenness to them. I am all for herbal but the Lynch is too much. Others are light, pleasant. Then there are the showstopper bottles which are brilliant. I found a cache of these and consider myself lucky. But I think in the future, I would stay clear.

Nice notes; glad the Mouton showed well.

I'd say this bottle became a showstopper or close to it. Just lovely. I also just got very lucky and was able to grab 2 bottles from benchmark sale. 207 per. Very good deal with prices how they're trending these days.

[JoelD]

Thanks, Ian, Nic and David. Tasting notes aren't my strong suit but I love these wines so I try. Our common passion sure is a great one and I hope to do another one like this in the future with all of you. I'm lucky to keep growing my friend group and hope to continue even more in the future.