25th Birthday Dinner (including '88 Mouton)

[of7271]

Hello all,

I thought I would contribute some notes from my 25th birthday dinner which I hosted with friends last night at my place in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. With the exception of Pol Roger, the menu consisted of entirely Left Bank wines. (All courtesy of Winebid apart from the Pol and the Blanc de Lynch-Bages which were purchased from Calvert Woodley in D.C.).

Pol Roger Champagne Brut Réserve NV
On appearance, this Champagne is a yellow straw color and smells of fresh pear and within a few minutes in the glass, hints of biscuit and brioche became evident. On the palate, it has a fine moose, tastes of ripe pear, has high acidity, with a refreshing and an extremely elegant finish. Classic.

Smoked Salmon with Spinach in a Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette
2011 Blanc de Lynch-Bages, Pauillac
On appearance, this wine has a pale yellow straw color with a green tinge and smells very herbaceous (but not as pungent as a NZ Sauvignon Blanc) with hints of lemon, pear, and asparagus. On the palate, this wine tastes of ripe lemon and pear, has a medium body, highish acidity and an elegant but light, refreshing finish.

Tournedos of Beef in a Wild Mushroom Demi-glace with Roasted Garlic-Rosemary Potatoes and Haricot Verts
2000 Château Canteremle, Haut-Médoc, 5eme Grand Cru Classé (en magnum)
On appearance, this wine has ruby edges that are starting to brown but it still has a youthful violet color. On the nose, I was stunned how young the wine felt to me even though it had been double decanted as well as the fact that I have had this wine in 750 mL format 2-3 times before over the last four years. When first tasting, it smelt of raspberry, cranberry, had a hint of spice, game, fresh plum, and blackcurrant. On the palate, I was surprised how it still felt youthful with extremely high acidity, a medium body with notes of ripe plum and blackcurrant but with a very elegant finish suggesting that it could age (in magnum format) for at least another 10-15 years.

Farmhouse St Nectaire, Comté, Mimolette, and Vacherin Mont d’Or
1988 Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Premier Cru Classé
(tasted again after 24 hours of double decanting)
On appearance, this wine is a vibrant violet color with very slight browning edges and on the nose, it is quite intense and smells of perfumed spiced plums, blackcurrant, jasmine, raspberry, and smokey tobacco with a hint of dark chocolate that is extremely intoxicating to me. On the palate, the wine is quite full-bodied with high but well balanced acidity, and a very intense mid-back palate that tastes of ripe plum, raspberry, cherry, and dark chocolate with a 15+ second finish that is elegant but also powerful in its intensity, which reminds me of the only other vintage of Mouton I've had the opportunity to sample, 1998. This vintage of the famous estate still seems quite young (even compared to the '98) and is just starting to approach its maturity, in my opinion. 24 hours after double decanting, its intensity still holds and is an incredibly classic example of top quality fine claret.

Roasted Figs in a Vanilla Spiced Syrup
1988 Château Rabaud-Promis, Bommes, Sauternes, Premier Cru Classé
On appearance, this wine is a gorgeous amber color that suggests its age and smells of baked peaches, honeyed pear, hazelnut, apricots, almonds, Turkish delights, and old book bindings. On the palate, the wine still has quite a high acidity with a relatively medium body (on the light side) that is beautifully balanced with dried apricot, hazelnut, and almond notes that contribute to an elegant 10+ second off-dry finish. This Sauternes seems to go for elegance over power and that makes it wonderfully refreshing. Surprisingly one of the best aged sweet wines I've had, particularly from this part of the world. Delightful!

[Nicklasss]

Pol Roger, Lynch Bages (white), and Cantemerle the same night? A very good night.

Nic

[DavidG]

Well done and happy birthday Omar! Pol Roger NV was the wine we served at our wedding... in 1988. We've got a few '88 Mouton in the cellar. I last had it in 2009, where it was very nice but not as nice as your bottle, as it was showing a lot of tannin still for the amount of fruit. Sounds like it's getting better.

[OrlandoRobert]

Nice night! Happy birthday.

I hate to think of what I ate and drank on my 25th!


So what's your name? Such a small forum, would be nice to connect with at least a first name.

[Jay Winton]

great dinner Omar and Happy Birthday!

[Comte Flaneur]

Good choice 7271 and happy birthday

I think Suckling was more right than Parker on Mouton 1988. Uncle Bob concedes he under-rated it. It is really starting to hit its stride now, and would be my candidate for wine of the vintage.

We had it at the BWE dinner in NY in 2011...wines from non-celebrated 1980s vintages and it was right up there...IIRC it edged out the Mouton 87 and Pichon 88 to be wotn.

[DavidG]

I think Suckling revised his '88 Mouton perfect 100 point score downward, or at least someone at Wine Spectator dropped the rating. They give it mid-90s, which sounds about right to me.