Multiple Horizontal of "6"s

[AKR]

We were guests at a quasi birthday wine dinner where the host supplied most of the wines, and had picked out as a theme, vintages ending in 6. I think they were born in 1956, thus the theme. Most of the attendees seemed to be California enthusiasts. It was a big group, so it was done in a structured style, to ensure everyone got to taste everything. The private room at Il Forno in Gold River played host, and its really recommended for this kind of event.

The night started with 1996 Vintage Champagne while everyone arrived and got settled in. I didn't take notes for these. I don't really ever get to drink tete de cuvees side by side to compare. And if anything, over the years, I've come to enjoy simple fresh NV anyways.

- Veuve Clicquot 'Grande Dame' (first time tasting, it might have been off?)
- Perrier Jouet 'Belle Epoque'
- Taittinger 'Comtes'
- Charles Heidsieck Rose
2006 Taittinger BdB (I don't know if this was there or not, was on the list?)

The first item sent around was a rare 2006 Chapoutier 'La Meal' blanc [Hermitage] A fabulous wine. Fresh vibrant. Medium bodied but lots of flavor. For a white wine it has caramel / dulce kinds of taste. 50-60 second finish. Super impressive and real thrill. Marsanne maybe?

After that we rolled on to the dry reds, starting with 1966 Bordeaux. Most of these were popped open and poured, but the Margaux and GPL got a decanting, primarily for sediment/cork fragments. I don't think I'd ever tasted any of these years previously.

1966 Malescot St Exupery [Margaux] tertiary notes, mushrooms, very bricked red, some scorched notes

1966 La Gaffeliere [St Emillion] When I was younger I had many underwhelming 95s and 98s from this estate, and those should have been nice, given the weather, so I've always been skeptical of this producer. But in a left bank vintage, this example was very pretty. Sweet notes, aromatic cinnamon, baking spices. A real happy surprise!

1966 Grand Puy Lacoste [Pauillac] Light edges, bubble gum on the nose, maybe its anaesthetic? sour cherry and then blue cheese notes on palate. Air improves it a little.

1966 Beychevelle [St Julien] Lots of bricking. Smooth, nice texture. There are some saccharin/Tab cola notes here for me. Also some smoky flavor. It's medium bodied. The notes don't give the impression, but I'd give the edge to the GPL between the two Medocs here.

1968 Sebastiani CS [Sonoma] This was a very strong year for region's cabs, but this example is not good. It's drinkable but tastes thin to me, with some licorice notes. It is markedly less concentrated, and leaves little palate impression, when compared to the Bordeaux. Still glad to have sampled this.

Next up was a large format

1976 Latour [Pauillac] I've had very few 1976 wines of any kind. My understanding was that Bordeaux from that vintage were flabby, unbalanced wines and cracked up quickly. This was sweetish, with some sneaker smells.

We now moved on to the 1986 flight, along with our main courses. I had a large veal osso bucco, with an airy, fluffy (!) polenta cake.

1986 Lafite Rothschild [Pauillac] medium bodied, soy notes, smoky. Most people like this more than I do.

1986 Ch. Margaux [Margaux] coppery, bloodlike notes. some metallic tuna can notes too. blooms with air.

1986 Cheval Blanc [St Emilion] Surprisingly lovely, compared to the big guns beside it.

1986 Haut Brion [Pessac Leognan] Excellent all around. A real solid A grade wine. My favorite of the flight, followed by the Cheval Blanc.

1986 Montrose [St Estephe] Controversial, in that some thought it a bit funky, perhaps TCA afflicted. I thought it was funky, but also rich in flavor, and still tannic. If tainted, it didn't reach the level of my high threshold for noticing.

By this point in the evening, we had consumed a lot of wine, and my notes start getting sparse. Yet insanely, there was still more flights to go. We now had a quartet of Medocs, which are all at least fairly old familiar friends to most long time Bordeaux enthusiasts here. These were opened and slow oxed for an hour or two, but perhaps they should have been decanted.

1996 Pichon Baron [Pauillac] This wine reminded me of my old Basset Hound who had broken a bottle of this (I can't remember if it was 1995 or 1996) with her 'whole body wag' in my cellar a long time ago. This example has lots of nuttiness. It felt a little lean and taut to me. I think it needed more air.

1996 Lynch Bages [Pauillac] My only note here is 'zesty'. I think this glass was snarffled up by a very late arrival.

1996 Leoville Barton [St Julien] Dense, tannic, masculine, old school. Compared to many of the other wines here tonight, it doesn't feel as refined, as elegant. Decant a little, and enjoy it.

1996 Leoville Poyferre [St Julien] I haven't had this in a couple of years. This one showed a lot of fir, pine resin on it. I liked the Barton better

My main takeaway from those Medocs is that decanting is needed still. And if you like fruit, its not going to be getting more fruity with time, so make plans for drinking them.

We closed out with some dessert wine, thankfully only opening one of the various 1996's on offer. I had a creme brullee with the dessert wine, which both paired well.

1996 Tirecul La Graviere [Monbazillac] This was supposed to be the Cuvee Madame bottling. But I'm not sure. The label didn't state that anywhere on the front or back, and it looked the same as one of their normal bottlings I had last year, although of a different vintage. In any case, its still delicious, but tastes different from Sauternes. (The region is nearby) This is more brown golden hued, darker than Sauternes of comparable age. And to me, it has a more orange peel, caramel kind of flavor. This producer only makes 500ml bottles, which is an odd size, but I suppose that makes it obvious that its not a dry wine. Even among wine geeks, Monbazillac is unlikely to be a well known AOC, and whether its dry/sweet might be a question.

All in all, a lovely time, far too much wine, and a testament to the aging prowess of great estates.

Thanks to our gracious host for arranging the venue, and sharing so much from their cellar.

[Claudius2]

Arvind
Well, I now know what a Basset Hound tastes like!

[Comte Flaneur]

Wonderful notes Arv - it seemed like the equivalent of a triathlon where you had to keep up. The fact that you recorded coherent notes was a heroic effort for Team BWE.

How was the Comtes 2006? I picked up a bunch of these tonight. They were reduced from £120 to £60 in a store here called Marks & Spencer.

[JCNorthway]

That price seems like a no-brainer if they are not damaged. I thought M & S was a department store - do they carry food items in addition to wine?

[Michael-P]

I'm not really a Champagne guy, but I've had the 06 Comtes a few times this year and it's very good.
Michael-P

[Nicklasss]

Great selection of wines, and happy you kept track enough to report Arv.

I feel that in these big event, a bit like at BWE conventions, it is hard to keep track of everything or to have a very fair comment about a wine with a small sip. At the same time, very instructive.

In these wines i only had the 1996 and i agree that at 20 something years old, a good decanting is still required to get more complexity.

Nic

[AKR]

There were some spouses there who didn't enjoy red wine, and were drinking rose, which was kept in ice buckets behind the table.

(We were in a wine cellar room)

I, and several others, didn't realize what those buckets were for, and were using them as dump buckets!

(although not much was dumped, as my head reminded me the next morning!)

And yes, it's hard to really assess anything in these sorts of events, even if its structured, and one is taking some semblance of notes.

But the main point is to have fun!