TN: Pre-Christmas dinner with Beychevelle '83

[Otto Nieminen]

I had dinner at my friend Igor's house just before Christmas and we opened up a couple interesting wines. The Beychevelle was just a delight; I decided to open up one more Čotar Malvazia because I liked it so much, but knowing that our host likes Tokaji, I also decided commit infanticide with a lovely Eszencia. Fun evening.

Čotar Malvazia 2003 - Slovenia, Primorska, Kras
Cloudy, light orange colour. It looks quite dramatic, but the wine is fantastic. The scent started out with oxidative apple smells but strangely became less so with time: deep and earthy, richly aromatic with floral and orange aromas, citrussy and mineral with some steel also. There are no scents that would suggest the heat of the year or the Turkish-delight sweetness that sometimes this grape can have. Dry, full bodied, quite tannic, moderate acidity (better than I expected from the year), very long, mineral and refreshing. Like so many "natural" wines, this is an exceptionally energetic and lively wine despite the full body. Very moreish. Lovely.

Château Beychevelle 1983
Surprisingly dark colour for an old wine; and surprisingly sweet fruit for an '83. This is a really lovely wine, classic claret in its dark fruit, blackcurrant leaf, cedar and graphite scents. Medium bodied, yet once again I noticed more sweet fruit that I would have expected of an '83. Still a bit tannic, lovely refreshing herbaceous notes. Drinking well now, but still with such balance and noticeable fruit and structure that at least this particular bottle would have had a long life ahead of it. Lovely.

Oremus Tokaji Eszencia 1999
Copper and orange nose, hugely spicy, lovely botrytis; immense intensity, supersweet (c.500g/l RS), massive acidity (just under 20g/l) and only 3% alcohol. Extreme wine, but great stuff.

[Comte Flaneur]

Hi Otto - and welcome to the new BWE site - glad you had a good experience with the Beychevelle '83. Singapore Airlines used to serve this in the 1990s and I had it a few times on my travels to the Orient. The last bottle I had in London a couple of years ago was sadly in significant decline.

You were the inspiration for our 1986 tasting in October, btw, where the 86 Beychevelle acquitted itself admirably, and like the other wines that night is built for the long haul. But there was so much quality right across the board...

Keep posting your notes on Bordeaux wines and educating us with other more esoteric wines you come across. Are you serious that the Oremus only has 3% alcohol?
Cheers CFdB

[DavidG]

That's Eszencia - hardly ferments at all. I've had a few bottles - not Oremus but Stanza, from 1996. Came in 100 ml bottles. Extreme is a good descriptor - agree with the massive intensity, sweetness and acidity. Amazing stuff, but is it really "wine" as we know it?

[Otto Nieminen]

Our '83 had obviously had impeccable storage (level as new, cork utterly unsoaked) which is surely why it seemed so young. I might have remembered the abv on the Oremus wrong: it might have been 2,7%... It is such an extreme style that I find myself preferring 4 Putts (quite a rare category of Tokaji) which to me is a much more drinkable style.