Medicare Birthday Wines

[stefan]

I just uncorked 1978 Margaux for my Medicare birthday dinner. Lucie is fixing something special, for dessert I think, and will grill quail. My medicare birthday was yesterday, so why is the dinner tonight? Well, yesterday afternoon my wine merchant friend JJ wanted another friend, Kmac, and us to try a couple of young Rhones that JJ might bring into his store. JJ & Kmac came to our house at 1 PM for Lucie's stew and somehow the wine kept flowing. JJ made it home to host a family holiday party for 25 and I think Kmac got home OK, but Lucie and I did got get off our couch until 11 PM.

Here is what we drank.

1990 Duboeuf St. Joseph. There were a couple of these in a cellar I purchased a few years ago. The first one we drank with stefanJr and I was holding the second to have with experienced wine drinkers who would find it interesting to try such an old St. Joseph. This bottle was surprisingly fresh. "Lovely wine" commented Kmac. "I love the nose on this," added JJ. The flavors hold well.


2005 Bouchard Meursault. Kmac bought a case of this distributor close-out through JJ and poured them all down the drain except for this bottle to show JJ and me how wretched this wine was. However, this bottle was fine--just what you would expect from a 2005 Bouchard Meursault. Then Kmac remembered that this bottle he had bought in Austin, so JJ and I have still not tasted the flawed Bouchard Meursault.

With various cheeses we drank

1983 Beaucastel. Funk on Kmac's bottle blows off quickly and the nose becomes elegant. The tobacco laced red cranberries hold well.

JJ mentioned that he had the '07 Beaucastel in his store and asked if we wanted to try it. Duh now. When he returned, we popped, decanted, and poured.

2007 Beaucastel. Alcohol assaults my nose. In the mouth, the heavy fruit is overshadowed by the alcohol. Kmac, an expert on Beaucastel, says this is worth a gamble in 3-4 years.

2001 Delas Cote Rotie Seigneur de Maugiron. I don't know how I got this bottle that was not listed in my inventory, but it is a treat to drink. "Best nose of the day," says Kmac. "Horse manure," adds JJ. Yes, but it is very clean poop. "Closed and astringent in the mouth," continues Kmac. Slurping brings out the spice in the wine.

We finally dished up the beef stew and drank the young Rhones JJ wanted us to try.

2006 Barville Chateauneuf du Pape. Neither Kmac nor I knew this CdP producer. The '06 is pretty good and has lots of all spice in the nose and mouth.

2005 Bouvencourt Vacqueras. Lighter than the Barville and less spice, but the structure is good. Wonderful nutmeg lasts a long time.

Kmac wanted to compare the Vacqueras to a wine we both know well, so I opened

2005 Chave Mon Coeur Cote du Rhone. This has a fabulous nose for a CdR. Sweet fruit rolls off the sides of the tongue.

I see that Lucie made a yummy looking rhubarb-orange tart. I have to select an appropriate wine to go with it.

[Rick]

Happy Birthday

The 83 Beaucastel was very nice the last time I had it about a year ago
I heard the 07 Beau is over $100 - I expected I would take a pass given the options available for $100

Have a Great birthday dinner

rick

[DavidG]

Thanks for the report, Stefan. The Barville and Chave sound like they are worth a look. In my opinion, 3-4 years is too soon for Beaucastel to show its stuff. More like 8-10 years, at least for my palate. Macarthur has (had?) the '07 Beaucastel on offer for $78. This is one of my favorites, and I sprung for a few.

[Jay Winton]

Happy Birthday! You did well for 65. AS for 07 Rhones. I happily drink my assortment of CDRs and keep my paws off the CNDPs.

[stefan]

Thanks, guys. Of course, the '07 Beaucastel was drunk ITNOS. I had never tasted such a young one.

stefan

[JimHow]

Happy birthday, I didn't know Medicare was available at 39.
How does it feel? I was ready to jump off a bridge last year when I hit 50 and got an AARP card in the mail....
I was thinking of getting a bottle of '07 Beaucastel but now I don't know.
I see 2007 vieux Telegraphe is the like #3 on the WS Wine of the Year list, it sold out quickly at PJs before I could get any.

[William P]

happy medicare birthday. I'll be there all too soon.

[stefan]

Hitting Medicare age is better than not hitting it, Bill.

Jim, AARP is a good card for getting discounts. I am suspicious of the '07 Beaucastel because of the high alcohol, but I don't have any prior experience in tasting young Beau.

stefan

[Claret]

I tasted a 1994 Beaucastel just after release and it was so closed that it was a wasted bottle. It just never started to open that night.

Ironically I was planning on opening one of my last 199'4's tonight at a small offline in Reno. The wine is really peaking now, but the biggest snowstorm in the last 5 years has left 14 inches of the white stuff at my house, and the combination of snow, ice, darkness and alcohol has cancelled my plans for going out tonight. I think Bordeaux Bill got some rare snow in Sacramento too. This is a sipping on Scotch kind of night.

Glenn

[stefan]

Yeah, Glenn; 15 years sounds about right for a Beaucastel.