The JimHow March BWE Month Special Wine has been uncorked.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:23 am

Does the four digit vintage contain at least two zeros?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:26 am

#15: "Does the four digit vintage contain at least two zeros?"

No.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:27 am

Is the vintage divisible by 2?

Tom In DC · Post by **Tom In DC** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:29 am

It could have been Entre-Deux-Mers! The RB question should count.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:29 am

#14. "Is the vintage divisible by 2?"

Yes.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:29 am

"It could have been Entre-Deux-Mers! The RB question should count."
Lol.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:30 am

>>
It could have been Entre-Deux-Mers!
>>

With probability zero.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:31 am

#13: "It could have been Entre-Deux-Mers!"

No.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:33 am

Is the vintage from the decade 2010 - 2020?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:34 am

#12: "Is the vintage from the decade 2010 - 2020?"

Oui.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:35 am

is the vintage divisible by 4?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:36 am

Um, let me check....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:38 am

#11: "Is the vintage divisible by 4?"

No.

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:39 am

Personally, I'm pretty sure you opened one of your two bottles of 2014 La Conseillante. I don't think you opened your lone bottle of the 2016, but you're the only one to know at this moment.

Nic

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:39 am

That is not a yes/no question, Nicola.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:42 am

But, the answer is....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:45 am

2014 La Conseillante...

A beautiful 13.5% alc wine, very true to 2014 form, a very, very lovely wine.

You are correct, Nicola, I uncorked one of my two 2014 La Conseillante, I saved my lone bottle of 2016 La Conseillante.

I'll uncork the '16 with you on my 80th birthday!

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:45 am

It’s got to be the 2014 if it’s 13.5% and not divisible by 4

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:46 am

Cool! I have ten bottles of this LOL. Please praise it to the skies! It’s just like La Tache, am I right?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:47 am

"It’s got to be the 2014 if it’s 13.5% and not divisible by 4"

Oui!

It's a beauty.

It's very subtle! I loved it, personally.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:48 am

Yes, of course, Marcus, but I wanted Jim to sweat over one more question:

Does the prime factorization of the vintage contain exactly three prime numbers?

The answer you give reveals the vintage.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:49 am

Stefan was just getting started Jim, you were wise to end when you did

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:51 am

Yes, of course, the prime factorization is 2 x 19 x 53.

Let me know if you'd like it in exponential form and/or CSV Format.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:53 am

This was Jean-Michel Laporte’s last vintage. Conseillante does well in overlooked vintages, great terroir. I have actually not opened any of my 2014s yet, although I did taste it back in 2018 at a Conseillante vertical — it was very good but the format did not let you linger. I think this wine has got to be one of the best bargains out there in high end Bordeaux right now.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:54 am

JimHow wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:51 am Yes, of course, the prime factorization is 2 x 19 x 53.

Let me know if you'd like it in exponential form and/or CSV Format.

God damn, he’s right. Incredible stuff for a lawyer, they are almost universally innumerate

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:57 am

I'm really kicking myself, Gerry and I got this for I think under $80 in NH, it goes for like $190 now.
It is so amazing how delicate, refined, classy, elegant this wine is.
This is like a Lafite on the right bank.
You can easily see how this might get overlooked in a blind tasting, but when you get to experience it one on one over 3-4 hours, wow.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:59 am

And good memory, Nicola! I had 3 bottles of La Conseillante in my cellar, now I have two: One bottle each of 2014 and 2016.

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:05 am

Looks like a very good and true La Conseillante. "Burgundian" is a word we read to describe not that many Bordeaux. Probably only La Conseillante and Tertre Roteboeuf.

I would surely feel "privileged" to have the 2016 in your company, when you're 80 years old (I'll be 66 years old), to celebrate your newly status of "retired". But I will also need a whoopie pie, and a 3 miles run in the "Blue Demon".

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:07 am

Oui oui!

Bonne nuit, mon ami.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:10 am

2014 Conseillante, and for the record, I was going to guess conseillante before any of the yes or no questions. Although after you said Marcus had reviewed before.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:14 am

2014 La Conseillante....

A beautiful wine.
Please don't drink it among others, though, in a blind tasting or some such thing.
Sit there and enjoy it over 3-4 hours as it unfolds, blossoms, from reticence to Pomerol elegance in a vintage where the alcohol was restrained and the conditions were perfect to bring out the classicism on both sides off the river. Stunning, in a feminine, elegant, classy, retrained way. Don't expect big fruit bomb here, look for finesse and restraint.
95 points.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:20 am

lol whoops, didn't realize there was a SECOND page already and it had already been posted. Guess I'm not as smart as I thought!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:25 am

I've been very lucky to drink La Conseillante a number of times over my BWE years, not the least memorable of which was the 1989 and 1990 that Rob Dayton brought to Stefan and Lucie's house a few years back in Teyxasss, those wines were both near 100-pointers in my book.

This 2014 La Conseillante tonight was an epiphany, likely obviously because I was able to spend about four hours just analyzing it as it evolved during the evening. It's a real stunner, a real epiphany. Man, give me these restrained, lower alcohol, classic Bordeaux from either bank any day of the week.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:01 pm

Man, still thinking about that La Conseillante on the morning after.
Whatever you do, Marcus, don't drink those 2014s as part of verticals or multi-wine dinners.
This is a beautifully elegant and complex wine, very nuanced and subtle, would easily get lost in the shuffle with bigger wines.
But on its own, oh man, it's a beauty.

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:41 pm

I'm pretty sure I've never had a La Conseillante, but this conversation certainly makes me wish I had some. Alas, today's pricing puts me on the sidelines.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:59 pm

Pure elegance and class, JC, a cerebral wine that requires all your attention.
We'll make sure we drink one at some point.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:39 pm

I went to a 16 vintage vertical of Conseillante back in 2018 with the winemaker, and it was amazing -- actually one of my great wine experiences. You can really tell in those big verticals how much you like a producer; Conseillante was head and shoulders above some other Bordeaux I've attended verticals of like DDC and Lagrange, and it was at about the same level or perhaps even higher than Pichon Lalande which is another great vertical I attended.

This thread discusses the vertical and has a lot of my views on Conseillante, along with tasting notes:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8118&p=69590

Here for example is what I said in that thread about Conseillante being "Burgundian"

I guess I would underline again what I said above about the lightness of touch of Conseillante. I wouldn't call it "Burgundian", I find that adjective rather annoying in the Bordeaux context, because, duh, it isn't made from Pinot and doesn't taste like Pinot. But it is surely among the Bordeaux producers that is most characterized by the quality of "power without weight". As I also said, I found the "solar" vintages (in this case, 1990, 2009, 2015) particularly charming as the wine expresses a beautiful sweetness without any cloying or syrupy heaviness or oppressive fig-ish or pruney fruit. It's more a brown sugar or caramel quality, adding incense and truffle notes with age. Conseillante fruit has a perfectly ripe blackberry quality to it, the lightest black fruit there is.

I did express some concern in that thread about whether the 2014 would turn out a bit harsh on the back end compared to other vintages, but per Jim's comments above about mass tastings I only had a few minutes with a half glass of it.

Conseillante has elevated in price over the last five years and some of my favorite vintages from the vertical like 01/05/09 have gone to the stratosphere. But I am holding on to 2*2001, 3*2005, and 3*2009 for later consumption, and I loaded up on 2014 while I could.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:45 pm

also, can I just complain for a second about the state we're in where 13.5% counts as "low alcohol" in Bordeaux? It used to be the case that the left bank was routinely 12.5% or lower and right bank wines at 13.5 were viewed kind of like 14.5 wines are now.

Gerry M. · Post by **Gerry M.** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:50 pm

JimHow wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:57 am I'm really kicking myself, Gerry and I got this for I think under $80 in NH, it goes for like $190 now.
It is so amazing how delicate, refined, classy, elegant this wine is.
This is like a Lafite on the right bank.
You can easily see how this might get overlooked in a blind tasting, but when you get to experience it one on one over 3-4 hours, wow.

I'm happy to hear that. I have four bottles of it myself. According to CT I paid $89 for three of them and the 4th was free using some promo gift cards. I kept kicking myself for not grabbing the last few they had but could never pull the trigger.

CT drinking window is 2021-2035 so I may look for a chance to pop one soon.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:32 pm

How is the 2019 La Conseillante? The prices seem to be right on 2019s, no?