Izak's amazing birthday bash

[AlexR]

Hi,

It was my privilege this month to visit some of the most elite vineyards in Bordeaux with Izak Litwar from Copenhagen, AKA greatbxfreak.
Izak has been coming to Bordeaux for many years, and has forged some solid friendships.
One of these is with Olivier Bernard, of Domaine de Chevalier.

Olivier hosted a fantastic dinner party to celebrate Izak’s birthday on Saturday, November 6th, and Izak was kind enough to invite me and my wife. Other guests included Ivar and Anne, also from Denmark, Guillaume Pouthier (winemarker at Ch. Les Carmes Haut Brion), négociant and château owner Jean-Philippe Janoueix and his wife Marie, and the former winemarker at Domaine de Chevalier.

Before even thinking about dinner, we sat through a blind tasting of 6 vintages of white Domaine de Chevalier from 2014 to 2019 and asked to say which was which. I only guessed two correctly, but Ivar and his wife got everything right.

The aperitif wine was an excellent Piper Heidsieck “rare” from 2008.

All other wines -eleven of ‘em – were served bind in several flights.

We started off by comparing 1975 Laville Haut Brion and 1975 Domaine de Chevalier. On this evening, Olivier’s wine was clearly showing better.

The first red wine was obviously very, very old. Around the table, we were thinking 1920s or 30s. It turned out to be, wait for it, a 1911 Château Camponac from Pessac, a vineyard that no longer exists. While very tired, the wine was unquestionably still alive.

The following four wines were from Izak’s birth year: 1946. This is described as a “A relatively good year, with ripe red wines and fairly good color” in Cocks & Féret.
So, we dug into 1946 Pavie, 1946 Trotanoy, 1946 Vieux Château Certan, and 1946 Cheval Blanc. It was a great treat to puzzle over these wines and then retaste them carefully once we knew their names. My favorites were VCC and Cheval Blanc. To say these wines were tertiary would be an understatement. But taking one’s time over them, in the context of the beautiful château dining room, while enjoying gourmet food (filet de canette frottée aux épice douces, coing rôti, figue pochée au vin rouge et épices, panais) was a rare experience.

Three wines were served with the cheese course: 1975 Les Carmes Haut Brion, 1950 Clos Fourtet, 1950 Cheval Blanc. Carmes Haut Brion is a wine I know well from that period, because that was when the wine was exclusively bottled and sold by the Maison Chantecaille, where I worked. It was somewhat dry, but had held up well. The Cheval Blanc showed better than the Clos Fourtet.
Cocks & Féret describes 1950 as a “a year with a big crop of very high quality. The red wines are smooth and light, but well-balanced. Very pleasant wines”.

We very much enjoyed 1946 Coutet with dessert.

Who could have asked for a better meal?

Thank you Izak.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[greatbxfreak]

Thanks, Alex, for your comments.

Actually, it was a pre-birthday dinner as I'll turn the 75-year clock on the 28th December.

Änne and Olivier Bernard did a fantastic job organizing this event, and I thank them for life. It was an unforgettable experience!

I brought Piper Heidsieck Rare 2008 champagne to the dinner and it was a sheer delight to taste. Maybe too young to taste right now.

Tasting white Chevalier is always a great treat, but blind.... I, too, guessed 2 out of 6, 2014 and 2019. 2019, 2017 and 2015 were my favourites.

This Chateau Camponac 1911 was still alive and tasty. 110 years old wine. Incredible.

I too preferred Chevalier 1975 to Laville 1975.

Concerning the 1946 flight, VCC was the best for me, then Pavie and Cheval Blanc, but the latter came back strongly after some volatile acidity scent in the beginning and was as splendid as VCC. Trotanoy tasted old and musty. Nothing special.

Cheval Blanc 1950 outclassed Clos Fourtet 1950. It was simply excellent, if not stunning. Carmes Haut Brion 1975 was very pleasant and round, fully mature and quite enjoyable.

Dinner ended with Gilette Creme de Tete 1975 and Coutet 1946. Gilette kept the freshness, acidity and sweetness and was excellent. Coutet 1946 was still very adorable and tasty.
¨
Just one note. It was my friend Ivar, who supplied all 1946s for the dinner, except Trotanoy 1946 whom I brought. Thanks a lot, Ivar! I bought from him both 1950s, 1975 Laville Haut Brion and 1975 Les Carmes Haut Brion. Olivier Bernard filled in with D.d. Chevalier white 1975 and Gilette Creme de Tete 1975.

I'll post some pictures from the dinner later.

[AKR]

What an incredible lineup. Personally, I don't care much for the blanc Graves but they have their fans here.

timmc made a point last week about older vintages: do not judge them, just love them.

(which also sounds like a homily we have been given on Sundays as well)

[Dionysus]

Happy pre-Birthday Izak

What a delightful line up!!! And what a time it is for this forum...between Blanquito's and Comte's recent trip to Bordeaux tasting mature Le Pin, Petrus, and La Tache, and now Alex and Izak drinking war time VCC...well I'll be damned.

Looking forward to your write up on 2019 in bottle Izak.

[JimHow]

Wow, what a delight, and an honor, for a great European wine aficionado.

[Nicklasss]

Happy to read that. First thing that got me, is the friendship that i can feel just by reading the post, between all the people attending greatbxfreak pre-birthday dinner. Without friendship, that would not be possible.

Amazing dinner and what a nice group of wines too. I'm speechless as i can't talk about 1946 red Bordeaux. But thanks for posting here.

P.S. when i met Mr Bernard for the first time at UGC tasting in Montréal in 2017, i discussed with him and told him i knew about the nice dinners he did with you Izak. He was knowing you well, and just tell him next time I would be in Bordeaux.

[Claudius2]

Wow,
Amazing night with some much history behind them.
Must be nice to have generous friends like that.

Bit late but happy birthday in retrospect.
Mine was last Sunday (14th) celebrated with a few Champagnes in the balmy weather.

cheers
Mark

[Comte Flaneur]

What a treat for your birthday Izak, even though it is still some weeks off, that is quite a compliment.