Bordeaux in DC @ Convivial - Dec 4

[ericindc]

Dinner in DC @ Convivial.

11 of us. Great night. No real duds. For a 1 week advance notice we had some really great wines. I didnt take any formal notes, but here are my recollections.

2010 Larmandier-Bernier vieille vigne du Levant grand cru
Best out of the gate, unfortunately this was drunk quickly, so I didnt get a change to see how this changed over the dinner

2007 Dom Ruinart BdB
Was iffy on this at first, but this gained weight over time and was best after a couple hours.

1983 Domaine de Chavalier blanc
Odd duck, this had a good deal of mustiness with some sherry notes but got better over the night. At the end, this was very much like a very old still champagne. I actually really enjoyed this. Probably my 3rd favorite of the night. Mainly for its interestingness.

2014 Domaine de Chevalier blanc
Best on opening, I liked the freshness and fruit for the first couple hours, but I felt this faded over time.

1982 Calon Segur
Doing really well, I just felt that this was missing that certain complexity.

1990 Gruaud Larose
Probably my least favorite wine. Had a strong celery component was that really offputting to me.

1990 Figeac
This and the LLC were tied for a while. The Figeac just had more complexity, and almost a perfectly complete older Bordeaux for me. Proper balance of fruit, acid, complexity, mature earth and loan, density, oak. My WOTN

1990 Leoville Las Cases
A close second to the Figeac. Really complete wine, it faded a bit over the night. I felt it didnt have as much balance for my palate.

1990 Phelan Segur
Really nice wine, definitely, punching above its weight. Perfectly good aged bordeaux, but was just missing a bit vs some of the other wines.

1990 Grand Puy Lacoste
Good, a touch youngish and modern. Fruit had a weird sharp note and I didnt see much maturity. Needs some more time.

1995 Grand Puy Lacoste
Good wine, It was just starting to hit some mature notes. Liked the fruit profile better than the '90.

1995 Lynch Bages
I Just have no real recollection of this one.

1997 L'eglise Clinet, pomerol
This was good, a touch young for me but had a very tasty fruit profile.

1999 Le Bon Pasteur, pomerol
This smelled good, but just was abit closed on the palate.

2004 L'Evangile
Good, full of promise. Revisit in 15 years at least. People who liked them younger liked this one.

2006 Trotanoy
Gain, very tight, didnt get much off this. Again, needs 15 years.

2003 Lafaurie-Peyraguey sauternes
I've started to like this house more and more. I generally like the hotter sauternes years anyways. Really nice, younger, but the 03s are ageing quicker so it went perfectly with the bourbon creme brulee.

[Nicklasss]

Nice set of wine Eric.

I guess after the comments on the 1995 Figeac that BWEers had at the convention, your note on the 1990 Figeac will contribute to get many BWEers to look for more Figeac.

I probably liked the 1990 GPL a bit more than tou in the past, had it with AlexR in Bordeaux.

I'm always happy when a LLC score well.

At the opposite of you, it seems like Lafaurie Peyraguey is never making it for me. I had the 1986, 1988, 1996, 2001 and 2003, and while good, never trenscending.

[DavidG]

Great night - an embarrassment of riches. Surprised the ‘90 Gruaud showed so poorly. Not the best Gruaud by a long shot but should have been better.

[ericindc]

Great night - an embarrassment of riches. Surprised the ‘90 Gruaud showed so poorly. Not the best Gruaud by a long shot but should have been better.

Sorry you couldnt make it. Other people really liked it. I just have a weird sensitivity to celery flavors.

[JCNorthway]

Current day Figeacs are out of my price comfort zone, but I had a few from the mid-80's and a single bottle of the 1990. I may have told this story before, so apologies if I have. I took that bottle of 1990 to a restaurant that allowed BYOB. I asked if they could decant the wine and they explained they had no decanters. So I asked if they could pour it into a water pitcher which I had noticed they did have. They took the bottle into the kitchen to open and decant it. And when they brought the pitcher into the dining room, I could smell the wine before it got to the table. It was a fabulous bottle, and an experience I will never forget.

[JoelD]

This turned out to be a great night. Great crowd (some BWE'ers, Usual DC crew and a few new faces). Awesome wines. For me it rivaled some of the recent convention nights and the May tasting that we did with Pichon Vertical and 2000 Horizontal. Literally not a bad wine on the table.

I think I may have liked the wines a bit more than Eric, based off of his notes. This was an interesting night as for the most part there was agreement, but a few wines were polarizing.

I've enjoyed putting wines into tiers of late for tastings. Especially since some blurr together, and some start better while others finish better.

Both Champagnes were quite good. As Eric said, the Larmandier came out really nicely out of the gate with some pretty oxidative notes but did fade. The 07 Ruinart was Much better and balanced than a bottle I had 2 years ago. And thankfully missing some of the weird autolytic notes that the 04 had. Balanced and very good wine. I'd pick the Ruinart of the two to drink, but at current prices, probably wouldn't seek out either.

The two DDC blancs were interesting. The 83 was too old for my tastes, too much sherry. But quite fun to try. The 2014 was too young, but had an array of flavors that I loved. This got much better as the night went on and paired with a leek salad. The 2014 is a wine worth seeking out for under $100. Based on my limited experiences, I'm guessing that I would generally prefer this wine with about 10-15 years of bottle age.

First Tier:

1990 Las Cases- My WOTN, pretty much from start to finish. Not far enough ahead for it's own tier though. Best expression of this that I've had, third bottle in less than 2 years. Balanced and floral, but still some masculinity and depth to keep me quite intrigued. 96pts

1982 Calon Segur- This one needed some air, but showed greatly. Lots of tannic structure, but didn't overpower. 95pts

1990 Figeac- Very similar to the bottle that David blind tasted us with last year. Probably wouldn't have guessed St Emilion. This got better as the night went on. Very layered and pretty while still being a bit rustic. 95pts

Second Tier:

1990 Gruaud Larose- Started out great but did thin a bit as the night went on, I definitely enjoyed this. 94pts
1995 GPL- Another great showing. This was just had the balance and precision that I love. My style of wine. 94pts
2004 L'evangile- I thought this was drinking beautifully at current age. 94pts
1997 L'Eglise Clinet- Even better than my last bottle on a BWE zoom. Cool fruited and great nose. Could age but great now. 94pts

Third Tier:

1990 Phelan Segur- A very classic St Estephe, big and bold and structured but pretty and fun. My style, but less complexity than others- 92pts
1990 GPL- Opposite of the Phelan. Not my style, very ripe and new world but clearly a well made wine. Got better with more air-93pts
1995 Lynch Bages- Very similar profile to the 2000 that I love, however this one lost most of that within the first hour. 92pts
2006 Trotanoy- Clearly a baby, somewhat new world profile but theres some great stuff under there. Decant helped this one. 91-95pts
1999 Le Bon Pasteur- A little off balance, but had some good notes and quite drinkable. Didn't revisit this one too much. 91pts

[DavidG]

Eric and Joel, excellent notes. Great lineup and I got a really good feel for where these wines are.

Sorry I missed it. We had tickets for Joe Bonamassa at the Lyric. Our first foray into an indoor concert venue since COVID. Great show but they did not check vax cards at the door as promised and only 5-10% in the packed house complied with the mask "requirement." We kept our N95s on and will probably be fine, but are not planning any more indoor concerts for a while.

[barsacpinci]

Thanks so much to Joel for arranging this and introducing us to a new restaurant. All the wines were on target - I didn't dump any!

Some of my notes
Both the Champagnes were very nice upon opening. The Larmandier in my opinion tended to wane a bit over time. I brought that and was expecting more of a punch and complexity from it considering all the discussions about it. I have two more which I think I'll sit on for a while. The Ruinart was definitely to my liking, nice acidity and fruit to go with it. I do tend to prefer BdB to Pinot based Champagnes.

1983 DDC Blanc - Very interesting, a novelty for sure. Definitely had that mid palate weight to it that you could tell at one time it was very nice. I'm with Joel, the oxidation was a bit much for me.

2014 DDC Blanc - I brought this one and was very pleased with the tropical fruit and balance to it. Went very well with the Crawfish Quenelles. This is a food wine more than a sipper.

1990 LLC - I brought this one too. Quite pleased with it. Showing much complexity with cedar and leather notes. My favorite, but I was biased!

2006 Trotanoy - this was number two on my list. I tend to like younger wines. This had tons of fruit showing lots of blackberry notes to it.

1995/1990 GPL - I was surprised the 1995 was number three for me because I haven't been of fan of this property before. I even liked the 1990 GPL! Very austere wines showing graphite and fruit.

1990 Gruaud Larose - I agree with the above. Something wasn't quite right here. A little funky but I wouldn't turn my nose up at it.

1997 L'Eglise Clinet - Had a beautiful nose going for it and I had been looking forward to tasting this one. I thought it was a little thin and while others thought it needed more time, I thought it was past prime.

2004 L'Evangile - Another wine like the L'Eglise that I would have opened maybe five years earlier. Beautiful nose and nice fruit but a bit faded for my palette.

1990 Figeac - This was very nice. I got lots for florals and pepper from it. But, the other end of the table hogged this one so I only got a smidgeon! Needed more to evaluate.

1990 Phelan - I didn't even taste this one!

1995 Lynch Bages - A nice drinking wine but a little one dimensional with few nuances.

1999 Bon Pasteur - Another wine I only had a sip late in the evening so couldn't fully evaluate

2003 Lafaurie - I've had some amazing bottles of Lafaurie (the 83 is tops). This was very good but I was thinking an apple tart would be the perfect foil for it because I expected it to be less sweet. But that tart was like candy and fought with the wine.

We had a wonderful time and definitely enjoy getting together with this group - very fun and talkative. Met some new folks, too!

[JimHow]

Great reports, guys, sounds like a fun time with some excellent BWE favorites…

[marcs]

It was a great testimony to our little DC wine community that we got a fantastic lineup like this from just a causal call for people to come out. Also, Convivial is a discovery -- delicious French bistro food!

I would go along with most of the above, just differences in emphasis.

I wasn't a huge fan of the Chevalier whites -- never really got into White Bordeaux. I once went to a DDC vertical where we tasted whites going back to the 70s, based on that comparison the 1983 DDC here was fairly advanced.

On the reds, my WOTN was also the 1990 Figeac. I love the way Figeac combines a beautiful sophistication and depth with an edge of green freshness to it. That green note never reads as rustic to me because the overall wine is so balanced. This 1990 was competitive with the gorgeous 1995 we had at BWE DC, although that one out of magnum was just a bit more pure and balanced perhaps.

I didn't like the 1990 LLC as much as others, although I recognized it is excellent. It was very subtle and intellectual, lots of notes of indian spices (cumin/turmeric/saffron etc.), but was a bit "harder" and more unyielding than the other 1990s. Tangy, good acids, a bit of tannins toward the back end.

I really liked the 1990 Gruaud but there's no doubt it was funky and spicy. But isn't that just the Gruaud style from that era? I still remember the one 1982 Gruaud I had being overwhelmingly funky but at the same time totally fun and intriguing and with great depth of fruit. For me the fruit here was very well balanced against the spice and the wine overall didn't feel flawed, just had a "twist" in terms of the flavors.

The 1990 GPL was a bit "Napa esque" (although these Bordeaux never taste anything like modern Napa reds frankly) in that it was rich and smooth but perhaps a bit flat and lacking in interest compared to the trio of other 1990s. However, I enjoyed the rich texture and depth of fruit

The 1995 GPL was wonderful and more classical in style than the 1990 -- this wine is so reliably good and has many years left in it. Just essence of left bank Bordeaux here, checks every box.

The 2006 Trotanoy was very tannic but clearly had tremendous fruit. There were gorgeous notes of brown sugar and gingerbread on the nose, but then on the palate it closed up pretty quickly and was a big boulder of structure with a powerful vein of fruit submerged underneath and not fully accessible to the human tongue at this point LOL. Later in the evening softened up just a bit but it's too young.

The 2004 L'Evangile was a perfect age for me. Love how charming the 2004s are. Still with rich somewhat youthful fruit combined with the relaxed softness and charm of age. I'd classify this as early peak with perhaps 5+ years of similar drinking ahead of it.

I didn't get to some of the other wines, but it was a great evening! Lots of BWE folks and some new participants as well.

[jckba]

Nice to get multiple impressions on the same set of wines and it definitely seemed like it was a fantastic evening out.