1979 Bordeaux Tasting

[barsacpinci]

Marc F hosted and graciously provided the wines for an excellent 1979 Bordeaux tasting. I was expecting a lot of dead wines since I tend to drink them much younger. But I was so surprised that I enjoyed these so much. We potlucked the food and it was delicious!!

All of these except the Climens were from 1979

Fonroque A very nice nose but a bit thin on the palate initially. I came back to this and it opened up showing well integrated dark fruit and a bit of a “pleasant” green pepper. I started buying wine soon after I graduated college in 1979 and I do not recall this wine being sold in the Philly area where I lived at the time.

L’Arrosee This was one of my favorites back in the old days and I enjoyed it at this tasting. It had wonderful, unusual roast beef nose to it. Nice full body that rolls on the tongue and caresses it with soft tannins. Too bad it is no longer made.

Pavie This had a musty nose and there a lot of brett but quite nice. Definitely showed saddle leather. The weakest of the flight for me because of that musty nose.

La Grave Trigant Mushrooms and moss dominated the nose for me. Showing a beautiful ruby color but the palate was muted for me even after coming back to it and trying to coax the flavor. That nose was intriguing.

Certan de May Again a beautiful nose, more floral than the prior wines. But, the palate way too bitter for me

Haut Marbuzet This has an intense plum nose. I found it quit well integrated. Not too complex and drinking well. Soft tannins

Cos dEstournel. Wow. Big nose and immense wine Interesting salami palate - lots of meat flavors with multiple layers to it. My favorite wine of the night.

The next three wines were served blind

Taltarni A ringer from Australia but much too medicinal for me.

Gruaud Larose A yummy wine with interesting green pepper notes to it. Full body with plenty of tertiary notes. I thought this was the Leoville. My #3

Leoville Las Cases It had a funky waxy nose. Had plenty of blackberry fruit and satiny tannins. I thought this was the Gruaud!

Conn Creek A ringer from California served blind Nose and palate showed heavy prune. I dumped

Pichon Baron Another beautiful wine showing a cigar nose. Tons of flavor, blossoming in the glass and showing multiple nuances from cigar box, to cedar, to ripe plums. My 2nd favorite of the night.

Pichon Lalande Has a sweeter nose than the Baron with many of the same flavor notes but a much softer wine. Again showing multiple layers

1980 Climens. Usually one of my favorite Barsacs. I love Sauternes, especially older ones. But this had a dark mud color to it, blech from the start, and I thought it was way over the hill. The acidity was gone and it didn’t balance the sweetness which was faded to a burnt toffee taste. Everyone else love it!

Obviously Marc'd stored these well (he claims not so well). He was more than generous with his hospitality.

Brian Pinci

[AKR]

weirdly I remember 79 and 81 La Grave being kind of mushroomy too.

Sounds like a cool event for a vintage I would have assumed as being on the far side of maturity.

[JimHow]

Nice! Love that ‘79 Gruaud.

[Winona Chief]

I am a big fan of the 1979 red Bordeaux - favorites are Palmer, Margaux, Pichon Lalande, Gruaud Larose and Lafleur (bought back in the day when it was about $25). Also really liked Certan de May, Leoville Las Cases and Cos d’Estournel. Originally not considered a very good year but many wines were surprisingly good.

Chris Bublitz

[barsacpinci]

I am a big fan of the 1979 red Bordeaux - favorites are Palmer, Margaux, Pichon Lalande, Gruaud Larose and Lafleur (bought back in the day when it was about $25). Also really liked Certan de May, Leoville Las Cases and Cos d’Estournel. Originally not considered a very good year but many wines were surprisingly good.

Chris Bublitz

Hah! I remember buying the 1979 Lafleur too for $25 a State Line.

[JimHow]

The ‘79 Gruaud that Tommy and Gail brought to my house had a $25 sticker on it.

[Musigny 151]

My first vintage, and I bought a mixed case of superseconds from Quality House in Manhattan. I remember all the wines were under $20 except for the LMHB which was $27.

Not that surprised they are still going strong. Very balanced then, and there were some real beauties.

[JoelD]

I was very pleasantly surprised by a lot of these wines. Only a couple of off bottles at the table, which given the age is amazing. The Pavie and a Malescot that went unmentioned.

I didn't take great notes but surprisingly My 1,2 and 3 are exactly the same as Brian's. (Our palates definitely differ but have been overlapping more lately.) The only big difference is that I loved the 1980 Climens(95+pts). It was just a tad on the dark side, and I'd say toffee notes over coffee but I'm honestly partial to both as long as there isn't the metalic ox taste. It just brimmed with beautiful sweetness and acidity for me. Very well balanced. Might have been a tad better 5-10 years ago but I would drink this any day.

The 1979 Cos could have stood up next to the 82 and 85 we tried two weeks prior. Very similar in structure and style, the latter two are slightly better wines but this is right there. 95pts

The 1979 Pichon Baron was so light on its feet, lighter fruited and complex and lovely cigar box. I honestly prefer this style to the 89/90 in a lot of ways. Definitely need to seek this out. 95pts

I was happy to correctly identify the 1979 Gruaud, something about its profile just tasted so similar to the 86 and 90 I've had recently. The way the green pepper is integrated so smoothly maybe. 95pts

I don't think the Lalande was a perfect bottle sadly, it was a tad pruney for me. Still a very drinkable wine but the Baron outshown it for me.

I also really enjoyed the Fonroque(93pts) and Certan De May(93pts). The Las Cases showed well early, but quickly developed a tannic spine that I couldn't enjoy after that while the Gruaud slowly blossomed instead.

Wonderful tasting and so nice of Marc to share all these wines with us.

[Harry C.]

I remember the shelf price of 80 Climens being 13$! But 79 wasn’t the best vintage and I’m surprised he even kept them this long.

[JoelD]

I remember the shelf price of 80 Climens being 13$! But 79 wasn’t the best vintage and I’m surprised he even kept them this long.

The 79 Las Cases had a $13.99 sticker on it. Fun stuff. I'm definitely going to be seeking out some 79's after this. I'm always fairly hesitant with Bordeaux pre 1982. I may start dabbling a bit more on the value gems.

[stefan]

Don't keep your hopes up. 1979 is the birth year of my son in law, so I am always on the look out for 1979s. However, most bottles of 1979s I have bought at auctions in the last five years have been way over the hill, probably due in large part to not very good storage. Even so-called reputable auction houses usually do not really verify that the wines they auction have been kept well. About the only time a bidder can be reasonably sure that the wines were stored properly is when the collector is identified. Most Bordeaux wines stand up pretty well with less than optimal storage, but, in my experience, after 30-35+ years there usually is a big difference between well stored bottles and those that have had less good treatment.

[ericindc]

Finally got back around to looking at my notes ( I can kinda read them). All in all this was really fun. I've certainly never had this many '79s in one place. Some I'm sure I'll never have again.

My favs were the #1 Pichon Baron, #2 Gruaud Larose, and #3 Du Tertre.

The tertre really came around at the end. I agree that the Pichon Lalande was quite good, but just didnt have enough oomph.
I was also really surprised at the Fonroque. I thought that really was quite good.

All in all, this re-confirmed my preference for Pauillac and St. Julien for the left bank.