Bordeaux Down the Shore

[barsacpinci]

I was at the shore during blustery weather from Ian and met up with Joel and Catalina at Jay’s place in Rehobeth for a mini Bordeaux dinner. My first time meeting Jay who was a wonderful host. Joel was kind enough to prepare us a delicious lamb chop meal to go with these wines. With all the wines we had, not one was a clunker. They were all drinking wonderfully and I was hard pressed to find a favorite.

2008 Veuve Cliquot - so many bad notes on the boards about VC. But this wasn’t bad at all. Lots of bubbles. Very forward with sweet peach fruit. I tend to like my champs dryer than this but this is definitely a wine made for general public appeal. Nothing wrong with that!
2008 Paul Bara Comtesse Marie - a beautiful Champagne. Again, lots of bubbles (I don’t care for producers that make theirs almost flat). Much dryer than previous wine with a strong saline and mineral character. (Not a brioche type). Went extremely well with smoked salmon but clashed with the St Andre cheese - VC went better with that
2005 La Lagune - half of this was decanted. Interesting how the wine evolved decanted vs what remained in the bottle. The decanted wine showed soft tannins and lots of plums. An incredibly smooth finish and complemented the lamb quite well. The bottled wine showed more tannins and more grip to it. I preferred from bottle. Always hard to tell when to decant
1995 Haut Bailly - a beautiful wine drinking extremely well right now. PnP. A little funk at first which blew off quickly. Leather and cigar notes come thru on this wonderful wine. Long finish.
2000 Rauzan Segla - I found this wine to be very similar in flavor to the following with just slightly less body to it. Has a bit of pleasant brett to it that made the wine unique. Nice perfume on this wine. Showed lots of bramble berry fruit to it. Quite enjoyed.
2000 Gruaud Larose - one of my contributions. Dark ink color. That Cordier nose to it. A very dense wine. A bit of heat to it with chewy leather and forest moss notes. A wine that keeps delivering even the day after. An extraordinarily amount of sediment. Loved it!
1983 Filhot - another one of mine. I was worried about this one because I know at one point in time I didn’t store it in ideal conditions. Well that didn’t seem to have any negative impact. Definitely a drink up now wine but so fun to drink. Not as sweet as other Sauternes like Suduiraut or Rieussec but very well balanced showing apricot flavors. Quite surprised with wine, finished it up the second night!

[JimHow]

Very well done, BP.
I'm in my annual October wine fast but your notes make me look forward to the end of the month.

[jckba]

Sounds like a nice get together and happen to really like the 2000 Gruaud as well.

[JimHow]

I liked the 2008 Veuve Cliquot the one time I had it.
2000 Gruaud Larose to me is like the 2000 Lynch... Good, well made, but nothing compelling, nothing like the glorious Lynches and Gruauds of the 1980s...

[DavidG]

Nice report. Sorry we bailed due to weather and missed you guys.

[Jay Winton]

It was nice to see Joel again and meet Brian and Catalina. Brian's notes are good-the VC was a little over dosed for me, the Bara was delicious. Early days but the 05 La Lagune may be a top tier vintage for this producer. I doubt I'll open another bottle for several years. All wines drank well but it's all about the camraderie of BWE.

[Nicklasss]

Very nice report. I enjoyed the 1995 Haut Bailly as much as you lately.

From your comments, it is like the two 2000 you had need a few more years.

It was surely great, being on the shore, with that great company.

[Harry C.]

Good notes. You dropped scoring?

[Harry C.]

And you are living in Maryland, so shouldn't it be 'down the Ocean"?

[barsacpinci]

And you are living in Maryland, so shouldn't it be 'down the Ocean"?

I’m a PA transplant. I stopped scoring, I was never consistent with it.

[JoelD]

I'm glad I can always count on Brian to do a good writeup for our tastings, so that I don't have to sit and stare at a screen coming up with one. Fun night that almost fell through. Great reprieve from watching my sister's teenagers and dogs. Sorry that DavidG couldn't make it though.
I agree with a lot of the notes. Very hard to pick a favorite. Not a bad bottle on the table and a great Tuesday night near the beach.

The 2008 Bara was outstanding. My WOTN. 95-96 points. In such a great spot. Definitely need to source some. Much more my style than the rich and oxidative 02 that I had recently.

The 2008 Veuve was good off the bat, although after some air it showed why it's more of a crowd favorite. 91pts

The 2000 Gruaud was my early red of the night. With just a bit of that Cordier funk and greenness from the vintage. Really light on it's feet while giving so many different flavors. I think it is gaining complexity but it's in a good spot now. 94pts

The 2000 Rauzan was opened a bit later than the others and showed it. Needed a bit more air. Very Margaux once it opened. Beautiful dark fruit. Awesome on day 2. 94pts

The 1995 Haut Bailly seemed a little tertiary and tired at first but opened up with a vibrancy when paired with the lamb chops and with a couple hours of bottle air. Definitely didn't hold up nearly as well on day 2. 92-93 pts

The 2005 La Lagune both needed the decant for half of it, and the air in the bottle for the other half. Not ready yet but fun to try. Very dark fruited and dense but with great spices when tried out of the bottle later, which was my preference. 92-94pts

The 1983 Filhot was quite fun. Dark orange in color, but not overly oxidative. Almost Loire like in it's lightness and sugar. 92pts

[Comte Flaneur]

Nice notes

I am looking forward to popping the 1995 Haut-Bailly that Nic gave me in the coming weeks