Bordeaux Down the Shore
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2022 3:00 am
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!
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!