robert goulet wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2023 3:48 am
I have an '86 Talbot but doesn't seem like it stood out
It did stand out! It's just that it was one of those great nights where almost everything stood out and some others stood out more.
A few quick TNs/impressions -- this was my first taste of fine wine for like three months and definitely brought it back with a bang. Just fantastic stuff tonight and every bottle but one (the 85 Haut Brion) performed great.
1985 Mouton Rothschild -- The very first wine I tried and it was hard to tear myself away! I tried to keep a bit in my glass for most of the night. Just a TREMENDOUS bouquet, the kind of wine you can sit and breathe in all night. A bit of that classic Bordeaux "grandmas attic" cedar, a beautiful touch of floral violet winding around some aged but still seductive ripe blackberry fruit, and an undertone of freshly tilled warm earth. Just such a picture perfect high level old Bordeaux, still fully alive and entering into a contemplative and vivid old age. On the palate it started a bit closed on the finish, but sitting in the glass it opened up to (almost) match the bouquet.
I really wonder whether post-2000 Bordeaux will ever end up tasting like this...discuss.
1990 Mouton Rothschild -- I had the pleasure of having this in the glass right next to the 85 Mouton where they made a perfect contrast. They were very recognizably similar in flavor but the difference in vintage character really came through loud and clear, with the 1990 being softer, rounder, and plusher. Less floral and subtle, more rich and fruity. Even a whisper of alcohol at the end but not imbalanced, one would really only have noticed it compared to the svelte and tailored 1985. Also a wonderful wine but I'd put the 1985 perhaps the slightest hair ahead as it's more subtle today. Five years from now I suspect they switch places.
1993 Haut Brion -- second time I've had this (first was two years ago), really excellent wine, not big but had a tremendous complexity and intrigue to it. With less fruit than the two Moutons it might have been even a slightly better food match as it was very transparent. Can't remember the details as well but expected to love this from my first time having it and I did. The lighter and more red-fruited quality of the year and the darker smokier aspect of Pessac-Leognan make a great combo.
1986 Talbot -- I brought this, the third time I've had this wine and it's been reliably excellent. Just a huge wine with many years to go, minerally, steely, but with more depths of cold black fruit emerging steadily hour by hour as it stays open. Kind of an iron fist in an iron glove. Can use a 1-2 hour decant if you open now, and has another 10-15 years in it easy. (I did not decant it as I typically don't, so this worked against it). Very 1986 and very classically Bordeaux. I put it a rung below the Moutons as it didn't have soft playful seductive subtlety of the Moutons -- this is a big bass-noted wine.
1985 Haut Brion -- not corked, but something was wrong. Super funky to start -- the funk faded into kind of an aged soy sauce note, but overall stayed more mushroomy than fruity. Really the only wine that didn't perform tonight.
1993 Trotanoy -- Not sure I gave this wine enough a chance as I had my hands (and mouth, and blood alcohol capacity) full with other wines. Others really liked it. I did too, I just didn't go wild over it. The softer 1993 year definitely let the normally huge Trotanoy reach full maturity. Between the age and the vintage, a kind of a beautifully faded photograph of classic Pomerol flavors, but lacked intensity for me.
1995 Pichon Lalande -- Another wine I brought. Surprisingly this seemed young at almost 30 years old. Had a quality I like in old PLL which is a nice greenness combined with a dark fruited cassis exotic quality -- seemingly contradictory but it works. However, that quality was pinched and eventually overwhelmed by powerful tannins and minerality that seemed to emerge more with aeration as opposed to fading -- definite sign of a younger wine. I have another bottle but not going to open for 5+ years. Have a few 1996s too.
1985 Lynch Bages -- Joel blinded us all on this, and got lots of guesses that were around the target but not a direct hit. I guessed 1980s left bank, others guessed a 1986, no one guessed the producer. I was shocked to hear it was the 1985 Lynch, as this wine was big, dark, and had lots of mineral and coffee elements -- when I had the 85 Lynch almost 20 years ago (!), when it was about 18 years old, it was notably soft, red-fruited, and seductive. Just a reminder that the personality of a wine can change considerably over its lifetime! Either that or bottle variation, but this really had a lot of clout and intensity for a 1985. Not surprising for a Lynch from the 80s, but surprising for an 85.
...bummer
