I figured this would be a great time to reach out and see if it worked out to finally meet Stu and Kathy as I've wanted to for a while now. It worked out since they live 20 minutes away and Stu's favorite restaurant is right by Catalina's parents' house.
We were able to schedule a wonderful Saturday dinner with them and two of Stu's friends from his Burgundy group who he "forced" to drink some Bordeaux. What good Bordeaux could I bring that Stu hasn't had many times? Well, he made it easy and asked me to bring white Burgundy instead. I don't have anything super crazy but luckily found one that showed quite well.
We started with a bunch of awesome apps. Raw fish pizza? Surprisingly good. As well as a bunch of other tartare and caviar type dishes.
With these we started with:
1998 Dom Pérignon- My first time having this wine and it didn't disappoint. Came out slightly oxidized and needing to gain a bit of weight. A medium gold, definitely more mature than an amazing bottle of the 1996 recently. Once it balanced and gained weight, it really started to shine. Great acidity, slightly rich with tart fruit and the perfect amount of sweetness left. 96pts
Next we opened my wine with the rest of the apps:
2010 Jadot Corton Charlemagne- My second time having this bottle and it was on fire again. My first bottle, 1.5 years ago was my top white of the year in 2022 and in my top 10 overall for sure. This one was even more accessible out of the gate which made me slightly worry that it wouldn't hold up with air. Wrong. Got better and better. Stu and Kathy kept some in their glasses all evening while I checked in as we went on. The depth of this wine is hard to match. Such a long finish. Great stone fruits. Luckily this bottle didn't have any matchstick or reduction that others have. The nose to die for. 2010 is my favorite white Burgundy vintage, although it's possible that 2014 will surpass it. I ordered some awesome scallops essentially just to go with this. Perfect pairing. Might need to slip this into my top 10 of the year again. Very close. Kathy said it was her WOTN so I'll take it!97+pts
We ordered some great entrees to go with Stu's mystery reds for the evening. Tons of great wide ranging conversation that I'll touch on later.
Then Stu started pulling wines out of his bag casually. Needless to say, as great as those first two wines were, my focus started to turn.
He pulled two out to start next to each other:
1990 La Mission Haut Brion- This came out absolutely firing. Fairly ripe and just a tad pedestrian on the nose. However, the palate told a completely different story. WOW. This had everything that you want in a slightly hedonistic 1990 but from a structured Chateau that never seems to be ready. This one was. It had ranges of fruit, spices, tobacco etc but with just a touch of ripe stewed fruit. A perfect wine to start with, although it did start to fall off a bit after an hour. Definitely a step below its 1989 counterpart that is probably the most "perfect" Bordeaux that I've had. I still very much enjoyed this. 97pts
1990 Lafite- Restrained at first but the nose was bursting with layers and layers of floral notes and fruit. The palate wasn't very giving early so I took my time with this one and enjoyed the La Mish. After 1-2 hours, this slowly blossomed and unfurled into an absolutely gorgeous wine. I think my comments to Stu were that I totally understand now why Ian (and seemingly many other Brits) call it first of firsts. I'm not making that distinction yet, but I do see why. A total beauty. A very opposite bottle from the La Mish. My kind of wine and my clear #2 (or 1B) of the evening. And I will likely move it into my top 10 of the year somewhere. 98pts
Somewhere during these wines, we definitely talked a lot about Bordeaux vs Burgundy, buying back vintage, having large portions of our net worth in wine etc. I find Stu to be very interesting (this was expected). Kathy is one of the nicest people that I've met lately as well. What no one told me is how funny Stu is. Both intentionally and unintentionally. The banter really made the evening. At one point I posited that Latour might be becoming my favorite of the firsts even though they generally underwhelmed in my favorite decade (80's) other than the 1982 which I hadn't tried yet. The 1990 recently was an absolute stunner. Well, lo and behold, instead of Stu just pulling out one more Bordeaux for the evening. He pulled out two for a flight. Of course it was the 1982 Latour vs the 1982 Mouton. Legends. Both bucket list wines, although I was lucky enough to have the latter early in the year that wowed. If I didn't know better (that Stu double decanted all his wines), I would have thought he pulled a Mary Poppins and pulled the 1982 Latour since we were talking about it.
1982 Mouton- This was a perfectly balanced example of an iconic wine. However definitely up next to some stiff competition. Maybe bias because the previous bottle I had was so near perfect (my #2 WOTY) but this one didn't speak to me quite as much. Clearly a great wine that I thought could use an extra gear. It really might have been me as 3/6 at the table chose it as their red of the night. 95+pts
1982 Latour- This has been on my bucket list for a while now and it was so nice of Stu to share it even though I don't think that he could have known prior to my comment. Literally everything I want in a classic Bordeaux. More on the red fruited side. Deep and layered. Great pencil shavings, tobacco, lead but very bright and light on its feet. Some spices to round it out. I can't fully describe what was so wonderful about this wine. It just checked every single box for me. Similar to the 1983 Cheval in that way. My fairly clear WOTN at the time, but in retrospect the Lafite got so, so good. Another wine that will have to find its place on my top 10 of the year for sure. Stu also picked the same top two. Catalina liked the the more pretty Lafite, which I totally get. 98+pts
What a fantastic, yet restrained night. "Only" 6 bottles for 6 people. Gasp! Although in fairness, the ladies didn't drink as much. And I didn't spit at all for the first time in a while. Every single bottle showed so well. Not anything remotely resembling a dud on the table. There was actually a bit of wine left that I brought back for Catalina's mom to try as well. Stu and Kathy are both so nice and generous. Catalina and I very much thank them for having dinner with us and sharing their wonderful wines. They even picked us up for dinner and Kathy wouldn't let us walk the 1mile back even though it was a lovely evening. Austin and Eileen were wonderful as well. I hope to get down to see them all again soon as I'll probably be traveling there more often. I wish we'd snapped a pic with everyone but alas, we were having too much fun chatting and drinking. Till next time!
