Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

...for all your hard work on the 1989 dinner, it was one of the great BWE events.

Thanks for everyone's generosity, I had a great time. Can't wait to do it again!

Trust me it wasn't a lot of trouble. I think the restaurant did a fabulous job - especially Patrick who looked after us. I hope we gave them a generous tip. I can't remember but Tom took care of it.

At the risk of being premature does anyone have thoughts on (1) what vintage we should have next year (2) what format and (3) what location?

Tom made the point that while the 1990 would be a natural progression many of the 1990s will still be quite young and maybe we should instead opt for another vintage from the 1980s...for example 1985...or 1988...or 1983...or even 1982.

When it comes to a 20-something year old vintage, sourcing wines may be an issue.

On format should we stick to the first come, first served, maximum of 12 model or should we make it more open ended and inclusive, especially for 'significant others'

If we do that we may have to have two bottles of each wine, or magnums. Or just a fairly less structured look at a particular vintage. I must say that 22 wines between 12 worked pretty well...there were only a few drops left at the end of the night.

On location New York seems like a centre of gravity but is there a case for doing it in a more exotic location like Montreal?

Jill and I had an awesome time, Ian. Thanks again. I think you should give yourself more credit than that. You did an excellent job. Let me know when you're back from sunny old London and we'll have dinner in the 'hood.

My thanks to Ian for organizing and getting this terrific dinner-and-tasting off the ground. I have to make a special mention for the cool tasting notes and information handouts.

I'd also like to extend my thanks to everybody for the ACCROSS-THE-BOARD good wines ... and especially to those that trekked in from out-of-town - Muchas Gracias!
It's worth noting that NOT any of the wines were corked, cooked or in any undrinkable form. Great job, everybody!

Ramon

The organization was great, Ian. Thanks very much for all your work.

It was indeed nice that there were no corked winesin that line up of 22 great ones!

stefan

FWIW, this was Parker's take on the evolution of the 1990 and 1982 vintages in April 2009:
"My general observations were that overall, 1982 is a far more concentrated vintage than 1990. Most 1990s tend to be more evolved than the 1982s, which continue to age at a glacial pace, particularly in the Médoc."

Any vintage works for me really for the next BWE retrospective horizontal, but I would vote for a Spring 2010 or evening summer (with lots of A/C) tasting. The Fall is very hard for me to fly out for, poor me.

Ian, you did a great job. I agree with Jacques that you should give yourself more credit.

I love the atmosphere of the large, all-inclusive groups and the somewhat free-for-all nature of our BWE annual conventions. I also think there is also a lot to be said for smaller groups and a limited number of wines (yeah, like 23 bottles for 12 people was "limited"!). This is particularly true when you want a chance to spend a little more time with the wines and discuss them, go back to re-taste, etc. So there is a place for both. When we do these older vintages and/or higher end wines, it becomes more difficult to source more than 1 bottle of each, and bottle variation becomes an even bigger issue with 2 or 3 bottles. So my vote is to continue to limit it to 12.

I kind of like the idea of going back into the '80s for the next one. We've done '86 and '89. That leaves '81, '82, '83, '85, and '88 as good years. I could do any of them, though I don't have any '81s in my cellar. Which raises another issue: provenance. It would be nice if we could source most of the bottles from our own cellars with known storage conditions. The '89 Lynch last weekend highlighted this for me. The recently purchased bottle was excellent, but the one that was sitting in Jacques' cellar since release was better.

Great job Ian!

We gave at least a 30% tip, which was well earned. The bill was under $900.00 whcih was fantastic for a New York Steak House that didn't charge us corkage, and gave us all the time in the world.

Great service from Patrick who knew us from Gio when they worked at Salute. He seasoned the decantors with their wine, now thats experience with fine wines. He was never intrusive but appeared like magic when needed. Paced our meal perfectly and handled the "Blind Event" without a glich.

I vote we do the next dinner again at Fabios and suggest either 83 or 85 Bordeaux. 1990 would be a third option. Both 83 and 85 are still widely available and are not over the top if someone needed to buy. 90s are drinking very well but can be expensive if they had to be purchased. Although Lagrange, Sociando, La Louviere,and some others are still under $125 and drinking at top form.

I know this might be grounds for ex-communication, but I think the 90 Lynch is drinking better than the 89. :>)

In any event, count me in on the next dinner!

Oh! Many thanks to Ramon who found Fabios for us and smoothed the way for three great Dinners.

One more, Thanks Ian!

It was a great space for the event and the food was outstanding. Everything worked out fine. Amazing that none of the bottles were corked, cooked or off. I believe we left a 35% tip.

For next time maybe we could combine the best of 1983, 1985 and 1988.

Chris Bublitz

Hey Ian,

Let me add my accolades regarding the great job you did organizing a fantastic evening. I know how much work (guessing at least 400 emails/posts?) goes into one of these, and we all owe you big time for staying the course and pulling it off.

Let's do another one next year, but if you need any help or want a change of venue/promoter, please let me know and we'll make it happen.

A presto,
Tom

Thank you all and especially to Tom as usual for bringing four fabulous wines...and also for the beer afterwards...

I have been scratching around back here in my cellar and as far as 83s, 85s and 88s is concerned it is fairly lean pickings - most of them have been drunk already...so just the odd bottle of this and the odd bottle of that...however seem to have plenty of 82s and 90s...another possibility could be do pick one of our favorite estates - e.g., Ducru - and do a vertical