Paris 1976 revisited

[Comte Flaneur]

Some of you may remember, and many of you would have read about, a famous blind tasting held by Steven Spurrier in Paris in May 1976, where several renowned French critics blind tasted various red Bordeaux vs. Cali cabs and white burgundies vs. Cali chardonnays, and Californian wines (Stag’s Leap and Montelena) topped the respective categories.

Our most generous host(s) tried to replicate something similar on Saturday but just for the reds with a very strong line up of left banks, right banks and Californian cabs. We knew which wines were being served but we didn’t know which was which. The line up consisted of Lafite ’98, Mouton ’95, Cheval Blanc ’99, Le Pin ’99, Harlan Estate ’94 and Bryant Family CS ’95.

Wine one: a translucent colour, lashings of creamy raspberry and other berry jam, it put on weight over the evening and developed more complex creamy white chocolate and mocha notes; silky, seductive and heavenly. Really long, languid and luxurious; really top notch. At first I thought it must be Californian before I realised it was Le Pin...97 points

Wine two: This was also a most voluptuous wine, with the silkiest tannins, more opaque and a bit more cabernet structure, minerals, herbs and array of red fruits. Very young still with a very long impressive finish. I thought this could be the Mouton but realised it was Californian – my guess the Harlan. 96+

Wine three: more translucent than two, though not as light as #one...this had a milled oak characteristic than I thought had to be Mouton; chocolate-y and earthy notes this was too young and tight to drink now but most promising. 94++

Wine four: A bit more opaque than three, quite stern and tannic and unforgiving. I thought I detected a green note, which told me this is probably Cheval Blanc. The most difficult wine to get along with; curmudgeonly, backward, brooding and tannic. 94+++

Wine five: Maroon, very classic, very aristocratic Pauillac, right from the top drawer; plenty of structure, powerful but refined tannins; medium to full bodied, surely the Lafite (which I had tried before)? 98++

Wine six: It had a slightly over cooked nose, which was off putting but was brilliant after that, wave after wave of delicious cabernet fruit, great complexity and fabulous length. It was one of the Californians, my guess Bryant, which I had never tried before (and I never had that nose on a Harlan).96+

So I only got one right – wine one, which was Le Pin. Wine two was Bryant not Harlan; wine three was Cheval Blanc, not Mouton, wine four was Lafite not Cheval, wine five was Mouton not Lafite and wine six was Harlan and not Bryant. ( I was so sure I had them all right apart from the Calis: It is amazing how cocky and confident you can be at these blind tastings only to be crushingly and devastatingly wrong.)

My wine of the night was #5, followed by #1, followed by #2, followed by #6, followed by #3 and #4.

The group favourite was #1 Le Pin by a comfortable margin. I think I was the only one that did not have it as my favourite wine. Second group favourite was #2, Bryant; third equal were #5 Mouton and #6 Harlan; fifth was #3 Cheval Blanc and sixth #4 Lafite.

What is the moral of the story? Both regions make some fabulous wines. I suspect that if the same wines were tried ten and 20 years down the line the pendulum would swing more to the Bordeaux. I only say that because their aging ability is well proven. Also – perhaps by virtue of their rarity – the Cali wines were the second and third most expensive wines on the table.

[Blanquito]

Great notes, Ian. A seriously high brow line-up. I've been drinkng a bunch of early '90's Calicabs recently. Great stuff, and fully ready to go while my Bordeaux matures.

[DavidG]

Great tasting and write-up. No one seems to do these things with mature Bordeaux. I wonder where the Calis would be by the time the Bordeaux are strutting their complexities, say 20-30 years down the road. Peter (CabFan) treated us to a few outstanding Calis from the '70s back in the early days of BWE. Wonder if they were rare exceptions or typical of the best that Cali had to offer, and if today's wines would still do that?

[AlexR]

Thanks Ian.
Sounds like a fascinating tasting.
All the best,
Alex

[jal]

I think you did very well Ian, you guessed both California wines' origin.

DavidG treated us to a bottle of 1994 Harlan at the Miami convention and it was a knockout wine! I have had only the 2001 Bryant which I thought tasted like blueberry juice. Glad to see they know how to make wines in other vintages.

Did you ever see the movie "Bottle Shock"? It is supposed to be about the judgment of Paris but I thought it captured the early days of the California wine industry a lot better than the specific Paris event. Nevertheless the movie is fun and harmless entertainment.

[Chasse-Spleen]

A great intellectual display. Now, if you can tell the mono pressing of "Bitch" from the stereo, I'll be truly impressed.

;0)

Thanks for the excellent account of an amazing tasting, Ian. I think it's interesting that the '99 wines acquited themselves so well.

-Chris

[Michael-P]

Wow! Great TNs, a nice idea to have a "revisited taste off" and sounds like a wonderful evening. Based on the descriptions, I too would have picked the Cheval as you did. Thanks.

Michael-P