Bordeaux wines of the 1970s: NYC October 16, 2010

[mike reff]

keep in mind that with 14 people, a mere pittance of a taste will result from the bottle. So the pour police might be in full effect, Also we are assuming that there will be a miss rate, which I guess is not rare with these old bottles. That being said, we could bring all the bottles, but do we need to open them all up???

[Comte Flaneur]

If every wine is fine we will be struggling a bit...but I think the old adage about 'only good bottles" will apply so I think we are pitching it right. It would be catastrophic if we ran out. So I prefer the Alan Greenspan asymmetric 'risk management' approach...just as central bankers are taking out additional insurance against deflation we should also do likewise against the risk of a high miss rate (the list at the restaurant is not among the best I have seen).

[stefan]

Lucie and I come in Wednesday afternoon and are free that night for dinner. We thought to eat at the North Square Restaurant in the Washington Square Hotel (where we are staying), which is very good and allows you to bring wine in, but are open to alternatives. If you are interested, email me or call my cell 979.450.2812.

[Winona Chief]

Marjorie and I will be arriving on Thursday afternoon. Anyone available to get together on Thursday or Friday night? E-mail or call at 240,687,3390. We are staying at the Courtyard at 53rd and 3rd Ave.

Chris Bublitz

[PappaDoc]

Guys,

I'm sorry to say I have to drop out at the last min. I will get my btls (71 Latour A Pomerol, and 70 Mouton Baron Philippe) to the Dinner. I'm going to ask Dale or Jacques if they'd bring them if I drop them off at thier home.

I promised my Twin Grandsons (Age 7) that I would take them camping. I made this promise before they had Surgurey (they are fine now) about five weeks ago. They couldn't go earlier because of risk of infection but are now cleared by the Doctor. I couldn't get another weekend that would fit the Twins schedule.

I looked forward to this Dinner knowing how great the last two were for months. But there is nothing closer to a crime then breaking a promise to a Grandchild or Child. I'll have a glass of wine with thier Dad and toast the group.

John (PappaD)

[Comte Flaneur]

I am sorry PD can't make it, and told him we have plenty of wine alreday so no need to drop his two off

I have two alternative possible line ups, what do people think?

Line up one:

Flight one Pauillac /St Estephe

GPL 70, Montrose 70, Montrose 78

Flight two – right bankers

Canon 71, Figeac 75, Trotanoy 78, Pavie 79

Flight three –

La Lagune 70, La Lagune 78, Giscours 70, Giscours 75

Flight four – the Pichons

Pichon Lalandes 70, 78, 79

Flight five – the Palmers

Palmers 70, 75, 78???, 79

Flight six – Medoc firsts

Mouton 75, Latour 75, Latour 79,

Flight seven –Graves/Pessac

Haut Brion 78, DDC 78, LTHB 79

Flight eight – the sweeties

d’Yquem 70, Filhot 70, Gilette CDT 78

[Comte Flaneur]

Line up two:

Flight one
Canon 71, Figeac 75, Trotanoy 78, Pavie 79
Flight two
Pichon Lalande 70, Pichon Lalande 78, Montrose 70, Montrose 78
Flight three
Palmer 75, Palmer 79, Giscours 70, Giscours 75
Flight four
Palmer 70, Palmer 78, La Lagune 70 La Lagune 78
Flight five
Mouton 75, Latour 75, Latour 79, Pichon 79
Flight six
Haut-Brion 78, DDC 78, LTHB 79, GPL 70
Flight seven
d’Yquem 70, Filhot 70, Gilette CDT 78

[mike reff]

For anyone that is bored Saturday afternoon, Acker is having a wine auction at

Meyna
250 Central Park South, between 58th and 59th street. It starts at 10am but there are over 900 lots.

[Ramon_NYC]

Ian,

I kinda like Line-up #1, because:
a. the Right Bank flight is somewhere in-between the slew of Left Banks ... this line-up will sort-of break the flight-after-flight-after-flight of Left Banks; and
b. I also like the idea of a Palmer-only flight.

Thanks, and looking forward to catching up with everybody.

Ramon

[stefan]

What Ramon said.

[Winona Chief]

I also like line-up one better - I prefer to keep the Palmers in one flight and the PLLs in one flight.

Chris Bublitz

[jal]

I like line up two better, but how about la Lagune and Giscours in flight three and all the Palmers in flight four?

Or whatever Ian decides is good for me.

[Comte Flaneur]

All good points - how about this?

Flight one
La Lagune 70 La Lagune 78 Giscours 70 Giscours 75
Flight two
Canon 71 Figeac 75 Trotanoy 1978 Pavie 1979
Flight three
Pichon Lalandes 70, 78, 79
Flight four
Palmers 70, 75, 78, 79
Flight five
Mouton 75, Latour 75, Latour 79
Flight six
Haut Brion 78, DDC 78, LTHB 79
Flight seven
GPL 70, Montrose 70, Montrose 78
Flight eight
Yquem 70, Filhot 70, Gilette CDT 78


Back ups: Ducru 76 (stefan), Trotanoy 79 (Ian)

[stefan]

Yes, that last one looks very good, Ian.

[jal]

I like it.

[Winona Chief]

Works for me.

Chris Bublitz

[stefan]

We will miss you, Pappa. Can you make the Thursday dinner?

Lucie and warmed up for the Saturday bash by drinking 1978 Brane-Cantenac. This was never a great wine, but has held up well. It still has decent fruit and the structure is fine, but it is less complex than a classified Margaux from 1998 should be. It is a very good sign that an underachiever like B-C is still a pleasure to drink 30+ years down the line.

[DavidG]

Have a great time, guys. I'm off to Chicago for a week of meetings. Only one good wine dinner in the lineup, so I'm jealous. I'm sure this will rival the last few.

[JimHow]

Looking forward to the reports....

The seventies was the greatest decade ever!

[Comte Flaneur]

Maybe for popular music...but it was a bad decade for the economy and allegedly also for Bordeaux

We'll see - we managed to cobble together a good line up I think - the only notable omisions are Latour 70, La Mission 75 & 78, Lafleur 75, 78, 79 and Petrus 70, 71, 75 & 78 - but they are about the only notably very expensive wines from the decade

[JimHow]

Cinema too....

[Comte Flaneur]

Yes...but back on to popular music...just to get in the mood, some poptastic songs from the 1970s:

Abba: SoS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvChjHcABPA&ob=av2n

Rod Stewart: Sailing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1v60FITAfY

Stevie Wonder: Sir Duke http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH36ugGsy4M

KC & the Sunshine Band; Shake Your Booty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgZOYt5kH9Q&feature=fvst

Maxine Nightingale: Get Right Back to Where We Started From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqxqyU31ays

Christie: Yellow River http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ5-FoiBuVc

Andrew Gold: Lonely Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kbgjmmr5vw

David Bowie: Heroes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQFuNHCMF2Y&ob=av2n

Dawn: Tie a Yellow Ribbon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBL2kzKg4nY

America: Sister Golden Hair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW5nJsormOQ

Cold Chisel: Khe Sanh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmyEv4n8ERI

[mike reff]

oy veh...btw.. I was born in the 70's...Can we get trivia into the mix as well????

[mike reff]

An amazing night. Hats off to Ian for organizing and Ramon for finding the location. Brushing off the cobwebs this morning and will post some notes later in the day.