Academie des Vins Anciens June 2010

[tim]

This evening, I was fortunate enough to attend the Academie des Vins Anciens dinner in Paris, hosted by Francois. As most BWE'ers know, Francois has a regular series of dinners, known as "wine-dinners", featuring older wines from his cellar, in which participants pay according to the wines that are supplied. A few years ago, Francois began organizing another set of dinners for enthusiasts of old wines, as part of what would become the Academie des Vins Anciens. These dinners are much more BWE-style, where participants share older wines from their cellars and then pay for the meal. Francois and some of his friends organize the wines to be served, splitting the wines across multiple groups so that diners can both get generous pours, as well as taste through a variety of wines.

This evening, Francois and the Academie invited a number of gastronomy and wine students to join, which was probably their first exposure to older wines. He also opened a number of wines from his cellar, as he was going through an organization and had a number of wines that needed to be opened (a good problem to have, of course).

Here are the wines and the notes that I took from our group. Note, I don't have scores, as I really don't think its possible to score these wines. However, I'll try to differentiate the good from the not as good.

Moet et Chandon Champagne (age unknown, believed to be late 50's) from Magnum

Nothing like starting off with a really old wine, this Champagne was dark in color, and lacked any fizz. It did have quite a bit of acidity, in my opinion. The nose was of chestnuts, really remarkable. For me, it wasn't too exciting, but was certainly pleasant, with full body and a nice lingering note of nuts and caramel.

Soutiran grand cru millesime Champagne 2003

This was the baby of the bunch, and the youngest wine I believe we had. It was fresh, lots of apple on the nose and palate, bubbly. Nice, but lacked the depth following the Moet and Chandon.

Houdard de la Motte Champagne (age unknown, believed to be from the 80's sometime)

Gold in color, seemed too aged for its actual age. Lacked bubbles. Interesting, if somewhat uninspiring.

Prince de Bourbon Abel Lepitre Champagne 1975

Wow, just wow, I have never tasted anything like this. Straw colored, bubbly but not overwhelmingly, amazing structure. The taste reminds me of a combination of honeysuckle and leather, if thats possible. I kept this throughout the course of the night, and even though it lost all of its fizz, it remained a powerhouse of a Champagne. "Paradise" was the word that our table used to describe it.

Chateau de la Grave Bordeaux Blanc (age unknown, believed to be from the 1940's)

Dark amber color, smelled of burned wood. Not really sure how to describe it, as it seemed similar to some of the other older white wines that I've tasted in the past.

Bourgogne Aligote Les Caves Unies 1960

The only way I can describe this is simple. It still has a youthful feel to it, and it is quite fresh on the nose. Not as dark as the white bordeaux. But there were no secondary characteristics to the wine. Most of the other wines at least had some complexity, this was good but not intellectual.

Puligny-Montrachet Grands Chais de Dijon (exact age unknown, believed to be from the 1950's)

Another wow, incredible wine. Golden/amber in color, somewhat in between the bordeaux and the bourgogne. But the taste is just amazing. Mineral on the nose, but not like any young Chardonnay that I've ever had. Somewhat reminds me of the 61 Montrachet that we had in Beaune, although wasn't quite that complex. Still, simply amazing. I held back a glass of this for the remainder of the dinner, and at the recommendation of one of my tablemates, tasted it with the Stilton cheese. Fabulous pairing.

Chateau de Cavaille Bergerac 1982

Pretty much dead, not very interesting. Most people ended up dumping it.

Chateau Bourgneuf Vayron Pomerol 1971

Other people at the table liked this wine, I didn't. I thought it was bland, lacked any fruit, and didn't really give much pleasure.

Chateau Langoa Barton 1966
The wine I brought, so I was a bit biased. Very nice nose, almost sweet. The Saint Julien characteristics really are coming out in the wine. Medium bodied, like coming home to a good bordeaux. It didn't seem old, but it also didn't have some of the secondary characteristics that I would have liked to see. Overall very good though.

Chateau Haut-Brion 1963

Someone at the table commented that this is not a true example of an Haut Brion. When I smelled it, the first image I had was being in an automobile repair shop with the smell of fresh tires, combined with a little bit of rubbing alcohol. It was quite strange. I thought it had a lot of body, despite somewhat disappointing flavors.

Chateau Margaux 1962

Another incredible wine, completely overshadowing the Haut-Brion. Margaux nose, one whiff and I was dreaming of being back on the veranda at Chateau Margaux. The wine just fills your mouth with a sweetness, then comes back and dazzles you again after you swallow it. Really remarkable.

Chateau La Gaffeliere Naudes 1934

Is it possible to completely upstage a 62 Margaux? How do you define perfection? This wine had everything, when you smell it, you are transported to a field with the most beautiful smell of jasmine and other flowers. I can smell this all night (and actually, I did, as I kept it for the rest of the evening). On the palate, the wine just takes over and gives your tongue a complete massage, so that afterwards all you can think is "did I really just experience that?". I cannot say enough about this wine, it is perfect. My WOTN, and the WOTN for the person sitting next to me. This is ranked in my top five wines of all time.

Chateau Chauvin Caves Nicolas 1929

This wine would have been great had it not followed the Gaffeliere. Beautiful nose, definitely aged. Some others at my table had tasted a 29 Comptesse de Lalande, which they said was much better than this one, but it was still an excellent wine.

Macon reine Pedauque annees 1950

I didn't like this, tasted over the hill, not very interesting.

Mercurey Clost du Roi Antonin Rodet 1943

On first smell, the only way I can describe it is dirty socks. Think of the stinkiest feet you have ever smelled, multiply by five, and you have the opening of this wine. Some might describe that as a cheese smell. Nonetheless, once you get past this, a remarkable, full bodied wine that has all kinds of things going on for it. Complex, dark fruits, really wonderful. And even the nose becomes interesting.

Echezeaux Domaine de la Romanee Conti 1957

A lighter color than the other wines, this wine was definitely more subtle, although had some complexity. Some others had tasted a Grande Echezeaux at another table that they claimed was much better than this. It was definitely a beautiful wine, although not as remarkable given the wines that proceeded it.

Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape 1986

This was a strange wine to me, although I generally don't like Rhone wines very much. It tasted older than it should have, so it may have had some damage along the way. Nice for what it was.


We then followed with a number of dessert wines, although I didn't keep track of everything that I had at that point. Nonetheless, the evening ended as it started, with incredible wines alongside lots of great and interesting people! And a big thank you to Francois for inviting me to participate in it!

Tim

[Chasse-Spleen]

Great notes, Tim. Thanks. Not too surprising that the '62 Margaux performed well. I'm glad to hear that Francois is doing well.
-Chris

[stefan]

Very interesting report, Tim. We have all read many reports from François of tastings like this, and I appreciate that your point of view is so different.

[Mike Christensen]

The 1962 Margaux is an much under-appreciated wine. It held its own when I had it with the 1959 and 1961 about five years ago.

[sdr]

Terrific notes, Tim, on wines outside of our usual frame of reference. There's pleasure in some, but not all of course, old wines from lesser known vintages. Not surprising the '62 Margaux performed well, but the '34 Gaffelieres Naudes? Amazing.

Stuart

[tim]

I am still amazed at how good the 34 Gaffelieres Naudes was. The whole experience was quite interesting, and I'll have to say that the more older wines I drink, the more of a believer I become. Granted, its not possible to have a 62 Margaux every time, but certainly there are some great old wines out there that are worth trying.

One of the more interesting things was the fill levels on the wines, most were mid-shoulder or below. There were only a few that were above mid-shoulder. Which just goes to prove that fill is not always the best measurement for the quality of an older wine.

[François Audouze]

Hello to everybody.

I was very pleased to see Tim whom I had not met since our fantastic BWE trip to Beaune and then to Bordeaux.

The meeting of Académie des Vins Anciens consisted in 31 people among whom I had invited 12 students who were interested by conferences that I held in front of them in their schools.
As the young students could not bring old wines, it was an occasion for me to bring a lot of wines : I brought 46 wines among the 61 of the meeting.

I had announced to all attendants that I would bring "low level" bottles, as it was a good occasion to do so, because normally in our meetings there is one bottle per person. So, bringing the double quantity, with nearly 2 bottles per person, it made it acceptable if some bottles were dead.
We were in three groups of 10 to 11 people, drinking 20 to 21 bottles per group. I was in a different group from Tim's.

When I have opened all the bottles with the help of two friends, my guess was that probably 20 bottles would be to eliminate. But in fact, from what I have seen, only 5 to 6 were really dead, and in my group, there was none. Some were tired, but not dead.

For me, it was a fantastic lesson, as with such a number of old wines with low levels, it was obvious that the performance has been highly above what could be guessed by opening.
I had brought a Richebourg DRC 1942 which I declared definitively dead at the opening stage, but to my surprise the people who drank it adored it.

I have drunk a few wines that Tim has commented :

Moet et Chandon Champagne (age unknown, believed to be late 50's) from Magnum : it was the wine of a friend, with a perfect level. But when the cork was pulled, it was a too easy opening. I was very disappointed, as to begin with a tired champagne was a bad start. It was interesting to try, but not a pleasurable champagne.

Houdard de la Motte Champagne (age unknown, believed to be from the 80's sometime) : I had another bottle, as I had brought four of this champagne, with different low levels. The one I had was at a level 2 feet under the cap. And it was very pleasurable.

Prince de Bourbon Abel Lepitre Champagne 1975, brought by a friend : this is a wonder, exactly what an old champagne should be. A very great pleasure as Tim says.

Chateau La Gaffeliere Naudes 1934 : I did not drink it on this occasion, but I have drunk it before. It belongs to a buy that I have made from a cellar in Bordeaux where they had stayed for 70 years. All of them are splendid.

I knew that the Margaux 1962 would be great as I have drunk some with similar levels, and I cannot say why the Beaucastel had lost so much quantity as a 1986 is extremely young to have such a loss.

In my group, we have had some wonders. The greatest of all was Lafite 1900 low shoulder, which had a unique level of perfection. I would give without any hesitation 100 points.
Then a wonderful Mission Haut-Brion 1929 mid-shoulder which was a dream. And we had a very convincing Pichon Comtesse probably 1921 (surely from the 20ies). We had also a Grands Echézeaux DRC 1956 which was emotional and above my expectation.
The most disappointing as I expected a lot was a La Tour Blanche probably 1896 (surely 19th century). It had at the opening a wonderful smell of grapefruit, which turned to be a corky smell which did not exist for the three minutes after opening.

One of the greatest surprise was a Domaine de Chevalier 1952 with one centimeter below the shoulder which did not have the singlest defect. Amazing.

All in all, it was a very friendly meeting with a good lesson :
- never declare a wine dead until you give it a chance to ressuscitate
- the ability for an old wine to recover will always be an extreme surprise.

[DavidG]

Thanks, Francois. You know, reading these posts and then the articles about the fake Rodenstock/Greenberg wines, I have a sense of comfort that with Francois I am getting a report on the real thing.

[Jay Winton]

Thanks Tim and good to see you posting here again Francois. The Mouton vertical at the Sonoma convention included a 62 Mouton which was quite good. Brought by MichaelP I believe.

[DavidG]

Hmm, seem to have lost half my post there....

Tim, those are great notes on wines we rarely have a chance to see - the Beaucastel is the only one I've ever had. Fascinating to get a peek at these, and appreciate your ability to call 'em like you see 'em.