1995 Bordeaux retrospective at Apiary, NY

[jal]

To welcome back Arvind who was making a cameo appearance back in NYC, Matt gathered a few of Arv's friends at Apiary to take advantage of the Monday corkage free byo policy. The theme was 1995 Bordeaux and were accompanied by a delicious seven course tasting menu.

We started with a Pierre Peters, Blanc de Blancs "Cuvée Réserve" Brut, the Champagne is dry and lemony, it serves to toast Arv and congratulate him on the birth of his twin daugters. It also goes well with a delicious piece of hamachi crudo with jalapenos and avocados.

For a first flight we had the Fleur de Gay and the Angelus. Not much of a contest here, the Angelus is seductive with a great nose and deliciously sweet but with a great finish. Very feminine, the Fleur de Gay is burly, tannic, some chocolate and oak peek from under the tannins but it cannot compete with the far superior Angelus. These two wines accompanied a roasted monkfish with summer corn, poblano chiles, smoked bacon, chanterelles, and basil.

We then had the Gazin and the Clinet. Pappa found the Gazin slightly corked, I am fairly TCA insensitive and thought it was good but not great. The Clinet was very powerful but shut tight for me yesterday, others liked it but I couldn't penetrate that inky darkness. The food was warm asparagus with wild mushroom, truffle fondue, and chives.

On the the left bank; Leoville Lascases and Leoville Poyferre. Both wines delicious but so different; Lascases all massive power and richness, masculine with a great backbone, Poyferre open and seductive, feminine with an elegant structure. The food: crisp, smoky sweetbreads with romesco and frisée

Next were the Haut Bailly and the Pontet Canet and both wines were again fantastic. Most preferred the more forward seductive Haut Bailly but I preferred the Pontet Canet for its superior core of fruit.

The last Bordeaux flight was comprised of the Ducru Beaucaillou, Grand Puy Lacoste, and Pichon Baron. The Ducru's nose immediately catches everyone's attention - it is just fantastic even beating the perfumy Angelus, on the palate it is refined and delicious, a treat! The other two Pauillacs are very classy - earth and cedar with a solid core of fruit and a great finish. The GPL slightly more advanced but I would have been happy to drink either wine any day of the year. Food was Peking duck breast with parsnip puree, escarole, tokyo turnips, green peppercorns, and armagnac.

We finished with dessert and a delicious Auslese compliments of Pappadoc. I didn't get the name (Pappa, can you help with that?) but it was by far the most delicious Riesling I've ever had.

My favorite wines in order:
Ducru
Angelus
Leoville LasCases

The group's favorite after vote tallying (3 pts for fave, 2 for 2nd fave, 1 for 3rd):
Leoville Lascases 14pts
Ducru 13pts
Angelus 12 pts

A very nice evening, big thanks to Matt for organizing and it was good to see Arv again. Hopefully, he'll visit NYC often so we can have more of these friendly tastings.

[Tom In DC]

Thanks for the report, jal!

Five years ago, folks were starting to diss the 95's. I'm glad to hear that the "ten year old jinx" has once again been overcome...

Regards,
Tom

[PappaDoc]

Jacques,

It was 1990 Kerpen-Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese*** (Three Star). In the best form for me as the sweetness is almost gone. It's all about richness and minerality now. I think you've had too many young Rieslings, time I opened more with age for you.

Tom,

The 95s were great. I've been loving the Right Banks for 5 years but now the Lefties are coming on strong. The Ducru was sublime!

[stefan]

Thanks for the great report, Jacques, and the update on our friend Arv.

"I've been loving the Right Banks for 5 years but now the Lefties are coming on strong." +1

Now it is looking like '95 is overall a better year than '96 for red Bordeaux. Maybe we should be nicer to The Sucker?

No; that would be going too far....

[DavidG]

Nice report, Jacques! I drank all my '95 Angelus, wish I had more. The other '95 that has been drinking very well young is the Pichon Lalande. Still letting a number of others rest, as I think they are still on the upswing. The '95 L'Evangile was showing pretty well earlier this year after an hour or so of air time. I was thinking about looking in on Clinet again soon, but your note has convinced me to leave it buried for a while.

[Blanquito]

The 1995 P. Lalande is a sensational wine. It has something for everybody.

[Comte Flaneur]

I was sorry to have to pull out of this at the last minute...but Jacques's notes are very encouraging...it seems like many of them have developed significantly in the last 3-5 years...virtually all of my 95s are hermetically sealed still

Jacques - would you say these wines were on their 'plateau' of maturity yet?

[Claudius2]

Guys
Did any of you attend the 1995 tastng at Salute! when I was in NYC in (I think) 2005??
The Angelus was my fav though Leoville Poyferre, Pape Clement and serveral others were all very good.
Seems that these wines have opened up more and are showng more complexity than 5 years ago.

[jal]

Jacques - would you say these wines were on their 'plateau' of maturity yet?

Ian, I really liked the left bank wines and thought that, with the exception of the Leoville LasCases, they were beginning to show quite well. The LLC was very rich and powerful, but one could sense that it needed a few more years. The Angelus has never closed down and has always been delicious, but of the other righties, Client and La Fleur de Gay needed more time.

It looks like Pappa may disagree with me saying that the 1995 Right Bank wines have been drinking well for five years, but I have not had any the last five years (except for Angelus) and two wines Clinet and La Fleur de Gay don't make a rule. I will ignore the Gazin since the bottle was probably off.

BTW, Matt's notes on another board indicate that they could all use more time.

[Houndsong]

The few 95 righties I've had in the past couple of years have been great. Petit Village, Soutard, and Croix du Casse (I think) come to mind. I can only recall that the couple of 95 lefties at the St. Julien dinner needed seemingly much more time.

[Ramon_NYC]

Thanks for the notes. Good to read the encouraging phase of the '95s. I had always been endeared by the '95 LLC and glad that it showed well. I'm sorry to have to miss the excellent lineup and, especially Arv this time around.

[Michael-P]

In June we did 3 - 95s with our buffalo fillets at the buffalo ranch. LLC, GPL and Tertre Rotebeof. LLC stood out as the clear winner. I think the other two were very close to each other with the Tertre getting the edge over the GPL. 95s are generally very nice.

Michael-P

[JimHow]

I think 1995 is coming around.