TN: TN: 1987 Pichon Lalande - very good wine

[DCWINO]

• 1987 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/15/2012)
  Start with a hint of green, bell pepper and green olive, a hint of mint, wet tobacco, also blueberries and cherry. The palate displays sweet vibrant fruits, silky palate and slightly grainy rustic tannins. This is a very good claret especially if you like the freshness and perfume coming from slightly unripe cabernet sauvignon. Pichon Lalande made consistently good to great wines in the 80s, even 81 is drinking nicely.
  
  P.S. This went really well with the rare ruth's chris fillet on a really hot plate. (91 pts.)
• 1987 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (8/29/2011)
  Soft and subtle, almost all tertiary, a hint of green via olive, menthol, hazelnut, west tobacco leaves and forest floor. Medium weight, nice silky palate with still some tannins showing. Certainly not a great wine but a very good claret that complemented the USDA prime fillet.
  
  I agree fully with breezer6’s TN. (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Houndsong]

Sounds good. Try as I may I have to admit to being bullied by "the-greatest-vintage-of-my [i.e. His]-lifetime" mentality, despite ample personal experience than less than "perfect" growing conditions very often, or usually even, yields very interesting and pleasurable, sometimes more interesting and pleasurable, and certainly more affordable, wines.

[tmas]

• 1987 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/15/2012)
  Start with a hint of green, bell pepper and green olive, a hint of mint, wet tobacco, also blueberries and cherry. The palate displays sweet vibrant fruits, silky palate and slightly grainy rustic tannins. This is a very good claret especially if you like the freshness and perfume coming from slightly unripe cabernet sauvignon. Pichon Lalande made consistently good to great wines in the 80s, even 81 is drinking nicely.
  
  P.S. This went really well with the rare ruth's chris fillet on a really hot plate. (91 pts.)
• 1987 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (8/29/2011)
  Soft and subtle, almost all tertiary, a hint of green via olive, menthol, hazelnut, west tobacco leaves and forest floor. Medium weight, nice silky palate with still some tannins showing. Certainly not a great wine but a very good claret that complemented the USDA prime fillet.
  
  I agree fully with breezer6’s TN. (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I purchased some '87 Pichon Lalande way back in the early 90's. I drank most of it over the next several years and really enjoyed it. I remember it being elegant and having the "bell pepper" and "tobacco" qualities you mention. A great food wine that I found similar to what I think of as "old style" california cabs, which had modest alcohol levels and often had the bell pepper thing going on. I know I have a bottle or 2 of these hanging around somewhere, gonna have to make an effort to find and drink them!
By the way, was this on a wine list, or does ruth chris have a cork policy? Tom

[DCWINO]

• 1987 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/15/2012)
  Start with a hint of green, bell pepper and green olive, a hint of mint, wet tobacco, also blueberries and cherry. The palate displays sweet vibrant fruits, silky palate and slightly grainy rustic tannins. This is a very good claret especially if you like the freshness and perfume coming from slightly unripe cabernet sauvignon. Pichon Lalande made consistently good to great wines in the 80s, even 81 is drinking nicely.
  
  P.S. This went really well with the rare ruth's chris fillet on a really hot plate. (91 pts.)
• 1987 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (8/29/2011)
  Soft and subtle, almost all tertiary, a hint of green via olive, menthol, hazelnut, west tobacco leaves and forest floor. Medium weight, nice silky palate with still some tannins showing. Certainly not a great wine but a very good claret that complemented the USDA prime fillet.
  
  I agree fully with breezer6’s TN. (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

BYOB, a nice option to have now, $20 per bottle.


I purchased some '87 Pichon Lalande way back in the early 90's. I drank most of it over the next several years and really enjoyed it. I remember it being elegant and having the "bell pepper" and "tobacco" qualities you mention. A great food wine that I found similar to what I think of as "old style" california cabs, which had modest alcohol levels and often had the bell pepper thing going on. I know I have a bottle or 2 of these hanging around somewhere, gonna have to make an effort to find and drink them!
By the way, was this on a wine list, or does ruth chris have a cork policy? Tom

[tmas]

[quote="DCWINO"]

"BYOB, a nice option to have now, $20 per bottle."


Yeah, no question about that! I have to check if the same policy is in effect at the Manhattan location, if so I'll be visiting Ruth Chris before long. For anyone with any kind of cellar it's really the only way to go. To dine in a fine restaurant, eating great food and enjoying the ambiance while sipping your 1985 diamond creek cab or 1983 gruaud larose, or whatever, for a $20 bill is just wine lover heaven!

By way of comparison, the wife and I dined at the Atlantic Grill on the Upper East side of Manhattan yesterday evening, I had salmon and she had crab cakes and we got a bottle of Becker pinot from Pfalz as an accompaniment. It was a good match, exactly what I expected, but $42.00 after tax & tip adds over $50. to the tab; you're drinking a nice wine, but certainly nothing particularly memorable.

Hmmm...Wonder if they have a cork charge policy? Hope so, then next time I'll bring along a bottle of Williams Selyem Sonoma Coast, probably at least a $100 bottle if on the wine list, for that 20 or so dollar bill!

[JimHow]

I don't have any data in front of me, but I believe 1987, at least on the left bank, receives consistently excellent reviews here on BWE.