Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Reminder: Wine Drop Off at Charlie Palmer
If you want your bottle opened ahead of time, or decanted, please be sure to drop it off at Charlier Palmer between noon and 3 PM Saturday with any particular instructions taped to the bottle. RickJ and I will be busy opening, decanting, checking for taint, and masking the blind tasting bottles and will be happy to open any of your bottles if you wish.


For those who want to post the wines they plan to bring to the Saturday night dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak, this is the place to do it. I've collected the various offerings people have suggested from other threads and copied them here. I will update as people add things.

While the theme is '80s Bordeaux, we've never been too dogmatic about sticking to themes. Besides, we will cover that at least in part during the blind tasting. So feel free to bring whatever. But none of those '05 Burgs! Those are for Friday night, and for impromptu shootouts in Jim's room. A few Champagnes for the welcome hour and stickies for dessert are also welcome.

Champagnes
85 Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs - SDR & Kathy
88 Veuve Clicquot Rare (2) - Werner & Chris
MV Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle - DavidG & Peggy
NV Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut - DavidG & Peggy
NV Henriot Brut Rose - DavidG & Peggy

Reds
82 Canon - SDR & Kathy
82 Leoville Barton - Blanquito
82 Leoville Barton - Winona Chief & Marjorie
82 Leoville Poyferre - HM$ & Lisa
82 Leoville Poyferre - Stefan & Lucie
82 La Lagune - Stefan & Lucie
82 Sociando Mallet - HM$ & Lisa
82 Talbot - DavidG & Peggy
83 Gruaud Larose - Winona Chief & Marjorie
83 Gruaud Larose - RickJ & Kathie
83 Palmer - Werner & Chris
83 Pichon Lalande - Werner & Chris
85 Gruaud Larose - Jim How
85 Gruaud Larose - Tom & Gail
85 Mouton - SDR & Kathy
85 Pichon Lalande - Jim How
85 Pichon Lalande - Tom & Gail
86 Ducru Beaucaillou - JC & Paula Northway
86 Ducru Beaucaillou - Stefan & Lucie
88 Haut Brion - Nic
88 La Lagune - Jay & Peggy
88 Lynch Bages - JC & Paula Northway
89 La Lagune - Jay & Peggy

Stickies
59 Suduiraut (This is not from the '80s. Should we send it back? ) - SDR & Kathy
90 Filhot Creme du Tete - HM$ & Lisa
95 Yquem (2) - Winona Chief & Marjorie

I'm bringing the 1982 Leoville Barton.

We will bring the following wines for Saturday:

1988 Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage Champagne -- 2 bottles
1983 Palmer -- 1 bottle
1983 Pichon Lalande -- 1 bottle

Thanks
Werner

Very nice, Patrick and Werner!

David, are we looking for matches or are we trying to avoid matches? So far it seems that it is the latter.

stefan

To match or not to match; that is the question.

Stefan, my philosophy is - whatever the group wants and can provide will be just fine.

There will be about 25 of us there.

We'll have 2 bottles of each of the 6 wines for the blind tasting - enough for a 1.5 to 2-oz pour for everyone.

For dinner, I think it would be nice if there were at least a few wines that were present in enough quantity (2 or 3 bottles) for everyone to experience and discuss them. OTOH, I don't want to inhibit anyone from bringing a bottle they would like to share just because we can't match it.

So far, we've got two bottles of '83 Gruaud, and I think Howard offered 2 bottles of '82 Sociando and a mag of '86 Sociando, though that might have been when he was planning on bringing his entire entourage.

Subject to doing a physical inventory when I return home, I can match the '82 Leoville Poyferre and the '86 Ducru Beaucaillou.
ADDED 3/18: Audit done and will bring these two. Thinking now about what else to bring. Maybe '82 La Lagune to combine with Jay's '89 & '90 to give a mini vertical of this much underrated estate?

stefan

Yes I agree with David, I've never gotten hung up on trying to get multiple bottles of any particular wine there, there are always of plenty of wines to go around.

Just finished watching Iron Man, I'd like to see if I can get my hands on that Gwyneth Paltro of wines for the convention.

Is Nic a '74 vintage?

Yes Tom,

1974 January vintage. But I could not legally drive at that time... One 1974 Bordeaux would be interesting, but I don't know which one is still showing well today.
1974 Petrus was ok at Chicago in 2001. It was a wine of the blind tasting and finish 6th over 6.
Nic

Couple of recent additions - looks like there will be 2 bottles of quite a few of the wines, actually.

Without checking in the dungeon, I can offer an 88 and an 89 LaLagune. Also know I have 89 Calon Segur and L'arrossee

Getting envious of all the discussion. Guess I'll have to tough it up with my wife on a Caribbean cruise. There are some things that a man just has to do to get browny points. Actually looking forward to it. Will be reconnecting with a Med school buddy who has been working in KC since graduation. We were best men at each others weddings and haven't seen one anothe since his wedding 20yrs ago. I hope you understand how much I'm looking forward to seeing an old buddy but still hard not to revisit DC. Had a great time last time two years ago with my brother Larry. Nice dinner that Chris B put on with Kathy,Rick,Rob & Sue with wonderful Rhones along with selection of German Reislings curtesy of Chris. Tom's hosting of the Friday affair at his house was top notch. Nice to see Jim screw up on the LB. Priceless. Shared dinner with Jon(Seattle) not sure what's happened to him but really enjoyed his table company and conversation. Saturday at Charlie P's was great. Rob/Sue,ChrisB/Wife with Larry and myself had a fabulous night sharing a table. Stefan turned me on to Winston Churchill forever that night. I've got a bottle of the 96 waiting in cellar for a future event and Pol Roger NV has become a staple household wine since sharing with Count von Neippburg at reception BWE 05. Salon 85 also waiting for the next encouter France BWE with Francois et al. Needless to say the three events that I've attended have been wonderful memories with good friends. A little embarrassed about lunch in Paris at Le Pied de Cochon with Tim,Tom W and brother with the crap they served. Pig's feet in French Canada are a delicacy. Maybe Nic can help out but my wife's family pied de cochon are outstanding country fare and I'm sure Nic will have a story or two about pigs feet over his life in Quebec. Needless to say I'm envious of the upcoming evevt. I encourage people who might be shy about attending and I'd like to wish everyone the best time possible in DC. I know everyone will have a great time.

Danny

We'll miss you Danny. I hope we can get to your area sometime in '09, maybe this summer.

I still haven't decided on my Friday and Saturday night wines yet, I'm leaning toward 1985 Pichon Lalande and 1986 Gruaud Larose.

Jim,

If not this summer then next for sure. Let's try to coordinate something. I think that you and others would love an offline or maybe even a Spring convention in Ottawa. Would love to showcase our Nation's Capital to the BWE friends of the world.

Danny

I've added the latest additions of what I think you are all bringing to the initial post in this thread. Some of the comments are a little vague, so if I've added something you aren't really committed to yet, let me know by posting here and I'll fix it.

And a plea...

The ability to edit posts here is great, but if you start changing the wines you're bringing by editing an earlier post you wrote, I may not see the changes. I'm not in the habit of reading this whole thread from the beginning each time. I think I've caught everything so far - let me know if I've messed up. But from here on please post any additions, deletions, or changes to the end of this thread. Thanks.

I'm going to add an '82 Talbot to the list.

Kudos to the group for coming up with a pretty nice selection of Bordeaux from the '80s. And when you add the two wines each from '82, ''85, and '89 in the blind tasting, I think we're going to be just fine...

What a great lineup! Good wines and good people... as usual.

We have to attend a wedding in Sarasota that weekend.

We'll raise a toast to you, SteveH, and as BD I hereby decree that we must do a Boston gathering at some point in '09.

We'll add second bottles of '85 Gruaud Larose and '85 Pichon Lalande.

Got it, Tom. The list just keeps gettin' better and better.

Steve, you and Susan will be missed. Have a great time in Sarasota.

I am changing to 1 '82 Poyferre, 1 '90 Filhot Creme du Tete, 1 '82 Sociando Mallet (I seem to only have 1).

hm$

Save me a taste of that '90 Filhot Creme du Tete, HM$!

I will toss in a 1982 Canon since the right bank seems under-represented to me.

I also will bring an old Port, just in case you are stll thirsty after consuming the 46 bottles we already know about.

~stuart

Reminder: Wine Drop Off at Charlie Palmer
If you want your bottle opened ahead of time, or decanted, please be sure to drop it off at Charlier Palmer between noon and 3 PM Saturday with any particular instructions taped to the bottle. RickJ and I will be busy opening, decanting, checking for taint, and masking the blind tasting bottles and will be happy to open any of your bottles if you wish.

I look forward to seeing everyone Friday and Saturday...

The "old" Port turns out to be the 1963 Taylor.

~stuart

Well, I see David posted all my possibilities. I'm happy to bring all four but that might be overkill so how about 2? 88 LaLagune and 89 Calon Segur?

Jay, how about the 2 La Lagunes?

stefan

ok, so the 88 and 89 LaLagune. Caveat: the provenance on the 89 is not great as I've noticed seepage on previous bottles due to excessive heat, I believe .

OK, I've fixed the list to reflect the last few posts. Jay, I'm actually relieved to see the number of bottles go down a bit. Not that I lack faith in our BWE brethren, but I was getting concerned with the number of people bringing multiple bottles/person.

I'm thinking of shifting a couple of bottles of Champagne from Saturday to Friday. Will 6 bottles be enough starters for the 25 of us?

>>
Will 6 bottles be enough starters for the 25 of us
>>

Absolutely. That's one bottle for Lucie, one for Mrs Vino, and 4 is plenty for the rest of us.

Stuart,

1963 Taylor - wow! Thanks

Chris Bublitz

Do we have enough Sauternes?

I'm thinking of shifting a couple of bottles of Champagne from Saturday to Friday. Will 6 bottles be enough starters for the 25 of us?

Good idea, David - I think we can get by with 6 bottles of Champagne on Saturday!

Chris Bublitz

Blanquito wrote:Do we have enough Sauternes?

We will be going through an awful lot of bottles of wine before we get to the Sauternes (and Port) and I will be bringing more than one bottle of 1995 dYquem.

Chris Bublitz

Never underestimate the capacity of BWEers to consume wine. We had a little dinner party the other night, I brought four bottles for five of us, two of whom drink lightly. Well, a sixth person showed up, and we ran out of wine. That really sucked. It is better to have too much than too little wine!

I'm half drunk just be reading the list!

I don't have a lot of Bordeaux from the 80's. As I'll be sitting at Lucie and Stefan's table, i should consult them about that. Stefan, i think we're missing some Pessac-Léognan. What do you think about having a 1988 Chateau Haut-Brion at our table? We probably will see Mr Vino around, as he liked the one I had at Mr Tang lunch in 2003...

Nic

Ooooh, that would be a real treat, Nic.

stefan

Oooooh is right! I wanna sit with you guys!

Speaking of tables, there are 25 of us. I had the option of 3 or 4 tables. I went with 3 (8, 8, and 9) so there would be more of a communal feeling. These are usually 10-tops so there should be room for all of our glassware and bottles. Charlie Palmer will be supplying 3 stems for each seat. I have been assured that these will be decent-sized Bdx stems, not little 6-ouncers.