BWE Saturday night highlights

[DavidG]

Reconnecting with everyone was undoubtedly the best. After that, and for the wines, it was again an embarrassment of riches, and hard to say.

The blind tasting went pretty well. Though there was some bottle variation with 3 bottles of each wine, people did get up for extra pours and to trade samples from other tables. The hardest part was that the wines were really pretty close in quality, and except for the 2 St Estephes, pretty close in taste and nose, at least to me (and I knew the answers!).

We had a little friendly competition for "sharpest palate" with 1 point each for getting the right year, wine, and both, for a possible perfect score of 18. Our winner was Jon Northway, who got an almost perfect 14 points, guessing every wine but mixing up only the years for the two Cos. Jon's prizes include an autographed copy of Jim's book Lisbon Street and bragging rights for a year. There were 3 runners-up at 12 points: HM$, PeggyW (Mrs. Vino), and, uh-oh, I'm blanking on the third one. Chime in...

The WOTN scoring was done by ranking (1=best, 6=worst), with fewest points against winning. The results were interesting, and pretty close:

First place - tie with 86 points against each wine:
1995 Cos D'Estournel
1996 Cos D'Estournel

Third place - with 93 points against:
1996 Grand Puy Lacoste

Fourth place - with 99 points against:
1995 Grand Puy Lacoste

Fifth place - with 106 points against:
1996 Ducru Beaucaillou

Sixth place - but in a virtual dead heat with 107 points against:
1995 Ducru Beaucaillou

This is not to say the Ducrus were in any way less than excellent. To put a point on how close the voting really was, the top and bottom wines were separated by only 20 out of 577 total points. About a 3% difference. Not exactly something to get excited about unless you're running for office. Any of the 6 blind wines would be capable of being the star of a dinner. Especially with a little more age (but that's just me).

But then the organized portion of the evening was over and we got to the real heart of the matter. Bottles people brought started flying around the room and many of them just blew away the blind wines. Mynnotes got wrapped up and carted off in one of the tablecloths at the end of the evening, so all I can do is post the names of a few of the standouts. I'm sure I'm forgetting some and didn't even get to taste some others. But highlights for me included (in no particular order):

19?? Lynch Bages blanc - a perfect match with the four minute egg!
1964 Latour
1978 Lynch Bages
1950 Lynch Bages
1986 Gruaud Larose
1995 Clinet
1985 Margaux
1976 Cheval Blanc
2001 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese - how'd this get into a BWE event?

Peggy W got us all to text our votes for the next venue to some cute little iPad app which registered real-time voting. I tried to vote off that terrible guy with the bad hair and skin and worse voice Deandre, but it didn't work. Chicago got the most votes, with "somewhere else" (e.g. somewhere in Texas) coming in second. But of course this is a dictatorship so who knows where we will end up next year? Wherever it is, I'll be there!

The party then carried on in Tom's Presidential Suite at the Hilton, at least until about 1 AM when security showed up to tell us we were making so much noise that the couple next door couldn't hear themselves screaming at each other. So it was off to bed with memories of another great 3 days of BWE festivities lulling me to sleep.

[SF Ed]

I missed you guys this year - couldn't come because I am recovering from back surgery (successfully, I might add). LIsa and I had a 1990 Canon La Gaffeliere last night, but that's nothing compared to any BWE main event. Hopefully I'll see everyone next year!

SF Ed

[Blanquito]

Thanks for th write up, David. Sounds incredible. I've had all of the 96 blind wines and the 96 Cos is my fav too! How much longer would you let the 96s sleep ideally?

[Jay Winton]

Thanks David for your writeup. A great convention but they're always great. Everyone travel safely!

[DavidG]

Patrick, I love it when Bdx develops that sweet aged complexity, but is still holding its fruit. The '95s and '96s last night were all drinking really well but they hadn't yet developed that special complexity. I think they will continue to improve over the next 5 years, and then somewhere around 8-10 years they'll start developing that magic complexity. Assuming the fruit holds, which I am pretty sure it will for all 6 of the wines we had blind.

[JimHow]

I was surprised I couldn't tell the Cos apart from the others. All six wines were strong efforts, with decades of life left in them. Some highlights for me were the 1964 Latour, the 1976 Cheval Blanc, and the 1950 Lynch Bages was very interesting. 1986 Gruaud Larose was delicious. Trying to remember more of the wines I had. '80 d'Yquem was a pleasant surprise.

[JimHow]

1994 LLC is an outstanding wine.
A very festive atmosphere all weekend.
An immensely fun group!

[Claret]

2001 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese - how'd this get into a BWE event?

Jim, this is world class Riesling from a great vineyard from the top vintage of the last 2 decades in Germany. Did you get to try some?

The only blind wine I own is 1995 Cos.

In general I find Medoc 1995's to have tannins that are less resolved and polished than many of the 1996's. Did the blind tasting follow this trend?

[JimHow]

1998 Lynch Bages Blanc.... Mmm, very fresh, very satisfying.
1978 Lynch was strong, aromatic, old school, better than the one I drank in the Baja desert years ago.

I did not try it, Glenn, although I have a bottle of that 2001 in my cellar.

[of7271]

The '64 Latour, '76 Cheval-Blanc, '85 Marguax, '80 d'Yquem, '86 Gruaud Larose, and '50 Lynch-Bages (!) were all very memorable. Thanks to everyone for making it a fantastic evening, which I hope will be my first of many future BWE dinners. I look forward to seeing many of you very soon!

-Omar

[Tom In DC]

Finally catching my breath - what a weekend! Thanks for the detailed accounting, David.

All of the food and wine was fantastic (although we have to get to Bistrot du Coin for lunch soon! ), but it's just so much fun to reunite with some old friends and meet so many new folks. Too many wine highlights to remember, let alone recount, but some of the highlights on Saturday night for me were the '50 Lynch, the '86 Gruaud Larose, the '94 Leo Las Cases, and the '64 Latour. Amazing generosity as usual, sharing great wines and laughing sooooo much. Charlie Palmer really came through for us again - this one ran smooth as silk, and I think the food was the best of our three convention dinners here.

Glenn, I thought the more rustic tannins of the 95's would help me in the blind tasting, but I ended up an also ran, well back in the pack. The '95 Cos was my wine-of-the-tasting though, so I think you have a good one in the cellar.

Next year it will be hard to top this Nic Maltais-themed weekend, but I'm certain that we'll find a way.

[JCNorthway]

Finally getting around to posting a few thoughts from the weekend - paid a price the past couple of days for taking off Thursday and Friday.

First, Paula and I spent Friday evening by ourselves having dinner at Marcel's, a highly rated French restaurant in DC. I would say it was very good, but not great, base on our experience. And for their prices, I'd like it to be great. But a nice atmosphere, and an enjoyable evening - with no special wines.

Friday night was a great evening of reconnecting with BWE friends and tasting great Italian and Rhone wines. I won't go into any detail about those wines since there is a separate thread about the evening that covers that pretty well. But suffice it to say that when you have a 1995 Tignanello, a 1983 Sassicaia, and a 1923 Chateauneuf in the same room (not to mention numerous wonderful Brunellos and Barolos), you have had a great evening. Paula was extremely thankful to Tim for the Sassicaia - her first after hearing people rave about it for years.

Saturday was everything that folks here have talked about - an cornucopia of great (mostly Bordeaux) wines. I was taking no notes, so purely from a blurred recollection, some of my favorites (but not all) were: 1950 Lynch, 1986 Gruaud Larose, 1980 d'Yquem, and the 1985 Margaux. There was also a trojan horse Dunn Cabernet making its way around that was pretty tasty. I would incluce all of the 95/96 Medoc wines in the blind tasting among the best wines of the evening. But my comment at the table was that they would all be alot more enjoyable in 10-15 years. Perhaps a theme for BWE 2012! Maybe I can improve my score then!

Thanks to all of the DC BWE contingent who helped to organize the event. In addition to the fact that Charlie Palmer cranked out great food, I just have to say, "It's the people, stupid." We had a great time with the people. And we very much look forward to BWE 2013, wherever it may be.

Jon

[tim]

Ok, finally getting around to posting some notes from the Saturday dinner.

First off, it was great to see both old and new faces at the dinner. I sat next to Omar, who was one of the newbies, but I hope that he will continue to come to future events as well as contribute online. Also my buddy Nick who came up from North Carolina (my old haunts) to participate. Nick was a regular at eBob prior to the subscription era, and is one of the younger members. He is also a big fan of German and Alsacian wines, and better yet, he was born in 82, so has a cellar full of birthday wines just waiting to be opened!

It was great seeing everyone, as always. And just as great hanging out with folks Thursday and Friday.

The blind tasting was one of the more difficult tastings we had at a convention. Six wines, same bank, one year apart, really remarkable. I luckily was the third of the second place 12-pointers (although there was initially a scoring error in my entry, which was corrected by HMS--I still have the sheet to prove it )

In terms of the wines, the most memorable were the 78 Lynch (surprisingly rich and powerful); 64 Latour; 50 Lynch; 85 Margaux; and surprisingly the 94 Leoville Las Cases. I was really really impressed with the Leoville, as 94 is considered a somewhat off vintage, but yet one of my favorites, and out of magnum, the LLC was spectacular. I wish I had the skills to be able to take detailed notes of the wines, but needless to say it was a night to remember.

It was great meeting everyone again, and looking forward to hosting folks in France 2015!

Tim

[Claret]

In terms of the wines, the most memorable were the 78 and surprisingly 94 Leoville Las Cases. I was really really impressed with the Leoville, as 94 is considered a somewhat off vintage, but yet one of my favorites, and out of magnum, the LLC was spectacular

I still vividly remember my delivery mission to the NYC convention. I had picked up some double mags of the 94 LLC and hand delivered bottles to the BD and Victor Hong of all people.
I have a couple of as yet untasted 750’s of the 1994 and one needs to get opened soon.

[JimHow]

I uncorked that 1994 LLC 3L at my parents' 50th wedding anniversary about 7 years ago, it was outstanding.