TNs: '79 PLL, '61 Caillou Sauternes

[Michael Malinoski]

My wife cooked an unreal dinner for us and another couple a little while back, and I pulled some wines from the cellar specifically to go with each course.

N.V. Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. Our opening wine of the evening sports a vibrant, mineral-laden nose full of apple, graphite, herb, lemon peel and smoke aromas that are rather inviting. In the mouth, it’s nice and frothy on the entry, with medium weight and nice push through the mid-palate. It’s dry and minerally, with fine-etched flavors of apple, pear, cream and stone that turn a bit softer-edged as time goes on, growing longer and longer with each sip until the bottle is gone all too soon.

2011 Lucien Crochet Sancerre Le Chêne. This wine features lovely aromas of river rocks, oyster shells, pea tendrils, juniper berries, grapefruit and white peach. In the mouth, it has a lot more volume and plush textured weight than I first expected, but it counters that with plenty of piquancy from zesty acidity and citrusy mineral flavors galore. Everyone really enjoyed the giving nature of the wine allied to its bright tangy personality—this was really nice.

1979 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac. With Charlie Trotter’s beef tenderloin medallions with ratatouille, this wine was just pure heaven. It presents a delightfully unfolding bouquet of fine leather, dried earth, cooled bacon fat, green pepper, menthol and balsa wood aromas that are fascinating and layered but mellow and totally refined. On the palate, it’s utterly seamless, with a silken sexiness and sense of pure finery all around. Mellow and resolved flavors of black currant, dark cherry, herb and pepper, accented by a subtle underbelly of mocha are perfectly balanced by gentle but juicy round acidity and fine-polished tannin. This is classic aged claret showing just beautifully right now.

1994 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain. In retrospect, this was probably a tough spot in which to expect the Laurel Glen to shine. I’ve had the wine again since this particular evening, and it has shown better. In any event, on this occasion, I find the nose to be dark, smoky, dense and a bit murky—showing full aromas of creosote, charred campfire wood, blackberry puree, hickory, plum sauce, brown stems, suede leather and brambly mountain berries. In the mouth, it’s fairly full-bodied and loaded with blackberry, blueberry, earth and chocolate flavors that are still a bit fudgy and tannic in the early part of dinner, but seem to smooth out and find their way quite nicely by the end of the meal. Although it was outshone on this evening, it demonstrates a lot of promise.

1961 Château Caillou Sauternes. A birthyear wine for one of our party, this was an ideal accompaniment to a plate of three different kinds of bleu cheeses from around the world. The wine pours a slightly orange-iced tea sort of color, but with a nice bright sheen. I’m quite gratified to find that it’s rather fresh, lively and densely aromatic on the nose--featuring rich, dark, direct and surprisingly youthful aromas of nectarine, apricot, orange marmalade, spun sugar and honey. There are not a lot of botrytis spice notes to be found here, but I really like it’s pure, sublime orange fruit scents. In the mouth, it’s thankfully quite alive, with a nice concentration of orange hard candy, nectarine, yellow raisin and figgy caramel flavors that are dark and sappy more so than airy or particularly elegant. It’s not one of those sublime old Sauternes, but it’s a lot of fun and extremely tasty—a treat all around.

-Michael

[Gerry M.]

78" and 79" PLL's have always shown well each time I've had them. Now I just need to find a few bottles for a not-so outrageous price