Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

So many wines made the rounds, some were phenomenal, others just amazingly great. Here are my top 3:

Howard poured me a 1979 Pichon Lalande; just fantastic; seamless elegance, resolved smooth tannins but with a great backbone, it kept improving all evening.
Tim shared a 1966 Gruaud Larose, mature and in absolutely excellent shape. Layers and layers of fruit, complex and delicious.
A 1990 Pichon Baron made the rounds, really much better on the night than the 1989, great balance of power and elegance.

I also loved a 1989 Leoville LasCases and the 2000 and 2005 Smith Haut Lafitte. But there were so many great wines going around and so many generous people pouring them. I had a fantastic time. Can't wait to see you guys again.

Agreed, Jacques, that 1990 Purple Baron was really in brilliant form!
There were so many greats just being put in front of me, I couldn't keep track of everything, at one point it almost became comical the amounts of stunning, rare, aged Bordeaux being poured into the EIGHT glasses at my seat!

Let's say my top 5:

1990 Pichon Baron (many thanks Rob, for that incredible bottle).
2002 Yquem (you can't drink something better in the after hours, than Yquem!)
1989 Lynch Bages (i was impressed when discovered it was wine B, but so great that night).
1966 Gruaud Larose (complexity and emotions in a bottle)
1979 Pichon Lalande (who is boycotting these type of vintages? You're wrong!).

Nic

I enjoyed the older wines:
66 Gruard Larose (Thanks Tim)
64 (?) Montrose (Thanks Ed)
Older Barolo on Thursday (Thanks Michael/Ed)
And the older foil covered wine late in Nick's room (what was that Michael?)

And of course all the Germans.

I believe Michael P said the Saturday night mystery wine was 1961 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière. I thought it was older than 1970 and possibly even from the 50s but ended up guessing 1967.

Chris Bublitz

Winona Chief wrote:I believe Michael P said the Saturday night mystery wine was 1961 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière. I thought it was older than 1970 and possibly even from the 50s but ended up guessing 1967.

Chris Bublitz

I thought it was a 1959 Beausejour, Chris.

I really didn't enjoy it but I can see why others do. Stefan said that in every wine he tries to find something he likes, I can understand his point and admire the effort but I think some of these old wines are more of an intellectual exercise.

Saturday favorites
1990 Pichon Baron
1979 Pichon Lalande
1966 Gruaud Larose
2000 Leoville Poyferre
1988 Talbot (sentimental favorite)

Friday favorites
1962 Pio Cesare Barolo
1964 Borgono Barolo
1964 Rinaldi??? Barolo
1989 Gaja Barbaresco
2001 de Fargues

Mike brought a 1959 Beausejour on Friday night, Jacques, it was mud.
I enjoyed the 1961 Canon La Gaffeliere he brought on Saturday night, it was old and a bit tired but still had nice color and you got a taste of the greatness of the vintage.

Wow, I DIDN'T taste a lot of great wines over the weknd. But you know what? I DID taste many, many great wines over the same time period (and my liver {and face } thank everyone for not tasting me on everything that was available each evening!)

I thought that the 61 Canon la Gaffeliere was quite nice. Unfortunately, with older wines, there is always a larger risk. In addition to the 66, I also brought a 53 Gruaud Larose, and it was mud. I didn't bother spreading it around because there were too many good wines out there, and the 66 was drinking so beautifully. That was the second bottle of the 53 that I had opened, and the first one was great, so chalk it up to bottle variation.

There were too many great wines for me to taste them all. It is hard to pick just three, but the 89 Lynch would certainly be a strong contender.

Yeah, older wines can be a problem, Tim. I brought a 75 Gruaud that was shot (loose cork, I think). Coincidentally, Tom also brought one. It was quite good but not as impressive as some other bottles I have drunk. I brought a corked 86 Montrose (sob), so only my 86 L'Evangile was sound of the wines I brought for the post blind drinking Saturday. Next year I might bring more than 12 bottles in order to have more backups, but it is a pain to schlep two boxes of wine plus suitcases when flying.

So many great wines - just a few of my favorites from the weekend - in no particular order:

1989 Lynch Bages
1989 Leoville Las Cases
1989 LaFleur de Gay
1966 Gruaud Larose
1964 Montrose
Selbach-Oster Bernkastel Badstube Eiswein
1989 Gaja Barbaresco
2001 de Fargues

Selbach-Oster Bernkastel Badstube Eiswein was the 2001 BTW.

We had two great bottles of 1989 Lynch, one on Thursday night and the other on Saturday.
Rob and I guessed the Thursday night Lynch to be an '88 as opposed to an '89, the Lynches we had were clearly well stored bottles.
It was a real treat, thanks David, Rob, Jacques, and Chris for bringing your 89 Lynches!

In order:

66 Gruaud Larose
86 Evangile
02 Yquem
90 Baron

and then maybe:

89 Fleur Gay
89 Lynch
04 SHL

Many other good ones. The 82 Talbot was not showing well.

Michael-P

04 SHL

Now we are talkin'...tell me more my brother!

The 2000 and 2004 SHL were both drinking really well. The '04 was a bit brighter with a bit more acid, the '00 was a bit deeper. Both were outstanding even if they weren't in my top five.