Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

I took my wife out for dinner a little while back for a celebration, and we opened a few very nice bottles to enjoy with the tremendous meal that was prepared for us.

1996 Pol Roger Champagne Brut Vintage. There’s a little bit of bronzing to the color here, and a fine but faint bead. It offers up a classy bouquet of dark-toasted bread, apple peel, chopped nut, pear flesh and flinty smoke. It’s showing a bit more age than the last time I tried a bottle, but it’s beautifully contemplative, layered and complex. In the mouth, it delivers powerful but refined flavors of nut, caramel, browned apple, mineral, pear and toasted bread that have excellent push and acidic brightness to go along with solid density and airy top-notes. It feels focused, vibrant and serious, yet welcoming and full—a very fine combination.

2007 Peter Michael Chardonnay La Carrière Knights Valley. This is a rather exotically-styled Peter Michael Chardonnay on the nose, showing off lovely and outgoing aromas of soft oak, vanilla, crushed gravel stones, cantaloupe, butterscotch, lemon oil and mace spice notes. Although the nose is wide-open, the wine on the palate is more tensile, coiled and loaded with crystalline mineral accents all the way through. It feels fresh, lifted and lively, with great drive, a solid spine and a clean mineral-laden finish. As it takes on air throughout the evening, the pear, butterscotch and oak-tinged flavors come forward a bit more, just adding to the overall profile. It’s a real crowd-pleaser and should deliver for a number of years yet to come.

1988 Château Beychevelle St. Julien. There’s tremendous layering and old-world complexity to be found on the nose of this lovely wine, which is gloriously old-fashioned and savory-smelling just now—with fine scents of tomato vine, green pepper, caked dirt, tobacco, iron ore and pen ink combining perfectly with warmer aromas of cedar, mulling spices, persimmon fruit, dark cherries and dried cranberries that seem quintessentially aged claret in tone to me. In the mouth, it’s medium-weighted, tangy and dry, with fine bursts of red currant, cranberry and raspberry fruit flavors accented by notes of leather, tobacco and menthol. The fruit is still quite healthy, the acidity perfectly supportive, and the tannins fairly well-tamed throughout. It’s delivering quite well just now, and there was not one bit of drop-off over the 4 hours it was open. I think it’s a good time to be opening this.


-Michael

Thanks Mike for that note...it had me had me drooling...some of those 1988 St-Juliens are in such a good place right now...of the ones tried recently Leoville-Lascases, Gruaud-Larose, Leoville-Barton...

I wonder when I should drink the lone bottle of 1996 Beychevelle I bought at the chateau back in September 2000.

I was particularly interested in what you had to say about the '96 Pol Roger. I intended to save a bottle or two for drinking around now, but Lucie, who can count, knew how many bottles I bought.

JimHow wrote:I wonder when I should drink the lone bottle of 1996 Beychevelle I bought at the chateau back in September 2000.

What size is that? an imperial?

Ha I wish, it's a 750.

Beychevelle is more and more my style of Bordeaux. I know the artist formerly known as HoundSong has had a lot of success with the 88 Beychevelle too.

Indeed. You would not be led to expect much from it given Parker's ep and follow-on reviews but it certainly impressed me when I popped the first one about four years ago. So much that it provided the impetus to purchase some other '88s (Meyney for one, which is also quite good) that are under the radar from a somewhat under the radar vintage.

Maybe this weekend I will post a few TNs or at least mentions of some wines I've had since coming back to Colorado, but in this connection I will just mention the 2005 HBL I had last night made me think of some of the less-amped up Bdx I remembered from early experiences. It reminds me of something like this 88 Beychevelle because although it has plenty of breadth, ripeness and balance it is decidedly medium-bodied and otherwise rather classically-styled and so risks being overlooked as not so powerful in the context of the vintage overall.

Mine are gone now, but the 86 Beychevelle was a great one. They had some good wines in that era.

I've heard its very popular in China, where its nickname is 'Dragonboat'.

Yes I've heard that too Arv. And I think it has been reflected in prices to some extent.

Jim the 1996 is very accessible now, more so than other notable 1996 St-Js, and a fabulous drop with the emphasis more on elegance than power.

I had a taste of the 2000 a couple of weeks ago. Also outstanding, and surprisingly accessible.

Of other vintages the 1986 and 1989 have been long standing favourites.

Indeed, Comte, the 1989 is one of my favorites--I would have to put it a step ahead of this 1988, though they share many of the same qualities.

I'll keep an eye out for the 1986.

-Michael

I bought a case of the 2000 Beychevelle. It it drank well even at release. There's a downside to that and now that I think of it though I can't recall exactly how many I've drunk, I don't recall seeing it at all in the latest consolidation/transport of wines. Yikes.

The 86 Beychevelle is one of favorite wines, I keep picking up a bottle here and there at auction. The 83 is also surprisingly excellent, but that's my favorite under-the-radar vintage from the 80's. I get to try the 82 for the first time next month at a tasting, can't wait.

I've often wondered why current release pricing is high for Beychevelle as its not a Parker darling, but perhaps it's the Dragonboat phenomenon. Tariffs on the 2009 and 2010 are really pretty step, and I keep passing.

The 1982 is the best Cantemerle ever.

JimHow wrote:The 1982 is the best Cantemerle ever.

Do you mean the 82 Beychevelle?

Yes Beychevelle. I brought the 82 to a dinner in Manhattan with Jacques and others, up against done heavyweights I thought it was the wine of the night. Tremendous bouquet.

JimHow wrote:Yes Beychevelle. I brought the 82 to a dinner in Manhattan with Jacques and others, up against done heavyweights I thought it was the wine of the night. Tremendous bouquet.

Good to know! The '82 Beychevelle isn't cheap (Parker did give 95 pts in his re-visit of the 1982's 4-5 years ago), but it is "cheap" for a top-notch '82 Bordeaux.