Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Last Friday was our annual private invitational golf/wine/dinner event....guys only. Another fabulous day with a little too much to drink and suffered a little on Saturday!

After a great afternoon on the course my guest and I left with the trophy and swept the prize money which was bonus. Following a few beers...mistake we headed over to a recently opened northern Italian restaurant in downtown Ottawa called North and Navy(a little odd name) that is owned by our hosts buddy. Put in the upper private dining room with dedicated server and sommelier was a perfect touch. Service to perfection and great food.

Started with a small Pichon Baron vertical with apps.Stuffed zucchini blossoms, arugala pesto with sardine, fried preserved onions with anchovy,calamari, grilled octopus and meatballs/tomato sauce. Not the best match for the wine but great apps.

1990 PB Singing right out of the gate. Drinking beautifully now with classic lead pencil,cigar box,cedar and cassis with plenty of fruit but tannins resolved. Silky smooth all the way down and not a harsh edge to be found. Aromas wafted from the glass and a shear treat to enjoy now. over the next three hours this showed significant decline in the glass with dead nose and became disjointed on the palate. Not something you'd toss but an indication that you shouldn't look to decant this one and it certainly is at the end of its peak/plateau. At its peak this was the best of the three then dropped to second place with time. 96pts.

1994 PB was a disappointment from start to finish. Green throughout with peppers/tomato plant ant off putting vegetal notes. Fruit there but so unripe this started nowhere and only got worse. Little to no redeamming character here. 80pts

1995 PB was closed tight on opening with still present strong ripe tannins. Over the evening this continued to blossom in the glass and turned into a superb wine wine fragrant nose showing ripe cassis, cedar and lead pencil big time. Great length and still very primary but delicious three hours in and still going strong after 4 hrs where the 1990 had died. Argument as to which was the best ensued and room was split between the 90 & 95 but I believe most agreed that the 90 was what everyone looks for in a mature wine.95+

With scallops crudo/strawberries and basil came a perfectly matched 2004 Dom Perignon. Fresh,crisp, citrusy with toasty brioche. Liked the 2003 in France a little better...not as much toast on the 03 but this was still delicious.

Farfalle with fresh sauteed spring mushrooms/cherry tomato/herbs went beatifully with 2005 Taupenot-Merme Auxey-Duresses. Some liked this one and others thought a touch green. We had this one 3 years ago and it was delicious and this one a little lacking but I still liked it a lot.

2010 Chave Hermitage Blanc changed my mind about white Rhone wines. This was white flowers in a glass with strong floral perfume. Liked but didn't love it and maybe didn't match as well with the course.

2004 Smith Haut Lafite was badly oxidized. 6 out of six bottles cooked and I'm convinced this case was heat damaged.

Main course 2 x 46 oz Steak Florentine done to perfection(Porterhouse) shared with fried potatoes and mixed spring veg served family style.

1997 Gaja San Lorenzo was sex in a bottle. Singing from start to finish and sad to say last bottle in our cellar. A meal in itself. Impeccable balance with mouthfeel that makes your eyes roll. This is as close to perfection as one gets with wine and there is no question Gaja is a master. By far the best of the night. 100pts

2004 Brunello Col D'Orcia was a little outshone on this night. Chocolate a little unusual for Brunello but typical cherry and tart acid. Hollow mid palate with reasonable finish. Not a good QPR and reconfirmed why I've given up on Brunello. Much better value elsewhere.

2007 Cakebread Cellars Napa Cab was way out of its league. All fruit/unidimensional and unresolved tannins made this a good try for the unitiated guest but was blown away by the Gaja and PBs.

With assorted deserts(tiramissou, strawberry pavlova and bad version whoopie pie) came 2012 Nairac. Barsac that was pleasant but a little short,young and completely void of boytritis.

With chocolates and capuccino we finished with a few limoncellos that did me in. Cab ride home was spinning and felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when my head hit the pillow. Only problem was I never landed in Munchkin land in the morning. Maybe getting too old for this but until next time...

Wow, what a great day! Enjoyed the TNs on the Pichon Baron especially.

Brunello sometimes feels like a bit of a scam to me.

I agree that purchasing Brunello is not like "shooting ducks in the tank." In my experience, the key is to focus on producer. There is a lot of Brunello produced from less that ideal vineyard locations which creates a wide range of quality in raw materials. There also has been a division in approaches to wine making - the traditional vs. modern styles. And you have to know the style of a given producer so you know what to expect in the bottle. Add into that a fair amount of unevenness in production quality/techniques, and it can easily become a crap shoot. Personally I've only purchased a handful of labels (and vintages) starting in 1997. Great vintage to get started with! Aside from one corked bottle out of two mixed cases, all of the wines have been very good (1 bottle left).

Very niçe Danny. I did not drank anything as good in the last two weeks, but 90 and 95 Pichon Baron are like you wrote, fabulons in their own ways.

Never had a top Gaja. But one day...

Nic

Danny, tonight we drank a lovely 2006 Podere La Vigna Brunello, for which I paid $25 in 2012. It had leather and tannins and acid that cut through the tomato sauce on Lucie's veal cannelloni but with a softness that was just right for my veal marsala. In the USA it is very difficult to get a similar quality Bordeaux close to that price.

Our recent experiences with 1995 Pichon Baron have not come close to yours. Ours were good, solid Pauillacs, but not in the same league as the 1989, 1990, or 1996. Ours were not bought early but the wine seemed to be in good shape.

Bill, The 95 PB underwent a stellar metamorphosis over the 3-4 hrs. It was a let down in the beginning and continued to grow in the glass while the while the 90 certainly showed better til its peak early on but surprisingly/disappointingly faded into the sunset. This tells me that one should probably not sit too much longer on the 90 if they still have it in their cellar and pop and pour without a decant to ensure that the early magic is not lost.

John, I agree with everything that you said about Brunellos. Certainly I went deep and across the board with 97 & 98 Brunellos and probably enjoyed Biondi Santi for its old school style the best. Found many of the newer style producers like Antinoris Pian Delle Vigne falling apart 10-15 yrs out. Never found the Brunello's to improve with age and the acidity seemed to dominate in the end. Don't hate them but in Canada we don't find them at $25 but we do find Bordeaux at that price that gives far more enjoyment so I'll disagree with Bill on that point for our palates and stick to our favourites.

That's a good tip about the '95, Danny. I opened early, but did not decant, and we did not take 3-4 hours to finish the bottles.

Danny, here I find much better deals on Brunello than on fine Bordeaux. Just this morning I got an offer of $25 for a 2010 Le Paturnie Brunello. I am not familiar the producer and passed. Previous flyers I have taken on Brunello from great vintages have mostly been successful.

2004 Smith Haut Lafite was badly oxidized. 6 out of six bottles cooked and I'm convinced this case was heat damaged.


Let me guess.
No nose. No fruit. But no bret.
Hollow.

Sad about the SHL...great stuff

I'm very surprised that the 1990 PB is starting to decline. The last time I had it 3 years ago that particular bottle took 2 hours to finally come around, and was very very sullen and one-dimentional before that. I've seen other recent tasting notes on the wine noting it's "slow evolution," unlike many other 1990 Bordeaux. The note here sounds more like the 1990 Lynch I have had -- needing drinking soon. I have just 2 bottles left of the '90 PB, but would have thought it would go for another 10 years. I guess at this point each bottle is different.

--Gary Rust

I'm with you Gary. But so much depends on bottle provenance.
I have a cold cellar and everything was purchased on release.
My bottles of 1990 have a good number of years left.

Thanks Danny for your interesting notes which really shook up my preconceptions.

I was surprised the 1990 Baron wilted..However it is a 25 year old wine I guess. Not had it for a while but last time I drank it it was pretty backward...likewise the 1995,was joyless but I made the mistake of popping and pouring without letting it sit.

But my theory on Baron goes along the lines that JMC rescued it - from the exquisite 1988 that we tried at the Chateau - but the English guy with the bow tie took it to another level from 2000...

The 1995s are like waiting for Godot....

2004 Smith should be on fire by now..

.Gaja that was a revelation. I have drunk three good but not great Gajas for every really great one...but when they are great you get religion!

I think I'm going to hold off another five years before cracking open my case of 2000 Pichon Baron.

Rob,

SHL White not red definitely badly oxidized and sherry like. Every bottle in this 6 pack I'm sure were cooked.

No question on the provenance of the 1990 PB. Bought on futures offer and stored in temp controlled cellar. Maybe a weak bottle but I was surprised that this was stellar for 1-2 hours and then faded miserably. Yes if anyone has a few remaining in their cellars I wouldn't experiment/risk a long decant.

Ian,

My experience with Gaja has been different. Our group bought a lot of the 97/98 single vineyard Barbaresco's/Barolo's with the Costa Russi holding an edge over the San Lorenzo and Sori Tildin. Sperss my least favourite of the group but that's trying to say which is your favourite first growth.We've gone through about 1-2 cases of each wine over the years. Not one of these have disappointed (apart from a few corked bottles) and though my first love is Bordeaux I'd never turn down any one of these and maybe in a lesser year these may disappoint but the 97/98 vintages for these wines were outstanding. I have not tried any other vintages but I have enjoyed the majority of Gaja's lesser wines as well and it certainly holds true in my mind that Gaja confirms that its more about the producer than the grape in a lot of cases to ensure quality.

Man, Comte, you and Bobby G are REALLY tempting me to crack open my case of 2004 SHL.
But I haven't even cracked open my case of the 2002 yet!

Jim,

SHL Rouge 2004 fine now but have no worries about sitting on it for 5yrs before you pop the first one. Cool your jets and I'm sure you'll enjoy it more 5yrs down the road than now. On the other hand you do like them young....kinda like the Donald!!!

Danny
I have never tried any 1997 or 1998 Gajas.,most of my experiences have been from the 1980s, but I was v impressed by some younger vintages at a recent Italian tasting in a March. Hopefully tomorrow will be able to fish out some notes.