Annual Christmas lunch: revisiting BWE’s 2009 WoTY

[Comte Flaneur]

A diverse group of UK wine lovers gather around mid-December for their annual ‘Cornucopia’ Christmas lunch where we do a restaurant takeover at La Trompette in Chiswick, West London. (NB: The restaurant is not owned by Donald Trump.) This year we were on the Bordeaux table again, as we were in 2013 (last year it was Northern Rhone).

To wet the whistle we enjoyed a surprisingly fine and moreish Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin 1995. Like an ageing rocker it was elegantly wasted (mildly oxidised) but could still strut its stuff as it disappeared into the shimmering haze.

On to the first flight, Maureen’s Chateau Figeac 1976 survived an early curve ball from Jasper Morris MW, who controversially defected from the Burgundy table. The ‘Fige’ was deemed to be more ‘funky’ than ‘corky’. This impression was reinforced as it became more expressive, with beguiling mineral and earthy notes. No spring chicken, this is nonetheless an alluring wine from a difficult vintage; and another example of how well Figeac ages and performs in less than stellar years. It was partnered by a pristine bottle of Vieux Chateau Certan 1976; there was nothing dodgy about this bottle. A complete and fully resolved wine, with earthy tones and a metallic note. These two were a fine foil for the partridge dish. I preferred the Figeac, which I found more expressive, but I would be very happy to have the VCC in my collection.

First up in flight two was Jasper’s last bottle of Chateau Latour 1983. Fully mature, delightfully resolved, a refined and satisfying glass of claret out of the blocks, with an array of minerally, and other tertiary, nuances. Jasper aptly described it as a good but not a great Latour. Ostensibly at its apogee, on further reflection it is perhaps a few years past its very best, because it has lost some of the grip it had when we last tried it two-and-a-half years ago. It lacks the tensile nervosity that the 1985 - an otherwise similar wine - has in spades. My Lafite 1989 had a beautifully refined entry and elegant palate, but this time it only started to become expressive towards the end of the lunch. This was in contrast to the all singing, all dancing, bottle from the same case, which waltzed away with the wine of the night accolade in the BWE 1989 horizontal in Manhattan in 2009 before going on to scoop our BD’s prestigious BWE Wine of the Year award.

While there was no doubting the class of this wine, I was puzzled why it should have shut down again, because there nothing wrong with it. I suspect that this will be at its best many years from now and that a wine like the Lafite 1955 – or even the 1959 - might be the template. The flight was completed with a bottle of GPL 1982, which was in fine shape; a polished Pauillac with a reassuring grippiness and mineral notes. Not as exuberant as I had expected, this wine has many years ahead of it, and could possibly improve further. It even made a case for wine of the flight. Overall they were quite evenly matched on the day, but in ten, 20 years from now I think it would be a different outcome, and a clear pecking order.

When wine one in flight three was revealed I had a double take, and was dismayed to see it was Pichon Baron 1996 not Pichon Lalande 1996 as advertised. In my experience the pleasant but prosaic-by-comparison Baron 1996 cannot hold a candle to the sensational Comtessa 1996 – it is like comparing Manchester United to Barcelona (please insert appropriate baseball analogy – Ed.). In the flight the Purple Baron, caught in the crossfire, was duly stretchered off the canvas as its two flight mates – Leoville Lascases 1986 and La Mission Haut Brion 1986 - slugged it out. As in the Thriller in Manila both delivered the goods; and both delivered the thrills by the boatload. Moreover they were both were more accessible than I thought they would be. The Leoville Lascases was just so dense, classy and relentless (like Mohammed Ali), while La Mission was brawnier, spikier and ultimately less polished (like Joe Frazier). They were evenly matched throughout the contest and were my two wines of the day. The final verdict was that the LLC won on points. To finish we had a NV Barbeito Madeira 30 Year Old Lote Especial was a fine foil for the Christmas pudding soufflé. Christmas pudding in a glass.

All in all a pretty good lunch.

[JimHow]

Nice. Happy holidays to the Londoners!

[Nicklasss]

Very nice read, for a very nice lunch. Only had the 1982 GPL (glorious) and I brought a bottle of 1986 Mish (rocky but excellent) at the 2003 BWE convention (à crazy convention).

Great Christmas holiday Time to you and Maureen.

Nic

[stefan]

That Lafite '89 at the 20th anniversary event was indeed fantastic.

[jal]

That 1989 Lafite was amazing but that whole evening ranks as one of the best ever wine dinners I attended. The wines were amazing, the food excellent but the company and the banter were just extraordinary. Guys, please keep reminding me how great it could all be.
I can't remember a Grand Puy Lacoste I liked. The last 1982 I had was that roasted mess we drank together a few years back. The 2009 was a wine I despised.
Out of a case of 1996 Pichon Baron I may have enjoyed at most one or two bottles, and that probably was because of other non-wine-related circumstances. That was just one mediocre wine.
1983 Latour, 1986 LLC and La Mission! Now we're talking! These are the Barcelonas of wines!
Merry Christmas Ian, I hope we can meet in 2016.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks Jacques, you have given me the enablement I need. I am going to flip out my unopened case of Baron 96 for Baron 0-10 at par. That is what you call a "no brainer."1

You are right that is one mediocre wine. The 1996. I think Jean-Michel Cazes was in control in the late 80s then things drifted in the 1990s (after 1990), then Christian Seeley took over in time for the 2000 vintage and this estate has never looked back.

I do hope to get over there in 2016, possibly to the convention.

Happy holidays to you and Jill...and to all of BWE. I wouldn't mind betting that it is about the same temperature here London as it is in Tel Aviv. 16 Celsius here. 60F. I think it is something to do with El Niño.

[AKR]

Comte - verily you do wax lyrical today. My perception of 76 was that it was a year that didn't have the acidity to last, but I've had only a few examples, and all were a long time ago, and generally not very good. Curiously while poring over my Premier Cru receipts over the last 16 years, I discovered one for a 1976 Pape Clement, that must have been thrown in to a mega Pape Clement vertical we did a long time ago. I downloaded them assuming the website goes dark soon, but I've had very little activity in the last half decade.

Although I certainly drank my fair share of the 95 and 96 Pichon Barons, and tilted toward the 96 in preference, I too, much preferred the Pichon Lalande over it.

In general few of the 95 Medocs have -- to my tastes -- truly repaid the investments in cellar time and hard dollars. If I had a time machine I'd rather have gone back and either paid up more for 90's, or gotten more 96 Medocs. Of course it wasn't so obvious in their youth. I've still got a few left, so perhaps they will prove me wrong.

The 96 Pichon Baron is perhaps one of those that will fool us all. Like the 82, a year that was sort of left by the wayside, never well scored, nor well bid, it seemed to get rehabilitated much later in life. And became quite hard to find, even if objectively one would likely prefer other years on an absolute enjoyment level.