SF BWE does it again!

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SF Ed
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SF BWE does it again!

Post by SF Ed »

Many of the SF BWE usual suspects got together for an amazing evening of wines that showed very well. Lisa and I met up with MichaelP and Nalan, Arv and Jen from Sacramento, and Bill and Jan who are spending the semester in Berkeley.

We started with a 2002 Pol Roger en magnum, which is fully mature, very rich and fruity, and very enjoyable. A perfect apertif Champagne.

MichaelP of course had a blind bottle. This one was mature (of course) but hads loads of ripe round fruit and dusty cocoa on the palate. I thought it might be a 1964 Right Bank, Lisa thought a 1975 Pomerol. Others were a bit further off. It turned out to be a minor 1982 Pomerol (I think it was a Lafleur-Gazin, but not 100% sure). Not complex but very enjoyable.

I brought a 1978 Jaboulet CdP from a recent re-release. Truly excellent, fresh and very ripe with that magic combination of wine that is fully mature but still has loads of fruit and is at its peak. If you see Jaboulet re-releases, I highly recommend them.

Next came a 1985 Langoa Barton, which was a little green though perfectly fine, and a great 1988 Cos. Tasted exactly how 1988 should taste, muscular but fully resolved, no fat but intense and complex fruit. I liked it a lot, and I am not a big Cos fan.

Next came the 2000s plus a bonus 2001. I started slowing down at this point. The 2000 Saint Pierre was unexceptional to me, and I missed the 2000 Leoville Barton (big mistake on my part). The 2000 Lynch Bages was fabulous, really impressive juice. Starting to develop secondaries but with loads of fruit. This is a reincarnation of the 1990. I have a 3L of it I will bring to a BWE event someday. And the 2001 Ducru Beaucaillou was very good as well.

For dessert we had a 2001 Lafaurie Peyraguey. Super tasty with lots of botrytis. Huge fruit as well, but with decent acidity.

A great group of people with a bunch of great wines. Who could ask for anything more?

SF Ed
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dstgolf
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by dstgolf »

Ed

Thanks for taking the time and sharing another fantastic BWE gathering. Man I love getting together with like minded wine/food lovers who have become like an extended family. Doesn't matter what you drink the company usually outshines the wines.

The 2000 Lynch and Barton are pretty special. The 85 Langoa is what you say green and goes with the vintage from the few that I've had.
Danny
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stefan
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by stefan »

It was great to get together with some of the Bay Area BWEers. Thanks to Arv for setting this up at a nice French bistro, ChouChou.

I thought all of the wines were good. The 2000s showed well despite their youth, with the LBs coming out ahead of the St Pierre even if the St Pierre is a lovely wine. The 2001 Ducru was more evolved but there is no hurry to drink it up. The three from the 1980s were all mature; in fact, the '82 Lafleur-Gazin was showing tertiary notes. It was a treat to drink the 2002 Pol Roger from magnum as mine are all drunk up. It will continue to be good for a long time, I think.
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Nicklasss
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by Nicklasss »

Very nice report, from the West Coast squad. Of course, stefan can just add some fun.

Nice set of wines, and I agree that the 2000 Chateau Lynch Bages is just a top notch

See you soon I hope.

Nic
Last edited by Nicklasss on Mon Oct 23, 2017 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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JimHow
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by JimHow »

2002 Pol Roger fully mature.
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AKR
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by AKR »

We're back now. I didn't take any notes, and probably had a few glasses more than I needed so some of the latter wines were fuzzy in detail. But I did take a few pix!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AJ1NdEwKCU4pioYv1

The venue was tastefully decorated and felt like a sliver of France. It offered free parking, which is not standard in City of SF, so that was handy for out of towners. Good thing we all brought stemware too.

We started with a magnum of the 02 Pol Roger [Champagne], but I'm not sure what exact bottling this was. They have a bunch. It was terrific, and the Mrs. had more of that.

Then we segued into a late release of 78 Paul Jaboulet Aine's 'Les Cedres' [CNDP]. It was from the estate so had a pristine cork/label etc. and I think Ed said it had been reconditioned. So it was very fresh for its age, but its not a deep, dense wine. It was a great vintage for the region, but this was on the lighter side. Interestingly PJA is now bottling lots more estate wines, which are generally not well known in the market yet.

Next came a blind bottle, which tasted pretty old to me, and had some charry, ashen notes. I thought it was a LMHB from the 70's or something, but when unveiled turned out to be the 82 Lafleur Gazin [Pomerol]. You don't see the older ones around much, so that was a surprise. BTW, the 1998 has drunk well for its first two decades, so in a good year, its a nice wine. This example was pretty advanced though.

A pair of Medocs were next. The 85 Langoa Barton [St Julien] came around, and was good, but not great. I think for a number of us this was the first experience with this vintage/estate pairing. I had a 1996 over the summer that was super and has made me a little more interested in their wines. Side by side with that was the 88 Cos d'Estournel [St Estephe] which was also very nice, but maybe a touch leaner than other Cos years. Maybe in the last year we had a really great 1996 Cos which I remember fondly. We had these with the first course which for me was the escargot and crusty fresh baked bread, plus some of Bill's tuna carpacio he shared.

Next came some lamb chops, green beans, and shaved sweet potatoes. This had a brace of St Juliens to go with it - 00 St Pierre and the 00 Leoville Barton. By this point, my taste buds and nose were starting to get a shade overwhelmed -- I'd missed lunch that day too -- so I think my take away was that both of these were good, with the edge to the denser, bigger Barton. I had not had the St Pierre before, and its sort of small production, or perhaps less common in the US.

After that came the final pair -- 00 Lynch Bages [Pauillac] and 01 Ducru Beaucaillou [St Julien]. Both were lovely and it was nice to taste these again, as I had not had them in many years, perhaps not since verticals of both estates. The Ducru is better for drinking today, I think. The SO loves that estate and it was one of the few glasses she sampled. (She was driving)

Then came the desserts, where I had a pear tarte, and the 01 Lafaurie Peyraguey [Sauternes] was poured. It was a touch too warm, but still showed saffron notes. Golden in color, and hitting its stride for complexity/interest. Not as bright and zesty as some other 01's like Coutet. From the 750 format they are better than splits, I think. I've had both sizes since release, and watching them evolve, I think the smaller ones should be enjoyed now.

There was still a ton of wine still on the table, and the owner sent over some cheese platters, since Ed had twisted his arm into trying some of the bottles, so we chatted away and gobbled up the fromage. We were lucky to have everything go smoothly - venue was not overly busy so taking the tables for the entire evening didn't cause an issue, all the wines were sound, and we experienced a number of bottles that were new to many/all of us. I think they have some nights midweek where they waive corkage, and a bunch of WB's use the place for their offlines, so I'd go back again. It's clearly more useful for those driving in, as it feels a bit out of the way to me for city residents. In addition to bringing butlers corkscrews to tastings -- especially when older bottles are involved -- I think we better start bringing small strainers to deal with random cork bits. (That was the Mrs. suggestion to me this afternoon). I also got lucky with the traffic/drive over, and even got there a few minutes early.

All the wines were really solid, and the only ones that were maybe lower ranked on my totem pole, would be there simply because they had gotten tired with the years.

Great to see everyone and I look forward to our next Bacchanal.
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William P
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by William P »

Sorry I missed it.

Bill
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Michael-P
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by Michael-P »

Thanks to all for sharing such wonderful wines (and Bill the tuna starter) and for making it to the outer reaches of SF (as Arv noted). Nalan and I had a great evening because of the people (as always with BWE), supported by all the yummy wines and well-paired food. Ed and Lisa's mag of Pol was impressive and Nalan went back for a few extra pours of that (I didn't take notes on that or the Sauternes). I noticed the 88 Cos seemed to disappear pretty quickly and the Lynch was showing well, but still a baby (OK, I like them old). Thanks to Arv for leading this gathering and let's do more soon!

My quick and dirty:
78 CdP: 93 (rich, spicy, figs, milk chocolate, apple, black pepper, smoke)
82 Laf-Gaz: 94 (fresh, soft, rich red fruits, clean, complexity, better after an hour)
85 Langoa: 92 (sweet fruit, big, rich, simple, touches of green, fades a bit)
88 Cos: 95 (big, rich, smooth. classic, pencil)
00 Leo Bart: 90 (clean, classic, somewhat light?)
00 St. Pierre: 89 (very sweet fruit, soft, fades, blueberry, some complexities)
00 Lynch: 95 (rich, thick, concentrated, sweet fruit, chocolate, very young and good)

Michael-P
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DavidG
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Re: SF BWE does it again!

Post by DavidG »

Glad to see you guys opening great bottles together. Nice report.
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