Bay Area BWEers in Berkeley

[stefan]

Last night:
Ed & Lisa
MichaelP & Nalan
Arv
stefan & Lucie

dined at our rented cottage in the Berkeley hills. Unfortunately, Jen was suffering at home from food poisoning and Bill & Linda were unable to make it, but the seven of us had a great time. Here is what we drank:

1924 Grands Echezeaux (producer unknown)
1937 Ausone
1947 Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin Clos de Beze
1964 Ducru-Beaucaillou
1964 Bilbainas (?) Rioja Gran Reserva
1966 Haut-Brion
1970 Pichon-Lalande
1980 Taylor Fladgate Port
1983 Cantemerle
1990 Forts de Latour
1990 Certan de May
1998 Le Gay
2002 Lanson
2006 Charles Ellner Seduction
(TBC)

[Comte Flaneur]

Not exactly shabby line up!

[jal]

I loved the 1990 Forts de Latour the couple of times I had it. Sounds like a great evening. Too bad about Jen's food poisoning.

[SF Ed]

It was a fantastic evening at Bill and Jan's temporary home in Berkeley. An amazing set of mature wines.

My WOTN was the 1937 Ausone. Clearly on the downhill slope but a kaleidoscope of flavors, long and penetrating.

A key wine Bill omitted was a young and fresh bottle of 1966 Haut Brion. That probably was most people's favorite. Completely typical HB.

I really enjoyed the 1970 PL as well. A perfect bottle that just smacked of Pauillac.

The 1947 Clos de Beze was tired but still tasty, and the 1924 Grands Echezeaux (a MichaelP mystery bottle) had very little to do with Pinot given its dark purple color and flavor profile. Tasty wine, though.

Fun for all with great food, wine and camaraderie. What a great group of people we are!

SF Ed

[William P]

Bill, it sounds great. Sorry I missed it.

Bill

[stefan]

I lost the HB on a cut and paste mistake. It was my second favorite wine, after the 1937 Ausone. We were all puzzled by the 1924 Grands Echezeaux. It was very dark and quite flavorful but did not taste like a Burgundy.

[AKR]

Pictures are here, hopefully

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7g6IxmbNjfmwucmE2

Lots of great older ones, and fine food. Thanks for hosting Bill & Jan!

We got pretty lucky with the wines again, they were sound and clean, although the 47 was somewhat oxidized, to me.

Flash thoughts

older Burgs - I didn't understand them much,and thought the 1924 served blind was a Hermitage/syrah type of wine.
37 Ausone - lots of acidity, and depth. I picked up asian, coriander like spices in the bouquet. very cloudy, almost like there was something trapped in suspension.
older Rioja - not sure I've ever had one that old. pretty likable
64 Ducru - I was surprised with how likable this was. quite tasty!
66 Haut Brion - still tannic and dark, even after all these years
70 Pichon Lalande - still holding up well and quite likable. I actually liked this the best of the trio of wines in this flight with the lentil soup.

Then we moved to the beef, potatoes and green beans with flights of

83 Cantemerle - a more floral wine than others
90 Les Forts - fabulous, sweet and fruity. My favorite wine of the evening.
90 Certan de May - smooth and balanced, better than the 1998 Certan de May we recently had.
98 Le Gay - a severe wine upon opening, but richened with time.

With a dessert platter of cheeses and chocolate bars we had

80 Taylors Vintage Port - spice, cocoa, some spirity notes. not many shippers declared 1980.

We drank a lot of wine -- 13 bottles among the 7 of us -- and most bottles were polished off as we stayed up late into the night. I paced myself but still some of the latter wines are not as memorable as they should be, since in general, I liked the "younger" ones a shade more.

Other random comments:
The streets around that area are so winding and steep -- I'm glad I don't have to walk or ride a bike up them!
Glaceed red peppers are really hot, zoikes.
Mrs R was sad she couldn't make it but is feeling a little better today.

Thanks everyone!

[DavidG]

Quite the event, well done!

Curious about the comments on the 24 Burg - any history of "Hermitaging" those wines back then like they used to do in Bordeaux?

[Nicklasss]

Except the 1966 Haut-Brion, i never had any of the others. You rock guys!

Nic

[AKR]

Quite the event, well done!

Curious about the comments on the 24 Burg - any history of "Hermitaging" those wines back then like they used to do in Bordeaux?

There was definitely speculation at the table that the wine could have gotten doctored up a little when it was created back then. It was strikingly dark, compared to all the other 50+ year old bottles, which were often a cloudy rose or pink hue. But who knows, since if that was normal market practices in the pre AOC era, knowing what is 'authentic' is difficult.

Also we got to see MichaelP's new Teutonic pony!

[Claret]

Fun night I'm sure. 1964 Rioja Gran Reserva can shine. 64 Faustino at the Bodega was sublime.

What is Michael tooling about in these days?