TN: Nice night at Steve’s

[Blanquito]

• 1982 Château Canon
  Brilliant showing after a few so-so bottles. Fully mature, maybe even just past peak, this is still complex, expressive, deep and lovely. Lots of bright red fruits to go with black tea tannin and a layered long mouthfeel. Earthy and smoky, with that unique Canon essence. My WOTN. A
• 1986 Château Lynch-Bages
  Served double blind. Very green, zesty bouquet. Quite bright with enough fruit, seems a little out of sorts, but has an epic finish. Clearly a mature Bordeaux, I ended up guessing 80’s Beychevelle. Based on the cork, this might have seen a bit of heat though the fill was excellent. Very good, but not as good as this can go. B+
• 1989 Couly-Dutheil Chinon Clos de l'Olive
  Served double blind, except we were told the vintage. Huge, racy nose of black peppercorns, greenery and earthy leather. Mature and interesting. Lovely attack of dark fruits and earth, a little lean, good finish. I am immediately in Chinon with the bouquet, or maybe Bordeaux where a few wines there can show like this but with bigger body (80’s Beychevelle, Sociando). My heart says Chinon but my head said 80’s Bordeaux. Overall, very nice and distinctive. A-
• 1990 Azienda Bricco Asili (Ceretto) Barbaresco Bricco Asili
  Very good. Showing a stern, firmer side of Nebbiolo especially in a year like 1990, but excellent depth and some emerging complexity. There’s plenty of barbaresco typicity with some tar and cherries, but not showing the older earthy side yet. Still fairly vigorous, probably close to peak. B+
• 2001 Il Poggione (Proprietá Franceschi) Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
  Served double blind initially, later we were told this was a 2002 Aussie shiraz!... This is terrific and in a great spot. Shows some minty scents at first, but otherwise this is all Tuscany with big Italian acids, a lovely smooth palate, generous fruit in a dry earthy vein, and long seamless finish. Not a hair out of place really. Impossible to believe this was Shiraz, we start peppering the owner with skepticism who doubles down saying, “see Aussie Shiraz can be elegant!”, but this screams classic Italian wine and either the pourer realized his error or was trying to send us up but he finally admits we’re right. At any rate, A-
• 2006 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos Red Label
  Just delicious and classic Tokaji with that zesty sweet’n’sour note that I find irresistible. Tangy, balanced, with an incredible note of override peaches. I say drink now before this loses any vitality and goes darker/oxidized. Joy in a glass, all it lacks is the complexity of the best dessert wines. A-

[Nicklasss]

Very nice range of diverse wines. Age of the bottle helping, all seemed in a good spot. I had the 1986 Lynch 3 times i guess in the past and always a great showing. I still remembervthe 1986 Lynch that MichaelP brought to my brother's place in 2003. A good rival to the 1970 Montrose i opened that same night.

Nic

[JimHow]

Does Il Poggione ever disappoint.

[AKR]

Cool spectrum of wines. Hardly ever drink Tokaji nowadays.

[Blanquito]

Jim, I’m with you, Il Poggoine is always so good. The 04 regular Brunello from there was a great bargain at $35 on release.

Arv, Tokaji is similar to Sauternes in many ways as we know (botrytis, 12% alcohol, a bit drier than some stickies), but it does different things. Overall, I like it as much as Sauternes except that Sauternes seems to age/hold up long-term much better (some Royal Tokaji 6 puttonyos single vineyard bottlings from ~2000 have already turned dark brown/almost black and they’ve lost all of their freshness) and in the process aged Sauternes can gain a complexity I rarely find in Tokaji. But both are great.

Nic, yes all of these wines were given the proper Blanquitoing before consumption.

[Blanquito]

The bottle of 86 Lynch that Jal brought to Denver in 2018 was much better than this one. Indeed, Ricky bought this bottle at auction after Jal’s bottle, and he agreed his was a step down.

[sdr]

Blanquito, same story for me with the ‘82 Cos. Had a bottle a few nights ago which was amazingly lively and good, pumping out the black and red cherry fruit, 94 sdr points, high praise indeed. Previous few bottles were blah, sold all my remaining stash except this one.

Stu

[AKR]

Blanquito - I used to drink more Tokaji when I was younger, mostly function of relative availability and relative price. But all things considered, I don't find them vastly more interesting than Sauternes/Barsac. I do find that the zesty liveliness in sweet Loire or Germans to be differentiating enough to pursue.

Vastly(!) generalizing but in the world of sweet wines it seems like Sauternes/Barsac get their lifeline from oak and sugar, Loire's get it from sugar and acid, and Tokaij get it from oxidation and sugar.

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Steve's a very solid BWE recruit. Sacramento would likely trade you some left handed pitching for him. And some Barsac To Be Named Later.