A dinner in honour of the right honourable Jay Winton

[Comte Flaneur]

Aka Mr Vino...

...who was in London Town on a wintry night, visiting his spiritual second home...

...and in his honour, last night, we laid on a special dinner focusing in on the 1995 Bordeaux vintage:

To start:

Billecart Salmon Champagne Cuvee Nicolas François 1995

Fully mature, pleasantly oxidative not oxidised. Not as profound or as good as I hoped.


1995 Bordeaux flights:

Flight one: Pomerol

Latour a Pomerol - pure delight, finessed and beautifully resolved ****1/2 93

Clinet - a hypothetical blend of its flight mates, youthful but well into the zone, chunkier than the LaP, excellent **** 92

L’Evangile - a little high toned on the nose, quite youthful, fabulous mouthfeel and texture. *****94


Flight two: St-Emilion and Graves

Magdelaine - ripe and concentrated, but not in a modern style. This can be approached and enjoyed now, but has decades in hand. Excellent **** 92

Haut Brion - subdued nose, sheer class as it glides across the palate. Fabulous now it has an exciting future ahead of it. Outstanding *****96

La Mission Haut-Brion - slightly more giving, slightly more expressive, similarly fashioned, also stunning *****96


Flight three: St-Julien

Leoville Barton - youthful colour, bright fruits on the youthful palate, svelte medium palate with lead, baking spices, classy and open for business ****92

Leoville Lascases - a small but significant step up in quality compared to the other Leoville. More distinguished, graphite, has just entered its drinking window, really superb and will continue to evolve and improve ****(*) 95

Ducru-Beaucaillou - NR, not flawed but not a good bottle...this was my pre-match favourite is an indication of how good this can be.


Flight four: Pauillac and St-Estephe


Lynch-Bages - youthful colour, nose and palate, pure red and blue fruits, for those who like young wines with plenty of primary fruit this is in a perfect place. For those who prefer more tertiary development give it another decade. A class act. ****1/2 93

Montrose - old school, down and dirty street fighting wine, it cannot match the class of the Lynch but in one way it was the most thrilling wine to drink with some latrinal notes (in a good way) and a brawny chewy palate (in a good way). This is also well into its drinking window. ****91

Calon Segur - similarly old school, tobacco, ash, raspy tannins; a bit ragged but in the zone and great fun to drink.***1/2 90



Dessert:

Ch Rieussec 1999 - every bit as enjoyable as previous bottles of this, thanks JW.

In spite of some baritone murmuring from the other end of the table this tasting reinforced my view that this vintage is ‘open for business’. Most of these wines are at the beginning of a long drinking window. If you like wines with plenty of vibrant primary fruit you can drink them now (Jim, Alex..) if you prefer more tertiary development, wait.

I think 1995 is an - under-rated - and excellent vintage. I say under-rated because many have given up on it or written it off. It is strong on both banks, close in quality - but quite different - to 1996 on the left bank, significantly superior to 1996 on the right bank. I think it has a unique quality in having an athleticism in the mid-ribs that you rarely see these days.

By that I mean it has this mid-palate refinement, which does not lack substance, but it more levitating and not as dense or as obvious as the 1996, 2000 (more so), or 2005 (even more so). In short on the left bank it may turn out to be a rare breed of somewhat old style Bordeaux may may not encounter again. I also think the inherent fruit in these will prevail over the tannins.

[dstgolf]

Ian,

Great line up and as always you host a mean get together. I sure hope there were more than the two of you present to enjoy 14 bottles??!! I wouldn't put it past you though. The HB and La Miss sound like the two gems of the night. As per your notes the 95s have been a mixed bag and most have under performed to date.

Well done.

[DavidG]

Quite the amazing reception, Ian.

I wish I’d bought more 1995, it’s a vintage that grew on me. Sounds like you picked a bunch of winners, almost every bottle sounds delicious with the Haut Brion and La Miss really showing their class.

[AKR]

very nice ! lots of wines there

[Jay Winton]

Where the %$#* are my notes?? May have to wing this.

[Jay Winton]

Ok, wing it as I've been overwhelmed by all the requests for my thoughts.

Billecart Salmon Champagne Cuvee Nicolas François 1995

Fully mature, pleasantly oxidative not oxidised. Not as profound or as good as I hoped.

Past it for me


1995 Bordeaux flights:

Flight one: Pomerol

Latour a Pomerol - pure delight, finessed and beautifully resolved ****1/2 93

Clinet - a hypothetical blend of its flight mates, youthful but well into the zone, chunkier than the LaP, excellent **** 92

L’Evangile - a little high toned on the nose, quite youthful, fabulous mouthfeel and texture. *****94

A nice kickoff but suffered a bit from going first even though our MC (restaurant owner) had prepared all the bottles properly. Clinet was a very narrow favorite

Flight two: St-Emilion and Graves

Magdelaine - ripe and concentrated, but not in a modern style. This can be approached and enjoyed now, but has decades in hand. Excellent **** 92

Haut Brion - subdued nose, sheer class as it glides across the palate. Fabulous now it has an exciting future ahead of it. Outstanding *****96

La Mission Haut-Brion - slightly more giving, slightly more expressive, similarly fashioned, also stunning *****96

The best flight and Magdelaine hung in there very well with the big boys. Ahhh...Haut Brion. I was less impressed with LMHB than the group, finish was not quite together. Hardly a slacker though

Flight three: St-Julien

Leoville Barton - youthful colour, bright fruits on the youthful palate, svelte medium palate with lead, baking spices, classy and open for business ****92

Leoville Lascases - a small but significant step up in quality compared to the other Leoville. More distinguished, graphite, has just entered its drinking window, really superb and will continue to evolve and improve ****(*) 95

Ducru-Beaucaillou - NR, not flawed but not a good bottle...this was my pre-match favourite is an indication of how good this can be.

Loved the LLC but far from prime time. Barton is Barton and DB was nice but defer to my distinguished colleague


Flight four: Pauillac and St-Estephe


Lynch-Bages - youthful colour, nose and palate, pure red and blue fruits, for those who like young wines with plenty of primary fruit this is in a perfect place. For those who prefer more tertiary development give it another decade. A class act. ****1/2 93

Montrose - old school, down and dirty street fighting wine, it cannot match the class of the Lynch but in one way it was the most thrilling wine to drink with some latrinal notes (in a good way) and a brawny chewy palate (in a good way). This is also well into its drinking window. ****91

Calon Segur - similarly old school, tobacco, ash, raspy tannins; a bit ragged but in the zone and great fun to drink.***1/2 90

2nd best flight. I really liked the elegance of the LB. Montrose was the pugilist I expected.


Dessert:

Ch Rieussec 1999 - every bit as enjoyable as previous bottles of this, thanks JW.

This seemed to be well received but I was a bit disappointed in the finish which seemed a bit one note. Time may fix this.


In spite of some baritone murmuring from the other end of the table this tasting reinforced my view that this vintage is ‘open for business’. Most of these wines are at the beginning of a long drinking window. If you like wines with plenty of vibrant primary fruit you can drink them now (Jim, Alex..) if you prefer more tertiary development, wait.

Agreed An excellent night and nice to meet some (new to me) faces. A very erudite group. Thanks again Comte

I think 1995 is an - under-rated - and excellent vintage. I say under-rated because many have given up on it or written it off. It is strong on both banks, close in quality - but quite different - to 1996 on the left bank, significantly superior to 1996 on the right bank. I think it has a unique quality in having an athleticism in the mid-ribs that you rarely see these days.

By that I mean it has this mid-palate refinement, which does not lack substance, but it more levitating and not as dense or as obvious as the 1996, 2000 (more so), or 2005 (even more so). In short on the left bank it may turn out to be a rare breed of somewhat old style Bordeaux may may not encounter again. I also think the inherent fruit in these will prevail over the tannins.
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