A dinner in honour of the right honourable Jay Winton
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 9:54 pm
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.
...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.