TNs: Two 1995 St Julien

jal · Post by **jal** » Sun Dec 15, 2019 1:00 pm

Dinner at a friend's house yesterday, and with short ribs, ribeye caps, mashed potatoes, and sauteed vegetables we opened side by side after a couple of hours of decanting:
1995 Leoville Poyferre: nose is subdued, color is dark ruby, on the palate some berries and dark cherries but a bit awkward with a bitter and weird finish
1995 Leoville Barton: No nose to speak of, dark purple almost black, fruit is hiding behind a wall of tannins, underneath there is a really good backbone but needs a lot of time.
Not a lot of joy in these wines yesterday. I have enjoyed 1995 Bordeaux more twenty years ago than I did yesterday. These were bought on release and stored in my friend's temperature controlled cellar since.

OrlandoRobert · Post by **OrlandoRobert** » Sun Dec 15, 2019 1:22 pm

This vintage confounds me as well, my recent note on a Magdelaine.

https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/vi ... Magdelaine

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Sun Dec 15, 2019 4:31 pm

I have not drunk the 95 Magdelaine, but most right bank 95s have been mature for quite some time.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:52 pm

Sorry to hear Jacques, how frustrating! I guess we got lucky with our recent 1995 dinner, every wine came out to play.

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:35 am

In the early days of this site, it was argued that the 96 vintage clearly ruled over the 95 vintage that received all the attention due to a publication naming the 95 Ducru as wine of the year. i've not deviated from that opinion based on the dozen or so wines i've consumed over last 5 years. the 96 Barton is rocking!!!

greatbxfreak · Post by **greatbxfreak** » Mon Dec 16, 2019 9:15 am

1995 is Right Bank's year while 1996 is Left Bank's year, meaning Merlot was a lot better than CS/CF in 1995 and the opposite happened in 1996. Merlot had just not favourable growing conditions in 1996.

jal · Post by **jal** » Mon Dec 16, 2019 1:48 pm

Yes, I have great memories of a delicious 1995 Angelus. But I always thought the 1995 vintage was good on both banks.

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:19 pm

Comte Flaneur wrote:Sorry to hear Jacques, how frustrating! I guess we got lucky with our recent 1995 dinner, every wine came out to play.

Yes they did! I'm trying to compile my best of 2019 and this dinner might be considered as one as all wines showed well.

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:35 am

Jacques

next time we meet i'm storing a few Angelus that need drinking

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:53 am

How about the rest of us, brodway, are you interested in meeting up with any of us?

I love getting together with Jacques and Jill... and Stefan and Lucie... and Danny and Danielle... and nicola... and Michael and Nalan and... ANYONE on BWE who considers themselves not part of any clicques, I'd love sharing my two half bottles of '98 Angelus with ANY of you... yes, brodway, you too...

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:55 am

Hey Nicola... when are you going to come visit me?
I promise I'll open the BEST bottle in my cellar. Even BETTER than something I'll open if brodway comes to visit me!

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:06 am

Angelus dinner it is.

Would love to catch up with you Jim. And any BWE'er for that matter

AKR · Post by **AKR** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:34 am

I had a 96 Lagrange tonight with a pantry supper of penne with jarred vodka sauce and bacon crumbles. (the wine did not go well with all that) . This St Julien is also taut at first, but opens up after an hour or two. Still all things considered, I'm underwhelmed with this cool, lean cranberry noted wine. Somewhat of an outlier among Medocs of this vintage in my experience.

But among the 95 Medocs....more often than not I am disappointed. Having tasted them throughout their life I guess this how owners of 75s must have felt as the decades went by. A few wan years, and then something ok comes along, and the hype machine goes to work, and cellars are filled. Pichon Lalande's 1995 is definitely an exception though.

95 Right banks are great though, but its been a very long time since I've had the Angelus. I bought my one and only bottle of that (long consumed!) back when Ben (whuzzup!) had some hook into an Indiana retailer. That's a blast from the past!

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:19 am

Arv
I wonder if you can recall the 2004 tasting you largely organised when I was in NYC.
It was shortly before Christmas and I think the restaurant was called Salute!
I recalled that many of the 95's were a little underwhelming then. Not bad, but below what we hoped for and expected.
They seemed lighter than I expected and some were rather angular.
I think most of us thought that they would soften and fill out with time but I am now starting to think that 95 was just not a great left bank vintage.
Maybe it is a new 1975. There were some outstanding wines from that vintage (LLC and LMHB for example) but many were simply too tart, acidic and lacked fruit intensity.
I was just starting with french wines when the 75 vintage hit the market and after several poor vintages, I think they were over-hyped.
If I think back to the vintages from 61 to 82, only a few were very good to excellent - 66 and 70 come to mind, and there were several disasters.
Bordeaux needed a good vintage to hype. And maybe after 91, 92, 93 and 94 (which did at least produce some excellent wines), the same thinking was apparent.

Interesting to note that you mentioned Angelus.
The late Pappadoc brought a bottle to that tasting and it was easily the wine of the night, and even the far less famous Corbin Michotte was quite pleasant.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:30 pm

JimHow wrote:... ANYONE on BWE who considers themselves not part of any clicques...

JC and I are still waiting for an opportunity to meet with you in Connecticut for a dinner. (I've only met JC once so I don't think we're part of any clicques.)

Now I have a few choice bottles to entice you too, but no '95s.

jal · Post by **jal** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:39 pm

BWE Angelus dinner in NYC next time we're all in town. I have to go look for some now.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:18 pm

Is Jim posting clique-bait?

I have a few Angelus in the cellar. LMK when this is happening. Might be able to pop up to N.Y. Would love to meet Chris and JC and reconnect with the veterans.

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:28 pm

Checking my cellar inventory, Angelus is the only Right Bank wine I have from 1995; everything else is Left Bank. I've been planning to pull 1 or 2 bottles of several different Left Bank producers to have available to drink, but I'm wondering now if I will have a similar experience to Jacques. I think Comte and Jay are the only ones who have had a positive experience recently with the 1995 vintage.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:31 pm

I had a 1995 Grand Puy Lacoste that was very good, bright fruit and not too tannic, totally unlike the vintage stereotype

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:11 pm

NY, NJ, CT all good options.

David...would love to catch up with you as its been a long time and i need a few drinks.

If NJ is an option, there are a few great corkage free options i can arrange. Or we can crash Jacque's pad and have an Animal House style party. Except we can't jump in the pool this time like we used to.

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:16 pm

jal wrote:BWE Angelus dinner in NYC next time we're all in town. I have to go look for some now.

Sounds like a plan, count me in but I will apologize in advance as I only own a btls of the 2003 and the 2004 en magnum so the pickings are slim as I stopped looking at this property and Pavie once they were upgraded to Premier Grand Cru Classé 'A' and their pricing multiplied over night.

Broadway, where in Jersey are you located?

jal · Post by **jal** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:10 pm

My pad is your pad! I'll let you guys know next we're in NYC
Another option is Gio's place in New Rochelle

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:10 pm

Im in at the very top of Bergen County....chilly and icy here

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:11 pm

Mi casa tu casa?
New Rochelle works just fine too and probably very convenient for those coming in from CT

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:08 pm

brodway wrote:Im in at the very top of Bergen County....chilly and icy here

So does that mean upper saddle river? I bought a home in Sparkill NY in Rockland County and about a mile from the Northvale / Rockleigh NJ border as the crow flies. So what are your go to BYO’s?

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:40 pm

i'm actually in Woodcliff Lake. Cafe Panache in Ramsey is generally a good BYO spot that would be conducive to a Bordeaux tasting

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:46 pm

Not far from where you live is a place i frequent often in Creeskill, namely Samdan. Its a Turkish approach to grilling meat which i find delicious. The owners are friendly and open to hosting a wine event for up to 50 people in a semi-private setting

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 9:17 pm

I am familiar with the area as my girlfriend ran a Beauty Store called ‘Ultra Beauty’ off Chestnut Ridge Rd which was next to the liquor store and A&P some 15 years ago. Haven’t been to Cafe Panache in a while but let’s def get together somewhere in the new year.

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:19 pm

rumor has it Whole Foods Market is going into the A&P property. would certainly be up to getting a bite/drink in the new year

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:31 pm

NYC is easier for us (Amtrak + subway or cab) but may be a moot point depending on dates.
I've got a 2000 Angelus that needs looking into.

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:49 pm

David....

Lets shoot for February....

If the CT people are ok driving into NYC and Jim rather trek into NYC and Jacques gets back to NYC then it should work just fine.

Please email some preliminary dates that work for you. brodwaye@aol.com

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:19 pm

My two 1998 Angelus half bottles with the Franck Bonville champagne delivery I got today at recommendation of Patrick.

A BWE Angelus dinner it is!

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 1:38 am

98 was also a very good right bank vintage. excited about those little bad boys.

i have a 1995 Angelus that has now been designated to play

Jim please keep me posted about your trial schedule so we can coordinate something in NYC when you have some down time

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:23 am

Might want to start a new thread for the Angelus dinner. Unfortunately I’m in Florida, California, or DC almost all of February. March is the big France trip and also the DC BWE event. Can’t believe it but how about the first few weeks of April?

jal · Post by **jal** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:49 am

And the first week of April, we're leaving for Israel for four months.
This may have to wait till August or become a virtual tasting.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 1:08 pm

Yeah, my schedule is insanity-plus in 2020, especially the first six months.

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:07 pm

virtual tasting? didn't realize that could be done on a vertical

seriously lets try to all find a Saturday/Sunday to get together in New Rochelle....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 19, 2019 12:18 am

I like the idea of a Angelus dinner but I think the first half of the year is going to be almost impossible.

I have five homicide cases pending, two murder trials and three manslaughter trials.

The latest in my Alaska case:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ww ... dZLGNJNc0A

I think we are most likely looking at late summer or fall.

I like the idea of doing it at Gio's restaurant in New Rochelle.

brodway · Post by **brodway** » Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:58 am

Jim

glad to see you are spending your time saving souls...would love to see you in a court room one of these days...

will keep the idea alive with a separate thread and gauge level of interest....seems about a half dozen BWE'ers should be on board

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:09 am

I'll go see you Jim, let say in 2020. Do you still have my Bordeaux that you brought back at your house? I guess a 2012 Rauzan and two 2005 Destieux i guess?

Nic