Great note. As you know, I am a huge Beychevelle fan, especially through the 89 vintage (I've had them as old as the '64, and correct bottles of Beychevelle from '64-'89 have all been wonderful).Comte Flaneur wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:24 pm Tonight a 1989 Beychevelle - a smoker’s wine...wonderful as always but very evolved and dominated by - wonderful - tobacco nuances - you get ash tray- never has ash tray smelt so good - cigar box and sweet piped tobacco - when you drink this wine it helps you appreciate why cigarette/cigar/pipe smokers have not completely taken leave of their senses - this bottle was starting to dry up a bit at the back of the palate - most noticeable on this bottle but evident more faintly in others. I don’t think this wine will reward further keeping, but we are in the realms of >30 year old wines here. A real treat with my lamb rack. P.S. cycling through my new Hertfordshire route last weekend I saw so many beautiful new born lambs, so much that it made me come away with pangs of guilt and regret to perhaps accede to my daughter’s admonishments to become a vegetarian - let me be virtuous, but not just yet...
In terms of lamb, I gave it up over 7 years ago*. And all pork. And goat (common in many Caribbean countries I frequent). And all cured meats and sausages (due to toxic nitrates). I still eat fish, poultry and beef/bison, and the occasional wild game (elk), and I really haven't missed lamb or pork at all. It was surprisingly easy.
*I have made exceptions when a dinner guest.