BWE jet-set (short) offline in Québec City

[Nicklasss]

BWE in Québec City.

I post that separately, as I did not wanted to read any comments dstgolf or jimhow could have made on that night or the wines.

Not so long ago, dstgolf send me an e-mail to say that they would be going for holidays in Charlevoix, and we would be able to do a dinner in Québec City. Since that mail, I accepted thoroughly the invitation, and told Danny that MC and me would join Danielle and him for the November 25 dinner.

Since that day, we've been poking the BD, to do the drive from Maine and join us. It was a long shot, and we couldn't beleive he would come. But BWE is BWE, and the BD is trying to attend many events. So a quick call to Jim on Thursday night, an E-mail sent to give him the info, and a mail back from Jim on Friday morning telling he was coming, the surprise would be nice for dstgolf!

We left Saguenay for Québec City, round 5:00 pm. The park in between was full winter conditions, and the drive wasn't too fun, but we made it in 2 hours 20 minutes instead of the regular 2 hours. Not bad but we would be 30 minutes late to the restaurant. I called dstgolf to inform him, and Jim staying at the same hotel as them, was already with them. We arrived at the restaurant around 8:00 pm, and were really happy to see dstgolf and ms dstgolf, and jimhow. I saw dstgolf last year at the Bordeaux BWE convention, and Jim last February, but it was like i left these close friends a week ago...

Fun and friendship took the control right away, and we discussed about lots of different things like wines, dstgolf trip to Zimbabwe for safari, the coming BWE 2017 convention, organizing an offline this summer in Ottawa, jimhow regular weekends in NYC, why Nicklasss and MC are not married yet (always a hot subject, especially that MC and me don't have the same view about that!), president Trump... name it. Discussing and fun that went to the little hours after the restaurant, with some beers, ending up around 2 am... And everyone was driving back the next day. Always fun and i enjoy 100 % each time that special relationship, that mix of proximity and distance at the same time. And at the end thinking: the jet-set of BWE, we did it again, short duration, intense relationship, great wines. Feeling like we take advantage of what is best in life, other than family.

For the wines, they showed all extremely well and really respecting truly their provenance and aoc. They were in the same perfect mindset of the BWEers attending, what a coincidence!

First the 1996 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill was just top notch. Probably in the top 5 if not top 3 of all the Champagne i had. Lightly yeasty, with bread crust, lemon zest, flowers and ligth spices on the nose. In mouth, at a very good place at age 20, with creamy mousse, the kind of mouth that convince you that you could do a no-no, and drink a bottle on your own... Balance between fruits, mineral, zest and light acidity on the final was just perfect. What a great wine. Tn: 95-96. I took a second poor...

The 1998 Chateau Pape Clément was very true and I guess it was the more perfumed nose at opening, of all the wines, and a very balance mouth. Dark red, nose of leather, smoke, barnyard, with also some currants and blackberries. I found also a nice light touch of roasted peanut scale. Really complex nose. Mouth was medium power, with good red berries and blackberries, with a touch of tobacco and leather. Finish was aristocratic, and long on more green tobacco leaves and noble oak. I liked it a lot.

The 2001 Chateau Léoville Las Cases was up for a great night, but started the party slowly. Probably the more closed wine to start with, as we expected, the wine opened up and became that great serious St-Julien that we know, but always with some qualities stealed to the neighbourg Pauillac. Nose of mineral and black prunes to start with, opened up during the night with dark rasberries, blackcurrants, wood ashes, more earthy mineral kind of lead pencil. In mouth, a masculine style, with good core of tannins, lots of blackfruits and blackberries flavors, dense, earthy. Structured finish. It was an excellent wine, but I accept dstgolf verdict, need probably 5 more years, as it is very serious wine right now.

The 1989 Chateau La Fleur de Gay, as the oldest red wine that night, decided to show problems that some older bottle can have, a cork that does not cooperate. As La Girolle is an excellent BYOW in Québec City (probably the best), the staff helped us quickly and went to filter the wine and bring it back in a decanter. But the wine made us forget the bad cork quickly as it was the more open nose from start, and easily to identify as Right Bank. Nose of sweet plums, chocolate, spicy oak, dark red berries, sweet smoky vanilla oak, and a light touch of aromatic herbs. Fragrant nose. In mouth, the wine was very tasty, but at the same time showing it age. Good core of darkberries, light milk chocolate, vanilla, some spices, and that kind of wet iron earth note. Unfortunately, i found that the final was a bit warm or alcoholic, just slightly above my own limit, giving a more rustic finish, even if 13% alcohol level on the label. But as a grandpa that have only one slight default, we accept it without problem. A plush medium body and complex wine.

The 1996 Chateau Lynch Bages was not poored that Jimhow was already describing it as the greatest wine in attendance that night. For sure, it was excellent, with it black cherries and black berries nose, also a touch of blue fruits. Mix that with light spices and light aromatic mint/cedar notes. In mouth, i got some kind of cherry kirsch flavors, blackcurrants, integrated oak, with that nice 1996 Médoc ripeness and controlled acidity that give the feeling of a dense wine light on it's feet! An excellent Lynch, but I preferred the 2000 Jim opened in Maine at the summer 2014.

Then, i wanted that everyone taste a young wine I felt in love with. So I got my white rabbit out of the hat and the 2011 Chateau Calon Ségur appeared on the table. Opened in no time, i found back my love for that traditional style Saint-Estèphe. First nose of creamy spicy oak, kinda exotic. Within minutes, add some red berries notes, herbs, earth mineral, something black, and you got a nice young vibrant nose. In mouth, delicious just after opening, a medium body or density, but very well defined on the same flavors as on the nose, with good tannins and acidity, and a long finish for that unheralded vintage. Proof that serious producers produce excellent wines years in and years out. And why you should inform yourself and try Bordeaux wine in that type of vintages. Personnally, I like a lot 2011.

Finally, the 1989 Chateau Guiraud was roaring on all cylinders, with it dark gold color, a powerful nose of crème brulée, pinneapple, apricots, peaches, and old vanilla. Also a light mandarines. In mouth, a very nice Sauternes, with just the right mix of sugar, fruit, acidity. The crème brulée was there too in mouth, with pinneaple, apricots, roasted sweet oak, roasted botritys, light bitterness to equilibrate the sweetness. Medium coating quality, tasty, very perfumed too in mouth. Final of Graham honey waffle cookies. A solid showing for that liquorous wine. Tn: 92-93.

These wines went well with what we ate as main meal, including foie gras, sweetbread, beef filet mignon or red deer. I guess the appetizer salad we had as first meal was not wine friendly, and desserts at the were good but not great. But you can't complaint as gloabally, it was an extraordinary night as it is always the case with BWE.

I did not rated the wines, and it is really tough to say which red was the best, and i'm still trying to figure out. But all of them were within the 91.5-94.5 margin, depending at what part of the dinner you had them.

Thanks to dstgolf and jimhow for making this happen. Again, can't wait for the next time, that might be in California in March 2017.

Nic

[dstgolf]

Great notes Nic and amazing how close our thoughts are about the wines. That Sir Winston was truly in a heavenly place and like you said this could have very easily have been sucked dry by any one of us without skipping a beat. I've had this 4 times before and this last bottles was surely head and shoulders above the others. Maybe it was the age or just the company that we were with but it was a special bottle to start the night for sure. Great evening all the way around and looking forward to next Spring when we'll meet again.

[stefan]

That is a great BWE way of spending a Thanksgiving weekend night! Congratulations.

[JimHow]

Wow, another legendary BWE weekend. It was great to be in Quebec City, it had been too long since my last visit. Danny and Nic were lobbying me hard the past couple weeks, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it. But then my court schedule cleared up this week. I didn't decide until the last minute, though. I spoke to Nic on Thursday evening and told him not to tell Danny, let's keep it a surprise.

I got pulled over at the border for the first time ever. They were grilling me, I just couldn't seem to convince them that I was a lawyer from Maine visiting friends in Quebec City for dinner and then going on to Manhattan the next day for dinner on Saturday night. I'm guessing it was more likely my hair, which currently looks like a cross between Gerry Spence and Ted Kaczynski. Poignantly, I will be cutting it this week and returning to "normalcy" after almost exactly one year without a haircut. My Jimmy Suckling impersonation is coming to a end.

Anyway, they let me into the country at the Maine border and I checked into the hotel at which Danny and Danielle were staying. As the others recounted, we haven't seen each other in a year and a half in the case of Danny/Danielle, nine months in the case of Nic, and several years in the case of Marie-Claude, but it is amazing how it just seems like no time passed at all. I'm always fascinated by that phenomenon.

What a great time we had! Great, great friends, BWE has been such a life-altering phenomenon! I can't wait to see everyone again. In California, but I also want to meet up again in the summer in Ottawa and/or Montreal.

The restaurant was superb, very popular, crowded, I saw a bunch of people bringing in their own wines and now I know why. No corkage fee! The food was great, I had a red deer dish that was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. And it was a perfect match for the wines we were drinking.

Speaking of the best I've had in a long time: That 1996 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill was one of the greatest champagnes I have ever tasted, so much going on, so much complexity, sort of in a perfect place age wise, not too old, not too young. What a treat! 97 points.

1998 Pape Clement is likewise in a very good place right now. Like every wine we drank that night, it was so representative of its terroir. On the nose it is profound, I noticed it was singing right from the moment the bottle was uncorked. Danielle noted it was the "most different" of the reds, and indeed it was, with that Graves profile that was such a contrast to the northern Medocs and the Pomerol we drank. This wine would be easily identifiable in a blind tasting among the group of wines we drank. 93 points.

The 2001 Leoville Las Cases, not surprisingly, started off slowly. In fact, it was tight as a drum upon uncorking. But as the evening unfolded it kept opening up until the end, when it was strutting its de facto first growth status. Heavenly match with the meat. 94 points.

Look, I like the 1996 Lynch Bages as much as anybody. And on this night it was so beautifully Pauillac in character, still very youthful, great black fruit and cassis. But compared to the '89? Let me tell you something. I knew the '89 Lynch. The '89 Lynch was a friend of mine. The '96 Lynch is no '89 Lynch. Still, a thrill to drink and, again, great match with the cuisine. 93 points.

Danny and Nic thought the decanted 1989 La Fleur de Gay may have been a bit unbalanced, hot, too alcoholic. I thought it was a very lovely lady, really a point, again, I was sure to take some sips with my deer dish and it was heaven on earth. All the great things we look for from a great right banker. 94 points.

The 1989 Guiraud was a real treat with dessert. Danielle and I had some earlier as well with our fois gras. Viscous, mouth-filling, deeply colored, and wonderfully complex…. I had it with the creme brûlée dessert, yum… 94 points.

And then Nic pulls out a 2011 Calon Segur. I thought this wine was brilliant. It was amazingly open and accessible immediately upon uncorking, but it clearly has the structure to age. It was so beautifully true to its appellation. Again, a wine that would likely be identified quickly in a blind tasting. So, so classically styled. I loved it so much I ordered 6 bottles this morning. 94+ points.

We went out for a beer afterwards and closed down the place into the wee hours. The BWE camaraderie and friendship were in full force, the conversations were, um, interesting, as we approached subject matters that descend into the very personal. It was an awesome time. As I sat there at dinner listening to Danny describing his rendezvous in London with Ian and Timmy I was just struck by the influence that BWE has had in our lives… Different friends meeting up in different combinations at any one time in different parts of the world. As I have said many times, if you haven't had a chance to attend a BWE annual convention I highly encourage you to do so, California '17 is shaping up as a very promising weekend…..

I was up early the next morning and I drove 9 hours from Quebec City to Weehawken, NJ. A pretty drive from Montreal south through Lake Placid, Saratoga, etc., on into the city. I got stopped again at the border on my way back into the United States of America! These U.S. guys on are nasty. "Sir, please keep your hands out of your pockets…." Jesus, I had a hell of a time convincing them about the purpose of my trips into and out of Canada.

Anyway…. What a great weekend, Thursday Thanksgiving dinner with family in Maine, Friday with BWE family in Quebec City, and Saturday for another great night in NYC.

Life is good.

See you all soon, in California in March or perhaps sooner!

BD

[DavidG]

A great read, thanks for sharing. I have to agree, the world-wide BWE connections are truly amazing. Well done by the Great North Chapter of BWE!

Jim, if you think US immigration and border control is nasty now, don't plan any trips south of the border after January.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the notes guys, a brilliant BWE event for Thanksgiving....

A few years ago I opened a 2001 LLC with Chase Spleen...it was so so shut down, so close...tights as a ... Whatever...unlike the 2002. Glad you got some joy out of yours after a few hours.

Been wondering what to do with my case of 1998 Pape Clement...judging by your notes, I guess this is from Jim's case it is 1. Evolving much faster than I thought it would (unlike Haut-Brion and LMHB 98s) and 2. It seems to be more old style than new style Pape. ..?

At my local wine shop called the Sampler they are showing the 1971 and 1995 Papes. They are both sensational.

[dstgolf]

Ian,

The Pape was drinking beautifully right out of the bottle and is in a very nice place right now. This is still 18 years old so I would expect that it would be coming into its own at this time. Personally I don't think it's aging prematurely and there is lots of life with nice primary fruit still present along with present but evolving riper tannins than I would have expected from the vintage. This has a lot of time ahead of it but it sure went down nice at this time. You can certainly enjoy this now or sit for another 10yrs + and I don't think you will be at a loss but its so good now why wait unless you have to.

Agree with statement 2 that it is still deliciously old school Pape.