Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

FARYAN’S GRAND SENDOFF – BLUE DUCK TAVERN - MOSTLY MATURED BORDEAUXS - Blue Duck Tavern - Washington D.C. (9/12/2012)

One of the youngest winos in DC, Faryan is moving to NYC to take up a new position and we met up at Blue duck for his farewell dinner. In a dozen also dinners that I had with Faryan lead me to consider his palate one of the best and it was a pleasure to participate in his farewell dinner.

The restaurant was pretty busy and we were seated about 30 minutes late. Blue duck happens to be my go to restaurant in DC for the fresh ingredients and solid executions but this day, it didn’t meet the usual expectation. Nevertheless the wines showed extremely well and it was great fun to catching up with the good friends.
Starters

• 1998 Henriot Champagne Brut Millésimé Rosé - France, Champagne
  Sweet nose, strawberry fruits, strawberry shortcake and caramel. Good weight, bright acidity and really dry finish. It is not a terribly complex wine but solid. BTW, really dry! (91 pts.)
• 1989 Caves Duplessis Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
  Chris mentioned it was imported by Dan Kravitz. Beautifully fully matured medium to shy white Burgundy nose, honey, sea breeze more so than saline, apricot, a slight hint of les clos flint/limestone and roasted chestnut coming from slow bottle aging. Nice airy yet oily palate, slightly lacking acidity and definitely showing the maturity as the end note with a hint of sherry/oxidation which shortens the finish resulting in a couple points less than otherwise. Lovely. (92 pts.)
• 1995 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Oenothèque - France, Champagne
  Darryl mentioned that Justin Connor recommend this, a great call. It is delicate yet decadent, fine small mousse, a hint of grapefruit, a fresh slice of sweet apple, almond paste and ash. Delicate palate, bright acidity and long finish. Drinking perfectly right now. Lovely champagne. (96 pts.)

Two 96 St. Julien

• 1996 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  Jalapeno, a hint of green, lead pencil, cassis but overall red fruit expression, earth and ash. Silky sweet jammy palate, good balancing acidity and a hint of tannins at the end. There is a hint of bitter metallic note that results from a minor heat damage but still expressive and enjoyable. A good example of the 96 St Julien in bright acidity, lead pencil, a hint of green and tannins. Despite the possible damage, it is showing youthful. Still long life ahead. The correct bottle should be a 95 pointer. (92 pts.)
• 1996 Château Léoville Las Cases - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  Deeply toned and big scale. Sweet Inky black fruits, cassis, graphite, vanilla, mushroom and earth. Still extremely youthful and developing slowly. Exceptional concentration, sweet, silky and clean palate. Nicely integrated tannins. Clear LLC signature of clean, youthful and modern. Drinking nicely but will improve at least for the next 20 years and will last for a while thereafter. (95 pts.)

WOTN

• 1989 Château Calon-Ségur - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
  Showing the absurdity of 100 point scale and an extremely pleasant surprise. In general, Calon Segur really needs time and this, after twenty some years, is drinking extremely well. Sweet jammy red fruits, caramel, lead pencil, a hint of leather, tobacco, flower and earth. Silky jammy palate, good acidity and nicely integrated tannins. This is an intense and hedonistic wine. Definitely more advanced than the 96 LLC and drinking at the prime, most secondary heading towards tertiary. If tasted blind, I would guessed as the 90 vintage with hedonistic generous jammy fruits. Perhaps we caught this at the perfect moment but this is my WOTN. I highly recommend. (96 pts.)

Three 86s

• 1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  I mentioned that this was corked but some doubted. Towards to the end, some retried from the bottle and TCA was more noticeable as usual. Almost drinkable initially. NR (flawed)
• 1986 Château Cos d'Estournel - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
  Very youthful example, this particular bottle is showing more red fruits than usual, also lead pencil, mushroom and earth. Still remaining fresh, noticeable core intensity, silky and nicely integrated tannins. Perhaps need to be cellared a bit more as this bottle is not terribly complex, need a bit more tertiary to emerge. Still lovely. (93 pts.)
• 1986 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Anniversary Release - USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
  Clearly significantly riper than Bordeauxs, jammy black fruits, licorice, fruitcake, dark caramel and port. Big rustic palate, unctuous, bright acidity and port like finish. Still plenty of fruits, intense and a bit rustic. (91 pts.)

Oldies

• 1985 Château L'Eglise-Clinet - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
  From the start to end, minty note, also smoke, dark chocolate and only a hint of sweet dark fruits. Definitely unique and classically Pomerol amongst the left bankers. Silky, medium concentration and fully integrated tannins. Enjoyable but don’t see much upside and need to be drunk up sooner than later. (92 pts.)
• 1975 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  Fully matured and then some, cedar, nutmeg, leather, dry cherries and mushroom. Medium to light, silky and fully integrate tannins. This without food is a 88 pointer but with, a few points higher. Completely tertiary need to be drunk up. Recommend to those who love old school Bordeaux with mostly tertiary flavor and little fruit. (88 pts.)
• 1978 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  Darryl loves Palmer and I see why. Always showing red fruit quality also intoxicating floral perfume, this is no exception. Pretty nose of strawberry preserve, perfume, prune, leather, tobacco and earth. Good concentration and nicely integrated acidity and tannins. The nose has good intensity but not terribly complex yet the classic Palmer perfume keeps the wine interesting. This is a hint of uncleanness but still quite enjoyable. No need to wait but will last. (92 pts.)
• 1982 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  Classic Pauillac nose, cassis, blackberries, lead pencil, a hint of cedar and earth. Excellent concentration and nicely integrated tannins. Still youthful and need time but drinking well with generous fruits. (94 pts.)

Sauternes

• 1975 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  A youthful example. Apricot, mango, botrytis spice, nutmeg, burnt sugar and earl grey. Unctuous, noticeable sweetness and bright acidity. This is drinking beautifully at the moment but will last forever due to the high concentration and acidity. (93 pts.)
• 1970 Château d'Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Does D’Yquem ever make a bad wine? Not so at least based my experience and this is no exception.
  
  I hit the jackpot and stayed at Chateau D’Yquem for two nights during my first trip to Bordeaux. Chateau D’Yquem is a fortress and situated at the plateau. Since the land is so flat, I could see miles away from my room on the second floor. Perhaps this is the reason why D’Yquem always display the unbelievable texture and the unique flavor profile.
  
  The color close to the 75 than the 67, light amber, bright and clear. Still noticeable coconut and banana, also butterscotch, caramel, orange rind and apricot. The overall impression initially start shy but with air, it opens up nicely. IMO, what makes D’Yquem special is the texture, always oily and unctuous yet so ariy, disappears like cotton candy on the tongue. It is not the most complex D’Yquem and appears slightly lacking acidity but still showing exceptional balance and airy palate. A tremendous wine! (95 pts.)
• 1986 Château Climens - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
  This as expected from a Climen is more linear and cooler. Subtle ginger and allspice, yellow fruits and lemon curd. Perfect balance, subtle, airy yet intensely flavored. With air, it improved so my rating may be slightly conservative. (94 pts.)

I hope that I will share many more bottles with Faryan in the future and I wish him the best in his new venture.
Posted from CellarTracker

Was the Calon panned en primeur? Did it get the dreaded 89 points? That by the way is my favorite score, even if it's not perfect.

What a great mix of send-off wines! You guys sure showed how happy you are with bidding Faryan "good ridddance"!
I have a few of the bottles and was interested to read about the rest. Thanks for the notes.

Ramon

Thanks for the excellent notes Kevin. You do know how to throw a farewell party!

I dunno about en primeur, but on 11/01, The Right Honorable Mr. Parker rated the 1989 Calon-Segur... 89 points!

Says drink up by 2012, calling it a "downsized version of the 1982"...

Sounds perfect.

Faryan's Grand Sendoff was a great event. I took no notes but do have a few thoughts to share. For me, the stars of the evening were the 1995 Dom Pérignon Oenothèque, 1989 Calon Segur and 1970 Yquem; all captured quite accurately in Kevin's fine tasting notes. (Interesting that Parker tasted 1989 Calon Segur several times with scores of 88 to 89. To be fair, all of those notes were from more than ten years ago) My other favorites were the nicely fully mature 1978 Palmer and 1985 L'Eglise Clinet, the always wonderful 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste and the graceful 1986 Climens. My take on the 1996 St. Julians was a bit different than Kevin's, I thought the 1996 Leoville was very impressive but not all that enjoyable for current drinking while the 1996 Ducru-Beaucaillou though perhaps more advanced than it should be it was really quite lovely. I was quite pleased that my 1989 Chablis was still holding together and in better shape than many white Burgundies ten to fifteen years younger.

Chris Bublitz

My observations about DP Oenotheque:
It's always good of course - it's DP and it does have additional time on the lees.
But I am finding that there's not a whole lot of difference between the "regular" DP and the Oenotheque in the second plenitude; I.e. '96, '95 (havened tried the '90 yet). You are guaranteed perfect provenance of course. But I prefer the original bottling about half the time. I love the black label, though, sleek and sexy.
But when you get back to the third plenitude, there's a world of difference. My experience is with the four releases of the '70s - '76, '75, '73 and '71. There's a thrilling combination of freshness and old age that elevates the Oeno above the non-Oeno versions, good as they are.
None of the DP Oenos from the decade of the eighties have yet been released, so you know the third plenitude versions have at least 25 extra years "en tirage" when the chef de cave, Richard Geoffrey, decides to let the world taste them.

Stuart

How many times do they release the Oenotheque? Or maybe the question should be what's the longest they leave it on the lees before disgorging?

Is it the same wine as the standard bottling, or is it a different blend or select barrels that go into the Oenotheque?

Sorry I can't answer these questions definitely, David. Moët prefers to keep a lot of their practices secret. For example, they will not even tell us how many cases of DP are made each year.

Stuart

Interesting. The accepted "wisdom" is that they make a LOT of DP. I guess a little mystery makes it more desirable.