A good friend had her 70th birthday party at a local dinner club. It was an excuse to serve her best Bordeaux to 26 of her family and close friends.
Appetizers: duck breast crostini, chicken wellingtons, oysters rockefeller, foie gras on bilinis plus several others
Nicolas Feuilatte NV Champagne - On a scale from austere to fruity I would put this in the middle,where I like my Champagne. A very nice way to start your palate thinking and was excellent with the appetizers. Except for aged vintage Champagne I find most sparklers just "pleasant" so I am a poor judge but would put this in the upper quartile of sparklers.
1st Course: Shrimp and Crab en Croute on baby greens with a pepper relish
'86 Wiengut Max Ferd Richter, Riesling Auslese - Light gold, melon/honey sweetness in perfect balance. The finish on this wine would not end. Hard to judge this wine next the the ones that follow but came close to my WOTN. At $35 off the wine list I tried to buy some but our party drank the last 4 bottles. Maybe David Bueker knows what he is tallking about.
Entree: Beef Tenderloin in a wine reduction sauce, topped witha generous slab of Foie Gras served with haricot verts, baby carrots and fingerling potatoes.
'79 Margaux, double magnum - Fruit on the nose, soft, light bodied and totally integrated. A nice finish but with a touch of alcohol. After 1/2 hour seemed to sing a little louder but sill very soft. No oxidation but this wine was approaching and elegant decline. From a 750 would expect this wine to be past its prime.
Cheese Tasting: St Andre, Cabra al Vino, Manchego
'62 Latour, magnum - Another soft fully integrated wine but much more complex than the '79 Margaux. Dark berry fuit, beautifully balanced, huge finish with many years to go. For most this was the WOTN and I certainly would not argue. Based on my limited experience if you want a bordeaux to live forever, buy Latour. '62 never gets the credit it deserves as it folowed the well publicized '61 but to my tastes I will take '59 and '62, just one person's opinion.
'75 La Mission Haut Brion, magnum - Now this wine stood out and was the most controversial. Huge nose of chocolate and earthiness. Dark color, big structure and not a delicate wine. Tobacco, tobacco, tobacco with some leather and obvious tannins. The tannins were not unpleasant but may never fully resolve. This wine will probably keep this taste profile for several years, soften slightly, but then fade into simple death void of any complex compontents. I think this wine is at its peak but I was a member of the group that really liked the wine.
Comments from the pulpit: All of the wines served were fantastic. The three Bordeaux were excellent representations of great wines of their vintage - '62, a vintage for the ages, '79 a beautiful fruit driven vintage that needs drank and '75 a classic tannic vintage for the real Bordeaux nut where tannins and fuit duel to the death. Everyone had good pours of all the wines but in the end I kept going back and trying more of the '86 Riesling. I loved this wine and my checkbook would probably be better off if I had never had this wine.
Great Wines - Great Food - Great Friends.
Walt