WTN: Charity tasting, mainly Bordeaux

At Carolina Wine Company on Oct. 6. From the private collection of co-owner Chrish Peel. I sampled the Bordeaux flight of six wines for $20 and two vintages if Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve for $3.00 each. Other options were an Italian flight and an all-California flight.

1970 CHATEAU LA LAGUNE, HAUT-MEDOC (value listed as $195 a bottle)
Cited as the best La Lagune of the 70's. Brick-brown color paling some at the rim.
Almost sweet with a faint hint of prune on the nose and palate. Mellow, medium-bodied. Match with rare roast beef? Intriguing.

1978 CHATEAU GRUAUD-LAROSE, ST. JULIEN (value listed as $150 a bottle)
A top vintage of this popular St. Julien.
Umber brown color, paling at rim.
More earth on the nose than the La Lagune. Still some tannin present and a taste of dried cherries.

1986 L'ARROSEE, ST. EMILION ($150)
From L'Arrosee's heyday, when some critics felt it was the best wine in St. Emilion.
Reddish-brown color.
Seems to fall in between the first two wines of the flight--I liked it better than the Gruaud-Larose but not as well as the La Lagune.

1998 CHATEAU PALMER, MARGAUX (47% Cabernet Sauvignon and 47% Merlot with 6% Petit Verdot) ($150)
Quite frothy when poured. Very dark crimson color and opaque in density.
Black currant fruit more obvious in this one. Longer finish than the earlier ones. Back of palate suggests cherry. Very nice. A new favorite of the flight. (Owner's note on this wine, this vintage: Palmer again mounts a serious challenge to Chateaux Margaux itself.)

1998 CLOS L'EGLISE, POMEROL ($250) Owner's note: a great Pomerol in the best Right Bank vintage of the 90's.
Very dark red color and opaque. Sweet nose again. Viscosity shown on the glass. Luscious flavors of dark fruits. Drinking very smoothly. Female winemaker. Does that contribute to the feminine elegance or is it the proportion of Merlot? IMHO this wine is drinking at prime (but I lack the experience to say definitely that it will not improve further or that it won't experience a long plateau at this quality level--it just doesn't seem to require more cellaring.)

1998 CHATEAU PAVIE, ST. EMILION ($200 value for a bottle)
A Parker 95+ and 50-year wine.
Dark crimson. Nearly opaque. Divine mellow flavors to rival the Clos L'Eglise. Long finish. I'm not a Parker devotee but I admit to liking both this and the 2000 Pavie. (Also the 2000 Pavie-Maquin).

The California flight offered tastes of the '74, '84 and '94 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve along with an Eisele I believe and possibly a Joseph Phelps Insignia, etc. I have had the '94 Robert Mondavi before and liked it so chose to try the '74 and '94 vintages.

1974 ROBERT MONDAVI CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVE ($250 value)
Cited as the first great Mondavi reserve C.S.
Brownish color. Holding up well with fruit and slight herbal notes. Very enjoyable!

1994 ROBERT MONDAVI CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVE ($200 value)
Frothy when poured. Dark crimson color; semi-transparent.
Solid fruit. Structure to last. Gentle tannins on the finish. Very nice! Wish I owned some bottles of this.

Which day did you try these [Thurs, Fri, or Sat]?

It says up there Oct. 6. That was Saturday.

Thanks for the notes, JC. I tend to like the '78 Gruaud a bit more than you did, but overall similar feelings about the older ones (Bdx and Mondavi).

You like the Pavie more than I, but that's ok! (by the way, maybe Parker liked it, not sure, but Pavie-Macquin is not a Perse wine, and while modern its not ultra-modern).

Seems like a good value for the tasting, though the values Chrish put on the Bdx are probably close to double market. I bought '78 Gruaud for $60ish year or two ago, and L'Arrossee is readily available for $75 or so (used to be $50- for some reason the '85 & '86 are always widely available, though you don't see many other vintages).