WTN: Bordeaux Blends Blind

A much anticipated lunch at Pepato brought together the usual suspects to try some Bordeaux blends blind. This time we were to rank our top 3 wines so we made sure to bring some heavy artillery. We also made sure not to disclose before-hand what we would bring and we left it up to the restaurant staff to randomize the wines for pouring.

We had a token white to start:

Chapoutier Les Granits St. Joseph Blanc 2003 - From magnum. Dry and soft, if a bit woody. Decent but rather bitter finish. Among our group, I have a well-known aversion to white Rhones but this is OK.

Reds:

Wine #1 - Young-looking. Sweet nose, caramel. Quite dry and savory. Good acidity. Very good with food. Despite the youthful look, it tastes its age. My wine and my #1. Group #2. Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages 1996 - The controversial Wine Spectator Wine of the Year in 1998.

Wine #2 - Definitely old and Old World. Stinky, pruney. A little spicy. Long finish. Over the hill. Only one of us voted this in the top 3. The least liked wine. Group #8. What a shock when it was unveiled. Chateau Leoville Las Cases 1989. Purchased at auction from Christie's, if I recall correctly.

Wine #3 - Youthful color. Meaty nose. Very dry. I guess Old World. Group #6. Chateau Batailley 2002.

Wine #4 - Strange, stinky, fishy nose that blew off after a bit. Leafy, tannic. Probably Old World. Tied with Cinq Cepages as Group #2. Chateau Phelan Segur 2001.

Wine #5 - Coconut, oaky, vanilla nose. Definitely US. Not much development in this. Needs time. Group #3. Corte Riva Mabuhay Cabernet Sauvignon 2004.

Wine #6 - Again, a bit of a stink which blew off after some swirling. Very long. Old World? Group #1. Reserve de la Comtesse 1996.

Wine #7 - High acidity. Dried fruit. Very good with food. Old World? My #2. Group #7. Petales Osoyoos 2004. British Columbia. Second wine of Osoyoos Larose, which is partly owned by Gruaud Larose.

Wine #8 - Good fruit. Dry. Tannic. Young. Old World? My #3, tied with Corte Riva Mabuhay as group #3. Chateau Monbousquet 1998.

We ended with an excellent Chateau Rieussec 2003 which went very nicely with panna cotta.

Except for the Leoville, which was obviously on the decline, and the Corte Riva, which was overtly oaky, I found the other wines quite close to each other and had a hard time deciding my top 3. If I were assigning points, I'd rate most of these in the mid to high 80s. With food, though, the wines were definitely much better and maybe would add another 5 points to the scores.

With the competitive juices flowing, we agreed to meet again next week for another blind tasting of Right Bank blends so we'll be doing Merlot and Cab Franc.

Jay,

Very interesting tasting, and thanks for the notes.

If your 89 Léoville Las Cases was over the hill, it must have been a bum bottle.
That baby is going strong!
Perhaps others will share their experiences.

All the best,
Alex

[David M. Bueker]

While I have not had the '89 Las Cases since about 2005, I have no doubt that it's still on the way up. 99% certain that Jay's bottle was damaged in some way.

Thanks for your input. I checked for comments on the Leoville in Broadbent's new Vintage Wine Companion and in a note from 2003, he rates the wine 3 stars with 2 additional stars for future development with recommended drinking from 2010. Definitely a damaged bottle.

Corte Riva Mabuhay Cabernet Sauvignon 2004.

Cute name for someone in the Philippines, I'd guess. I wonder how it got that name -- winemaker a fan of SF punk rock?

Mark Lipton

Mark,

Good catch there! Mabuhay is the flagship wine of Corte Riva, a Napa winery run by two Filipinos - Lawrence Cortez and Romel Rivera, hence the name. Both of them also do work at Pride Mountain where Cortez is cellarmaster and Rivera is assistant winemaker. They also make Cab Franc, Merlot, a regular Cab and a particularly good Petite Sirah.

If anything would suit punk rock, I'd think Petite Sirah would be the wine!

If anything would suit punk rock, I'd think Petite Sirah would be the wine!

Surely you jest, Bill. If we're actually talking about the true, original punk ethic, before most of these current, neo-punk poseurs were even in utero, it would be Annie Green Spring or Wild Irish Rose or perhaps a jug of Carlo Rossi for an especially sophisticated event.

Mark "Sonic Reducer" Lipton