A few winegeeks gathered at Morton's in midtown to check in on the 1989 Bordeaux last night. A couple of cancellations left us with a smaller group, but personally I like groups of 7. No worries re pours, opportunities to retry things during the night, chance to actually converse with everyone there. A relaxed night with no pressures to taste 15 wines, just dinner with friends.
I just have to say, we got lucky. Nothing corked, no off bottles of any kind, pretty much everything showed quite well. I enjoyed my crab cake (the lone white was gone by then, the one weakness of Morton's for claret dinners is not much red friendly on the appetizer list), my ribeye, the sides.
We started with a bottle of the 2004 Fevre "Bougros" Chablis GC (actually, I never looked closely at the bottle, but assume this was the regular Bougros - edited to add I'm wrong, it was the Bougros- Cote de Bouguerots). A really fine showing, big with clean ripe fruit, but good acids, steely nose, chalk and limestone. I really enjoyed this, and should have saved some for that crab cake! Young but drinking quite well already. A-
Ramon started us off with a blind bottle. Clearly Bordeaux , with cassis fruit and a bit of tobacco and leather. I got just a slight hint of bandaid and poop and started thinking Cordier. Some St Julien guesses, when Ramon said no we went north and said St Estephe. I thought maybe Meyney, but underestimated Ramon's generosity, it was the 1989 Montrose. Good and young, a better showing than a bottle at Montrose vertical. It was pretty good then, but resipped towards the end of the night it was showing especially well, and made it to #3 in my voting for WOTN. A-
Next up a few flights of two (not blind)
1989 Pichon Baron - dense, dark, and delicious. Nice texture, excellent length. Young but drinking quite well. My WOTN vote. A-/A
1989 Pichon Lalande - much lighter color, more red (raspberry and red currant) fruit, nice herbal notes. Bright acids. B+
I think most preferred the Baron.
1989 Troplong Mondot - young, fresh, smokey, long. Very nice, but holding a bit in reserve right now. B+/A-
1989 L’Evangile - very intense herbal/minty/menthol nose. 2 people independently referenced Heitz Martha's without hearing each other. Nice black fruits, that pretty herbal note, some cigarbox just peeking in. Good length, I liked very much (my previous bottle didn't show so much menthol). My #2 of the reds for the night. A-
1989 Cos D’Estournel -softer than I expected, tobacco, earth, good fruit. Surprisingly ready and very enjoyable. I think I was only person who gave it slight edge over the Lynch. A-/B+
1989 Lynch Bages -big, burly, brawny. Very cassis driven, fairly tannic, quite ripe. Leadpencil/cedar. Nice but could use a little time. B+/A-
One last red wine, served by itself. The 1989 Tertre Roteboeuf is a very big wine, but doesn't seem ungainly or overextracted. Big dense dark fruit, chocolate and a little olive note, long finish. Certainly "modern-styled" but not over the top and quite attractive. A-/B+
We finished with a 1989 Climens generously furnished by David. This is really singing. Apricots, bright citrus, candied orange peel. He says he got this ex-chateau, color is light and young. Very long, very delicious. Not allowed in the voting, but would have been a candidate for WOTN. A-/A
Fun night with a good group. Thanks Matt for organizing.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.