I recently attended an interesting tasting where the general concept was around suspect bottles or bottles you are afraid may be disappointing for some reason. The wines may be at risk of being over the hill or somehow damaged. But if they’ve held up, they ought to be good. Each of the 7 people was to bring 3 bottles to the restaurant, delivered ahead of time to the location to be organized by the proprietor into numbered codes assigned to each person. When the group was done tasting the first set of wines, certain wines would be “voted off the table” and that person’s second bottle would be opened. As each bottle was voted off, the next bottle the person brought would be opened (though it would not be known which letter code was assigned to each person). There was a real risk that if the first two bottles showed poorly, your third bottle would also get opened. In the end, just about everybody only had to open two wines, with the one person who opened three just opting to open the third bottle on his own.
All wines were served blind and we had no idea what grapes, regions or ages the wines would be. A few of the wines really came through with surprisingly great showings, while others justified their entry into this tasting by showing a bit over the hill or obviously damaged.
Round 1:
1996 Domaine William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos Domaine de la Maladiere. 1A This wine is surely oxidized, but is it purposely so? The reason I’m not entirely sure at first is because I actually find the nose of the wine interesting and thought-provoking, with notes of blanched nuts, steel, chalk, white pepper, wet wool and browning apples. But in the mouth, it is much more difficult to enjoy—coming across as linear, dour and metallic in nature. The minerality in the wine is really highlighted by the angular and crunchy acidity, though some elements of fleshier fruit poke through in the mid-palate from time to time. All in all, it was not a crowd-pleaser and was the first wine voted off the table—a victim of premox.
1989 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Herrenweg de Turckheim. 2A This wine explodes on the nose with beautiful aromas of blue slate, petrol, peach and nectarine, along with a solid steak of minerality and chalky undertones. It is clearly a top-flight Riesling to my mind, with great lift, energy and power that I find very appealing. On the palate, though, it is more reined in and more acidically aggressive than the nose would lead one to expect. Flavors of lemon, citrus, apple and pear are fleshy, even a bit oily in texture, but far too often one finds bitter peach pit and steely crunch underlying those fruit flavors. It just seems like the acidity is outpacing the fruit right now, which is a shame because the bouquet of the wine must be in its absolute prime right now.
2001 Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese Mosel Saar Ruwer. 3A This was my bottle, which I brought because it had been leaking for some time and even though I suspected the residual sugar would protect the wine, I didn’t know for how long and I also didn’t want to take that supposition on faith. In the end, I needn’t have worried, as the wine was fantastic. First off, the nose is sublimely good, featuring aromas of peach, pear, petrol and slate accented by lacy overtones of powdered sugar, citrus rind and wet pebble notes. It feels young and alive, but classy and finessed, especially in this initial flight of wines. The hits keep coming in the mouth, where it has solid body and richness of fruit, but also exhibits complete self-control and balance. It flows across the palate beautifully, with the lacy top notes and tingly freshness lifting up the core peach and slate flavors. Really, it is stuffed with flavor, but just feels effortless to drink. This can be enjoyed now or held without concern. My #2 wine of the night.
1983 Von Schubert Maximin Grunhauser Bruderberg Riesling Spatlese Mosel Saar Ruwer. 4A This is a really interesting and appealingly earthy Riesling, with a musky, diesel-infused nose that shows off funky dark tropical fruit and tons of brown baking spice aromas. In the mouth, it is wonderfully expansive through the mid-palate, but also tingly and tart in its flavor profile of pineapple, grapefruit and peach. Indeed, at times, you almost forget the sweetness here, but then it shows its colors by combining nicely with the spices on the long and characterful finish. I like this quite a bit, even though it reminds me that I ought to age my Mosel Rieslings longer than I ever really will.
1966 Chateau Latour a Pomerol Pomerol. 5A To begin, this wine is throwing an absolutely huge amount of sediment and I’m not sure even how much of the bottle ended up being available to drink. But putting that aside, it opens up with aromas of mellow black fruit, licorice and dry earth before a strong streak green pepper and foresty sous bois notes take over. In the mouth, I find the acidity a bit astringent, but there is surprisingly good body and a fine burst of initial cassis and black cherry fruit that I find very likeable. I was definitely enjoying it at first, but over a fairly short time period, the wine starts to fade a bit, with the tannins turning kind of pasty and interfering with the smooth texture and kind of cutting off the enjoyment of the aged fruit to a degree. So, I like it and certainly enjoy it, but my advice is to drink up and enjoy it right away.
1993 Edmunds St. John Syrah Durell Vineyard Sonoma County. 6A This wine is quite different--putting me more in mind of perhaps Hermitage--with its savory but high-toned aromas of dried blood, black pepper, anise, limestone, animal hide, toasted herbs and zesty red fruit. In the mouth, it is big-boned, a bit fudgy and definitely mouthfilling. It delivers a solid dose of meaty black and dark red fruit flavor allied to good drive and mild tannins. The wine has moments where it may feel a bit blunt, but there’s a lot to like here for my tastes (though it was the third wine voted off the table by the group).
1986 Ballot-Millot Volnay 1er Cru Santenots “Les Pelures”. 7A This wine is pale-colored, and gives off gentle aromas of red flower petals, old leather, pencil shavings, tomato plant, dusty earth and animal fur—with some pretty dried cherry and berry fruit way in the background. In the mouth, it is decidedly resolved and silky-textured, but also somewhat dried out on the finish. Otherwise, I find it to elegant, fine and gentle—with pleasantly easy cherry and cranberry fruit flavors to go with spices, dried earth and a bit of red flower inner mouth perfume. Other than the attenuated finish, I like this a good deal, but definitely think it needs drinking up now.
Round 2:
1982 Chateau Lafon-Rochet St. Estephe. 1B I like the bouquet of this wine a lot—with its intense focus on tobacco leaf aromas, trailed by bits of jalapeno pepper, fine old earth and red currant fruit accents. There’s a little sexy spice edge to the aromatic profile, as well. In the mouth, it again shows off a lot of leather, tobacco, dusty earth and cool but mellow fruit flavors. Although I like the aged complexity and earthiness of this medium-weighted wine, it shows some tough edges and fairly aggressive tannins at the back of the palate that detract more than I’d like. I certainly enjoy drinking the wine, but I don’t think it is an ’82 for the ages or anything.
1980 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac. 2B Oh man, if possible, this is even more tobacco-driven on the nose than the last wine. But it pulls in all kinds of other aromatic notes, as well—ranging from green pepper and mossy soil to old furniture, toasted bread and milk chocolate. I really dig the Old World profile here that is just really distinctive and full of unique character. In the mouth, it is just lovely. It isn’t particularly expansive, but is perfectly resolved, finely-tuned and deliciously-flavored. The cherry and raspberry fruit is fresh and giving and carries along the leather and green pepper accentuating notes just wonderfully. The wine is complex, fruity, perfectly acidic and a delight to drink. It doesn’t blow you away or impress with its breadth, but instead kills you softly with its kiss. My wine of the night.
1998 Burge Family Grenache Old Vines Barossa Valley. 6B I find lots of animal fur, blood, savory spice and warm fruit on the nose of this wine. However, in the mouth, it is all about huge body and a fruit-forward personality. Indeed, it is a wine that grows and grows over time until the point where it almost begins to overwhelm the palate with its big burly purple and black fruit, oak, bitter smoke and warm alcohol sensations. It is a raucous wine that takes you on a roller coaster ride but might leave you more queasy than exhilarated.
1985 E. Guigal Gigondas. 7B This wine sports a lovely nose of leather, clean horse barn, #2 pencil, exotic spices and fine purple fruit. In the mouth, it is fleshy and more warm-fruited—showing plenty of sinew and depth of fruit character. It pumps out a good amount of flavor while staying well-balanced and mildly chewy in texture. I think this is still giving solid pleasure. I should note, though, that the wine was not universally admired and had a few notable detractors.
1975 Chateau Montrose St. Estephe. 5B This wine opens with a fairly strong note of musty old attic, leading some to possibly suspect TCA. However, having had a bottle of this same wine from an entirely different source only a few months earlier, I think this may simply be the character of this particular wine. As the wine takes in some air, it becomes clear that this is a pedigreed elderly gentleman of a wine—with cracked leather furniture, menthol, old library and cool fruit aromas being the order of the day. In the mouth, the entry is a bit attenuated, thin and pinched but the mid-palate allows some fine cassis, green pepper and dry earth flavors to show nicely before the finish turns a tad more sour cherry-fruited. I do like the stately character of the wine and really enjoy those fine glimpses it affords, but in the end there’s just not enough here to get too excited about.
1993 E. Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde. 3B This was my “B” bottle, opened rather late in the evening given the top-notch showing of the ’01 Prum earlier. Not surprisingly, then, the wine takes a while to unfurl but then improves and grows as it is allowed to sit in the glass and take on air. By the time I really turn my attention to it, the wine is showing a pretty nice bouquet of smoky peat, bacon fat, forest greenery, leather and tobacco atop some black cherry fruit notes. In the mouth, it is a bit tough-skinned and leathery (which is sort of what I was afraid of), but that doesn’t detract as much from the fine earth, peppercorn, leather and black fruit flavors as I thought it might. In the end, I think it actually showed decently, though I do think it is time to drink up.
1996 Gerard Mugneret Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots. 1C Jeff wanted to open up his third bottle just because he was interested to check in on this wine. I find the nose to be a bit dense and compacted here, showing some tightly-wound aromas of black raspberry fruit and some figs. In the mouth, the acidity is way too aggressive (as are the tannins) even though the wine shows solid stuffing of black currant and black cherry fruit and a good amount of solid body. I’m not sure if it is just in an ornery stage of its development right now or what, so it is hard for me to make any recommendation regarding its future evolution, frankly.
1983 Von Schubert Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese Mosel Saar Ruwer. 4B Although this wine was poured in an earlier slot, I actually saved it until the end of the evening to drink—which I think was definitely the right move. It turns out to be a great finish to the evening, really impressing me with its absolutely gorgeous aromas of paraffin, blue slate, clover honey, toasted orange peel and steeped lemon. It is so intoxicating to smell that I almost forget to drink it, but when I do I’m quite glad, for it is oily-textured and incredibly generous and layered in its flavors of rich, juicy peach, grapefruit and melon. It doesn’t quite have the lift or easy charm of the Bruderberg, instead going for more unctuousness and density of rich flavor—which works well at this point in the evening. Overall, it is just really gorgeous stuff and was my #3 wine of the night.
-Michael