Extraordinary blind tasting, hosted by Chuck, one of the original members of the tasting group that dates back to 1974.
All of the bottles were acquired by Chuck on release & cellared in his very good (though not glacial) cellar.
All wines were double decanted off of their sediment prior to the tasting & served double blind to the group.
1965 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild
Saddle leather, spice and cedar jump out of the glass. With time there are more tea –like nuances and it becomes more restrained. On the palate it is like silk, flowing without any ripples. The tannic structure is completely gone, and the wine is just seductive. Delicious wine and it held up very well when re-tasted at the end of the event.
1990 Castello Barolo
A tannic beast. This nearly ripped my tongue out of my mouth. Still quite fruity, and had lovely aromatics (fruit, flowers, etc), but out of balance to the tannic side. Seems primed to dry out before becoming pleasurable.
1974 Cerretto Barolo Grignore
Earthy and sweet on the nose. Going to orange on the rim & quite pale throughout. It’s still a little bit drying on the finish, and not showing a ton of fruit, though it is very easy to drink.
1970 Chateau Angelus
Very high toned on the nose. A little VA perhaps? It settled down after a bit of air, yet remained quite bright and fruity as well. Lacking in the finish, where it tails off quickly.
1970 Chateau Cheval Blanc
Tea, red fruit , leather, warm earth – a lovely blend of scents. The sheer fruitiness in the face of significant age (color gave that away) certainly speaks to the breed of the wine. Long, lingering finish that has very little tannin, but does not come across as formless. Excellent.
1971 Chateau Margaux
A little funky at first, but the funk blew off, and left earth, red fruit and something like licorice that just melted together into a whole. The real fireworks were on the palate, as the wine was completely seamless, showed just a hint of structure, and lingered for longer than I could concentrate. Overall this was the group’s wine of the night, with 7 of 8 tastes putting it in first place in front of the Cheval Blanc and…
1971 Chateau Petrus (Pomerol)
I had only ever had Petrus one other time, but the experience had stuck with me, so I had a bit of a feeling about this one. Served blind, it certainly showed age in its orange tinged ruby color. The aromatics were seamless yet all over the place, with warm earth, spice, faint cherry fruit (more like compote at this stage), and floral elements. To put it in one word: exotic. The palate presence was just staggering, and the wine was like velvet on the tongue. I pretty much lost the ability to take notes at this point...too many great wines in a row.
There were two more wines, a 1989 Chateau Tauzion (Bordeaux), and a 1995 Chateau Haut Myles (Medoc) that were ok, but such a step down from the preceding wines that it was not a fair fight. I managed to get re-tastes of the Lafite, Cheval, Petrus and Margaux, and each one held up to their blind tasting showing (even the Lafite once we knew it was a 1965!).
Amazing night of stunning wines.
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