Our city Bordeaux group got back to Bordeaux last night, with a Pauillac theme. I double-decanted my initial candidate- unmistakably corked- but a different bottle seemed fine, and I jumped on train. UN General Assembly and climate summit meant gridlock, but luckily (for me at least) we were at Morton’s, an easy walk from Grand Central.
First white was blind. Ripe/tropical fruit, balanced acids, a little soft on finish but tasty. My guess was a riper Sancerre like a Cotat. Nope. 2004 Fevre “Les Preuses” Chablis GC. B
1983 Trimbach “Cuvee Frederic Emile” Riesling Vendange Tardive
Minerally, petrol, citrus. Long and full, this was great, thanks Ramon! A-
First time back at Mortons in a while. Service was good, I enjoyed a chopped salad (though not very food friendly) and the shared porterhouse was good (though I think they wet age). Nice sides (fries, Lyonnais potatoes, broccoli, spinach creamed and not).
On to the Pauillacs. Ben had brought his special blind bags, and we each bagged our wines, and then they were randomly grabbed and numbered.
Pauillac #1 - Lean, not very giving, harder tannin. B/B- (got better in glass)
Pauillac #2 - Barnyard and earth over cassis fruit B+ (good but gets even better in glass.)
Pauillac #3 - Warm lush fruits, broad and long, earthy full. A-
Pauillac #4 Drier tannins, a peculiar medicinal note (someone thought corked but I didn’t get that). a bit hard. B-
Pauillac #5 Big tannins, but strong fruit as well, forest floor, good length. B+
Pauillac #6 Full, tannic, some heat on finish. B/B-
Pauillac #7 Tannic, structured, great fruit, this should be great in time. B+/A-
Pauillac #8 There’s a herby overlay to red fruit (Chris says Ludens Cherry Cough Drop). tannic. B/B+
We voted using our usual 3/2/1 method. Some people changed votes as they retasted before voting, I stuck with original notes.
Pauillac #1 - 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste (2 votes)
Pauillac #2 1999 Mouton-Rothschild (16 votes)
Pauillac #3 1996 Pichon Baron (15 votes)
Pauillac #4 1995 Lynch Bages (0 votes)
Pauillac #5 1986 Pichon Lalande (4 votes)
Pauillac #6 1986 Pichon Lalande (0 votes)
Pauillac #7 1990 Grand Puy Lacoste (11 votes)
Pauillac #8 1995 Lynch Bages (0 votes)
Frank’s wine was the ‘99 Mouton, so he got free dinner
Amazing that we had 2 pairings out of 8 wines. Even wilder, my original corked bottle was the 96 Pichon Baron -and Frank had brought a backup- the 96 Pichon Baron. We could have conceivably only had 4 wines represented.
Fun night
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.