WTN: Bordeaux Varietal Dinner

Notes from a tasting at a local French bistro, on a theme of Bordeaux varietals.

2000 La Louviere blanc – clean pleasant nose with mineral and a hint of kumquat, medium body, decent length. I doubt this will improve.

1986 Potensac – slightly dusty mushroom and plum nose, with a lightly pewrfurmed overtone, this wine was nothing like most of the 86s, being soft in the mouth and medium bodied, ready to go and won’t improve with further cellar time. I took it for a more recent vintage.

1981 Cos d’Estournel – nice pull by the owner of this as 1981 is seldom on the tip of anyone’s tongue. Darker wine with some oriental spice showing in the nose, supple in the mouth with tannin still evident, good balance, still decent fruit. It had nuances of mushroom and later orange peel in the nose, which was the most interesting facet of this wine. I’ve tasted this twice before and think this was the best of the three, which surprised me as I’d have expected it to be heading down by now.

1986 Pontet Canet – I sniffed this and the next wine and for a couple of minutes the noses seemed very similar – until this one closed up and the next one blossomed. Still tight in the mouth with pretty solid underlying tannins, this wasn’t giving much now and I’m not sure where it is headed.

1966 Pontet Canet – the last note Parker has on this is from 1990 when he wrote it off as a hard tannic closed wine starting to lose fruit. Well……not this bottle! A nose of leather, olive and plum, with better fruit showing on palate than the 86 had been able to muster and good length. This seemed much younger than this and kept developing in the glass. I expect Parker hit this when it was in a hard closed stage and he never thought it would turn around (reminds me of the 75s). Nice wine that fooled me into thinking a decade or two later!


1996 Havens Bourriquot – my wine, as I have lots of Bordeaux but always like to test peoples preconceptions about wine. I figured this wine, made from cab franc and merlot would come across as less American and more French.. It was so much younger than the last group and had a purple colour in comparison,. The nose was big and relatively ripe, with dark fruit and cocoa. Lots of concentration and length, it was a pleasurable wine that did have them thinking it was probably Bordeaux, but it might have carried it off better if it had been presented in a flight of 1995/6 Bordeaux. A very good showing by the new world, I thought.

2001 Black Hills Nota Bene – another entry from the new world, this time BC. This wine is made from cab, cab franc and merlot (the blend varies in percentage each year) and is hard to get as it always sells out quickly. Sweeter nose, juicy on palate with good length, and I think it held it’s head up if not having the same polish as the old world wines. It worked quite well with cheese.

[Jenise]

Found my notes. I was more positive in writing about the Cos than I remembered being this morning (and from what I posted on that other site).

2000 La Louviere blanc – loads of mineral and limestone with that skunky nose of semillon. I loved it--later, a glass Rasoul, I think, held onto had mostly lost the minerality and showed a lot of limeade fruit. I actually preferred it in it's 'closed' state.

1986 Potensac – I'm good on your observations on this wine. I too thought it was a more recent vintage, it read more like a 99 Cru Bourgeois. What little fruit there was died in the glass fairly quickly. Rasoul reports he's had better bottles.

1981 Cos d’Estournel – Yes, the Cos was darker than the Potensac but not as dark or rubust as other Coses I've had, though I haven't had any older than 86. I remember writing the word 'fragile' indicating that I wasn't sure it would hold up long, but it was lovely while it lasted.

1986 Pontet Canet – I didn't find the noses on the two wines similar at all--would never have guessed blind that this pair were the same producer. Namely, this was very masculine with tar, cigar box and a bit of bandaid, where the 66 was very feminine with what Rasoul aptly called "fruit cake" notes. For me the 86 never closed up--it was a little tannic on the mid palate throughout, in the way of a wine that needs another hour or three of decanting or a few more years in the cellar, but the nose was hugely expressive and the tannins pretty much melted away with the steak main course I had. I have a few more bottles of this and was very happy with the way the wine showed.

1966 Pontet Canet – Having brought the wine, I couldn't divorce myself from my knowledge of its age, but I was fascinated with the fact that most of you presumed it to be the younger wine of the two where in fact it was 20 years older. Couldn't have been better, and what a fun experience to share this. Both Bob and I got so much more enjoyment out of it listening to the table talk than we'd have ever gotten had we chosen to open it for just the two of us. A Parker 77 pt wine, eh?

1996 Havens Bourriquot – here again our impressions are quite different. I found the nose Bordeauxish, but not the palate. It had a finish of big sweet ripe fruit that, if Bordeaux, was from a very ripe year--my first guess was 2000. But of course, knowing your cellar I just presumed you brought a Bordeaux. Once you revealed that it was Californian, I went right to Bourriquot, a wine I like a lot, and it was impressive for a wine of that vintage.

2001 Black Hills Nota Bene – I loved this one. It's the first Nota Bene I've had with a little age on it and now I get why it's so sought after up there. Make a note: cut me in on your 05's, okay? I loved the dominance of the cab franc on the nose, which was even then not as revealing as the wine was juicy in the mouth. I actually thought it might be South African--it had that juxtaposition of old world smells (and acidity) with big new world fruit.

I had the chance to sample the `04 Nota Bene that a customer brought to the Grill the other night. Very oaky all round but can see the potential. Now I know what all the hoop-la is about!!