A great group met at Quality Italian Thursday for a night of Graves. Restaurant was bustling and loud, and I could basically only talk to those on my side of table. Food was very good.
2014 Marguet Rose Champagne
I thought this brilliant, Rainier cherry and rye bread, long and elegant. A-
Bereche Campania Remensis (didn’t get details)
Chalk, pear, strawberry, yeast. Good length, zesty. B+
We started with 3 blind whites
Wine A - nice color round and ripe but with a girdle of acidity. Orange zest, apple, lemon, seashell. 1994 Pape Clement Blanc B+
Wine B - odd hazelnut meets cheese, but solid acids. Retasted later I liked a bit more. 1982 Domaine de Chevalier blanc C+ to start, B/B- at end
Wine C (not blind to me) -Warm tropical fruit, some oak, good length. 1995 Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc B
Food was arriving quickly -garlic monkey bread, octopus with beans, mozzarella “donuts”, Little Gem Caesar, then the pasta -gnocchi, truffle cacio e pepe pappardelle, beef agnoletti
The reds had been bagged and randomly numbered, so while people knew what they brought they didn’t know which bottle. We only unveiled at end after voting
Wine #
Wine #1 Full, long, young, delicious but had time ahead A- (My co-WOTN, 2 points)
Wine #2 a little lighter, fairly young, round redder fruit B/B+
Wine #3 Very tannic, cedary, I didn’t recognize as mine. B-
Somewhere in here nice steak arrived, with fries, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, corn creme brulee.
Wine #4 Full, complete sweet cassis with cedar and iodine A- (My co-WOTN, 2 points)
Wine #5 Young, tannic, tight, closed B-
Wine #6 Green woody nose, soft and easy on palate , ready B
Wine #7 full young, lots of tobacco and gravel. B+/A- (I gave 1 point)
Wine #8 corked , felt light an elegant older wine underneath
Wine #9 Sweet elegant ripe A- (I gave 1 point)
Wine #10 Young , tannic , needs time, B
We did our usual 6 pt voting (3/2/1, or any combo, no more than 3 per wine)
I voted 4 -2 pt, 1 -2 pt, 7-1 pt 9 1pt
#1 9 votes 1996 La Mission Haut Brion
#2 8 votes 2000 La Chapelle de La Mission Haut Brion
#3 3 votes 1988 La Mission Haut Brion
#4 11 votes 1985 Haut Brion
#5 0 2006 Haut Brion
#6 15 votes 2004 Smith Haut Lafitte
#7 2 votes 2000 Haut Bailly
#8 corked 1966 La Mission Haut Brion
#9 7 votes 1990 Haut Brion
#10 6 votes 1988 La Mission Haut Brion
I was shocked at the votes for the SHL. None of us pegged the 2 88 LMHB as same wine.
Good times, but loud. Made louder by the large table of 20-somethings right behind me, one of whom kept hooting/laughing at high frequency/high decibels. Then one young lady came over to apologize for her friends. We all said it’s ok, tried to be friendly, offered that she should try one of our wines. She promptly grabbed the bottle of 94 Pape Clement blanc and swigged from the bottle. Oh well, ⅓ of bottle left, and it was one of the wines I would have liked to retry.
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.