Two years ago an American forum « BWE » (Bordeaux wine enthusiasts) organised a tour in France for members. I was one of the organisers, and I created the opportunity for a dinner in Chateau de Beaune with extraordinary wines of Bouchard from 1929 and 1906. We had a week visiting Bordeaux, and one of the members of the group asked me to attend one of my dinners. As he said that he would provide a magnum of Haut-Brion white 1949, it gave me the opportunity to open a magnum of Pétrus 1964 and one of my beloved wines, the Cyprus 1845. Since then, a friendship was created and twice a year, we meet, once in Paris and once in San Francisco, to share historical wines. Last year, as he had brought a Lafite 1865, I decided to open Pétrus 1947 and so on.
As every year he makes a tour in Bordeaux to meet all the people who count in Bordeaux, offering unbelievable wines to astonish wine makers, it was decided that we would meet for the first dinner of his trip in Paris, and for the last dinner, we will meet in Bordeaux.
He arrived Wednesday afternoon and delivered immediately his bottles to Guy Savoy. I went to his hotel on Thursday noon, one of the most luxurious in Paris, and we had a quick lunch with a Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, taking time to talk about all our adventures meanwhile, since our last meeting in Mandarin Oriental in San Francisco with an incredible Cristal Roederer 1949.
We met again at 5 pm on Friday, day of our dinner, in the private room of restaurant Guy Savoy, to witness the opening of the precious wines. I opened every bottle, except the Vouvray that he began to open, but I helped for the last operations to pull out the remaining pieces of cork. The best smell of all was the Smith Haut-Lafitte 1947, and the Mouton 1945 rather muddy, had a smell that I know, indicating that the wine will open gently. I took a long time to take pictures as it is not every day that such wines are opened, and I studied very closely every bottle and every smell, to check any sign showing if the wines were true or fakes, as fakes are spread now on a big scale. From what I know, and it is my fair opinion, every bottle is genuine. The Lafite 1868 was recorked in 1953 and is a “selection Beaudoin”. I have many bottles recorked on the same year and having the same origin. As I bought them more than 20 years ago, I am very confident. And the smell of this prephylloxeric wine was extremely logic when compared to what I have drunk from this period.
So, no bottle or no smell could be questioned. Two bottles were recorked bottles, the Lafite 1868 and the Vouvray 1947, both rebottled by the domain. The Pol Roger 1921 was disgorged in 1994 and had been recoated.
The Yquem 1891 has an original cork, and I prefer that, as the taste is more genuine. This wine is rather dry, and I like that too, as it is a very interesting version of Yquem. As I had time before the dinner, I had given an appointment to three people: a journalist who took pictures of the bottles, an American friend who had spent the week of primeurs in Bordeaux, with whom I had shared a magnificent dinner in restaurant Veritas in New York, and who met me there to talk about our passion, and a French man living in Dallas who came with his wife just to meet me and to see the bottles.
I had been informed that Guy Savoy would not be there tonight, and I had met him already by a previous lunch in his restaurant, to decide the menu. His chef went to meet me and showed me the notes taken by Guy Savoy. The paper is more complex and obscure than the net of electric ropes in a central telephone station of a huge company in the years 30ies. So we checked our vision of every course, as they had already worked a lot on the recipes. When we visited the tiny kitchen, it was time for dinner for the staff, and the chef asked me : do you want some fish. And with the chef, I shared the dinner of the staff, a delicious fish with rice, and we talked very gently about food and wine. I asked for some mangoes for the dessert as the smell of the Yquem indicated that it would work.
I dressed and waited for the team to come. We were six, my American friend and his son who attended all our common dinners, my son, my son in law and a friend of mine who attends many of my most rare dinners and will be with me by the most incredible dinner that I will make in ten days in Chateau d’Yquem.
Here is the dinner that we will share :
petits toasts au foie gras et tranches de parmesan
coquilles Saint-jacques « crues-cuites », pommes de terre et poireaux
papillotte de volaille de Bresse
soupe d’artichaut à la truffe noire, brioche feuilletée aux champignons et truffes
côte de veau rôtie, légumes braisés au jus
saucisse lentilles à la truffe
stilton et bleu de Termignon
pommes Maxim’s miel, dés de mangue et pamplemousse rose
I say it as I feel it: it was extraordinary. Guy Savoy has understood that what I want is a ‘taste’. I do not want a piece of art, I do not want the expression of a talent, I want a taste. No sideways, no extra flavour to drive me in directions that I do not want. And Guy had the talent to conceive pure tastes, readable from the first fork to the last fork. When everything is simplified to drive the taste in one direction, the talent of the chef is not lowered. It is the contrary. And old wines are more at ease with that. The dessert had the same talent. A pure perfection.
The champagne Salon 1982 has a very perfect nose very expressive, made of baked bread. The bubble is present but discrete. The taste evokes white flowers and white fruits. This is a very young champagne as there is no sign of maturity. The champagne has an enormous personality, and I am a pure fan of Salon. It is for me the best vintage for the “young” Salon.
We now sit at our table, and my friend offers me as a gift a Laville Haut-Brion 1943. What a gift! It is my birth year and April is my birth month.
The Champagne Pol Roger 1921 disgorged in 1994 gives at the first second the sign that it will be perfect (I will have the same impression with many wines tonight). What is amazing is that it would be impossible to find any defect in this wine. The bubble has disappeared, which is absolutely not disturbing as the strength of the wine is there to give a great pleasure. The colour is of gold, with no sign of brown, the taste is opulent, serene, gorgeous. For my opinion the Cristal Roederer that we shared one year ago had more personality, same for the Pol Roger 1934 that I drank some three months ago. They had a little more personality, but this one has the perfection of a model.
The Château Laville Haut-Brion 1945 has a colour of a light green copper. A most appealing colour. The nose has a power of invasion which is immense. And in mouth it is an extraordinary success. My friend says that for him Haut-Brion white 1947 is above, but I must say that I do not see how a white Bordeaux could be above this one which is purely perfect. I am sorry to use always the word ‘perfection’, but when it is the case, the word is appropriate. We have two forms of scallops. It is the most raw which is more appropriate.
The Smith Haut-Lafitte 1947 had the most generous smell by opening, and it confirms it now, some four hours after. The colour of a nice red is very young. In mouth, it is an extraordinary success. I would certainly put this wine at the level of First Growths. A little weight is probably lacking, but it has a charm, a balance, which makes it of the highest level. It should be said, when people think that our period is marked by progress and progress and progress, that in that time, the people working in this property, with their methods, were able to make an unparalleled wine. This should be meditated.
After such a beginning with wines performing at their best, I could legitimately be anxious about what would happen with the big stars. And one tenth of a second is sufficient to know that Château Mouton-Rothschild 1945 is the nirvana of a wine. This is the first time that I drink this wine that I have in my cellar. Just the occasion to open one of them had to be created.
The smell is quiet, round, cosy, perfect. The colour is deep, serene. In mouth, I know that ‘it is it’. It is impossible to know why it is the best possible wine, but I know by an intimate feeling that ‘it is it’. I am like Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes when she saw the mother of God, Mary, appear to her in 14 occasions. I know that it is Mary, and I do not know why, as I am under her paralysing charm. This wine has everything and is everything. I understand why it has such fame. For my opinion it is above Cheval Blanc 1947 that I drank three months ago with my French friend attending the dinner. I appreciate the roundness, the balance, and the intimate feeling that a wine should be that.
When I had opened the Château Lafite-Rothschild 1868, I was rather afraid, as a very bad smell of meat, instead of decreasing, was expanding. What would happen? Miracle, the first smell is perfect. I was struck by such a change, but when I wrote this report in French, I understood by which phenomenon such a miracle happened. We had a course with veal. So, when I smelled the wine, my plate was already there, the smell of the wine was perfectly proper, because of the fusion with the meat. And thinking of it now, it explains why the smell of meat appeared again later. It is just because our empty plates were taken away. So, having a nice smell, I enjoyed the prephylloxeric wine with a great pleasure. Of course it is tired as an athlete after a Marathon. But it is a real wine, giving the real expression of what Lafite is. When I compare to my memory of Mouton 1870, Latour 1870 or Gruaud Larose 1869, this is in the same league, a little more tired than the 1870, but largely enjoyable, knowing its age. I would like to say to people having such wines in their cellars : it would be good to drink them without waiting any more. They will never improve!
The Charmes-Chambertin Joseph Drouhin 1947 is a wine of pleasure. It comes from a cellar that I have never visited but from which I have bought a large quantity of wines, and up to now, I have had no tired bottles. It is from this lot that I had taken the Nuits Cailles 1915 and the Chambertin 1913 that I had shared with Mark Squires and other friends. This Charmes is generous, full of joy, not heavily structured but it is what it has to be. Eric Mancio, the great sommelier who works for Guy went at that moment in our private room to see if everything went well. He smelled and drank the wine and said that this wine is what a perfect Burgundy should be. It is my opinion too. It has the natural charm of a Clark Gable. The fact to have associated this ‘rather ordinary’ wine to a dish of its social class : sausage and lentils, is pure genius.
The two cheeses go very well with the Vouvray « le Haut Lieu » Huet 1947. This year is for Huet as bright as it is for the Smith Haut-Lafitte. The wine is a bunch of millions of flavours. My personal view is that such kaleidoscopic wines lack a little of depth. Very interesting, very straightforward, but lacking a little nobleness, and the wine which comes will demonstrate that.
The Château d’Yquem 1891 has a colour of tea. Not a sign of orange colour. But this colour is appealing. The nose is discrete but subtle, showing that the wine has lost a little of its sugar. The nose is full of citrus fruits and mango. In mouth, it is like diving in a comfortable sofa. I feel at ease probably more than the other diners as I have a greater experience of such wines that I adore. I enjoy the genuineness of this wine. The length is incredible and I will keep this taste in mouth for more than two hours, until I get drowned in my bed.
We are six to vote for four wines out of nine. There are only two wines which get votes as first : Mouton four times, and Laville two times, so the two 1945. Eight wines out of nine got at least one vote. The only one getting no vote is the Salon 1982. There is an explanation : it was the first to be drunk and it was hidden in our memory by the Pol Roger, and it was the youngest by far.
The consensus vote is :
1 – Mouton-Rothschild 1945, 2 – Laville Haut-Brion 1945, 3 – Yquem 1891, 4 – Charmes Chambertin 1947 ex aequo avec Pol Roger 1921.
My vote is :
1 – Mouton-Rothschild 1945,
2 – Yquem 1891,
3 - Laville Haut-Brion 1945,
4 – Champagne Pol Roger 1921.
Just for myself I made a vote for the dishes. The first is the scallops, the second is the dessert, then the artichoke soup, and the veal. It must be said that for our table in a private room we had permanently three people, Gregory, who took care of our table for five hours, Julien who was the sommelier, and a hidden man in a hidden room who prepared the plates brought to us from the kitchen of the main restaurant.
Every glass on the table had on its foot a small sign indicating the name of the wine, to let us smell the wine later with no confusion. I appreciated that a lot.
The service was perfect and made with joy, the food was exactly what I wish, with extremely readable tastes. We had tonight four wines of my American friend and five from my cellar, drunk in a familial atmosphere. Our sons were there to enjoy some gels of our collections. We promised that we would meet again minimum three times a year instead of two. This unforgettable dinner is one of the most emotional dinners of my life.
