Keith Levenberg
Keith Levenberg
Apiary is Scott Bryan's new restaurant where he's making a lot of the same kind of food he used to do at Veritas, but with less fancy sauces. They're doing corkage-free Mondays and I strongly encourage everyone to visit before they wisen up and realize letting wine geeks run rampant for $60 a head is not among the least stressful of ways to earn a living. Food was very good, service put up with us, and wines were excellent even though we ended up with a lot of Bordeaux because everyone thought everyone else would bring Burgundy.
Joseph Drouhin 1992 Beaune 1er Cru "Clos des Mouches"
This was pure and stony when I opened it at home but it lost some freshness by the time we drank it and Jay's guess of a white Lopez wasn't a bad one. Leftovers a little later were much better, gravelly and groovy.
Paul Pernot 2001 Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet
Not the opulent powerhouse that (non-oxidized) bottles of the 1999 are. Very youthful and pure and at least three of us figured this for a 2004 Puligny 1er Cru. Eventually it expanded in scale but by the standards of the real estate this was a pretty soft and subtle Bienvenues. And not oxidized. Pretty stuff.
Mount Mary 1999 Quintet
Victorian Bordeaux blend. My first guess was Cote-Rotie. Relatively rich bluish fruit but with really precise acidity and an intense gravelly minerality. When I saw the bottle shape I couldn't come up with the foggiest idea of what it might be and guessed 2001 Right Bank Bordeaux, with two others. This kept getting better and better over the evening and I resolved to buy some until Paul told us what it cost.
Domaine de Trevallon 2000 Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhne
I guessed a boring Bordeaux from 1996. Most others guessed nearabouts the same. Not undrinkable, but totally characterless and boring.
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1971
Jay said this was better when he first opened it, but it was pretty good. I guessed 1970 Bordeaux. But after that it seemed a little richer with more spiky acidity than I would expect from a 1970. Izzy came closest and guessed Les Forts de Latour and might have even nailed the vintage.
Chateau Haut-Bailly 1966
An utter beauty. I'm not sure there is any other Bordeaux, Left or Right Bank, as silky and lacey as a good Haut-Bailly, and this is it to the nth. Seamless integration to boot. As light in body as this is, it's amazingly fresh and most guesses had it twenty years younger. Built like the Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses of Bordeaux but with classic mature Graves flavors.
Chateau Brainaire-Ducru 1982
I've heard this wine can be awesome but I've never had a mint-condition bottle of it, and the streak continues. Most people dumped this.
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1989
Interesting. When this was revealed it made perfect sense. Everything here seemed in such perfect proportion that you knew it didn't come from a second-tier vintage, but the flavors were more advanced than the structure suggested it should be. So it turns out to be a Mouton that's often called out as an underachiever. Maybe it won't be a 50-year-wine but as it sat in the glass it turned into what many Moutons are not - first-growth complexity. Last sip was packed with cigar smoke and graphite and sunk into the palate with a truly sophisticated grace.
Jamet 1991 Cote-Rotie
Contributed by the boys at Crush at the next table over. Perfect Cote-Rotie, like equal parts syrah and pork broth.
Bonny Doon 1985 Le Cigare Volant
Brought mainly as a joke to flaunt the "no Chateauneufs" rule. Icky nose of mint and sucking candy, and tastes icky-sweet too. 77% grenache, so what do you expect?
Joseph Drouhin 1992 Beaune 1er Cru "Clos des Mouches"
This was pure and stony when I opened it at home but it lost some freshness by the time we drank it and Jay's guess of a white Lopez wasn't a bad one. Leftovers a little later were much better, gravelly and groovy.
Paul Pernot 2001 Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet
Not the opulent powerhouse that (non-oxidized) bottles of the 1999 are. Very youthful and pure and at least three of us figured this for a 2004 Puligny 1er Cru. Eventually it expanded in scale but by the standards of the real estate this was a pretty soft and subtle Bienvenues. And not oxidized. Pretty stuff.
Mount Mary 1999 Quintet
Victorian Bordeaux blend. My first guess was Cote-Rotie. Relatively rich bluish fruit but with really precise acidity and an intense gravelly minerality. When I saw the bottle shape I couldn't come up with the foggiest idea of what it might be and guessed 2001 Right Bank Bordeaux, with two others. This kept getting better and better over the evening and I resolved to buy some until Paul told us what it cost.
Domaine de Trevallon 2000 Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhne
I guessed a boring Bordeaux from 1996. Most others guessed nearabouts the same. Not undrinkable, but totally characterless and boring.
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1971
Jay said this was better when he first opened it, but it was pretty good. I guessed 1970 Bordeaux. But after that it seemed a little richer with more spiky acidity than I would expect from a 1970. Izzy came closest and guessed Les Forts de Latour and might have even nailed the vintage.
Chateau Haut-Bailly 1966
An utter beauty. I'm not sure there is any other Bordeaux, Left or Right Bank, as silky and lacey as a good Haut-Bailly, and this is it to the nth. Seamless integration to boot. As light in body as this is, it's amazingly fresh and most guesses had it twenty years younger. Built like the Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses of Bordeaux but with classic mature Graves flavors.
Chateau Brainaire-Ducru 1982
I've heard this wine can be awesome but I've never had a mint-condition bottle of it, and the streak continues. Most people dumped this.
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1989
Interesting. When this was revealed it made perfect sense. Everything here seemed in such perfect proportion that you knew it didn't come from a second-tier vintage, but the flavors were more advanced than the structure suggested it should be. So it turns out to be a Mouton that's often called out as an underachiever. Maybe it won't be a 50-year-wine but as it sat in the glass it turned into what many Moutons are not - first-growth complexity. Last sip was packed with cigar smoke and graphite and sunk into the palate with a truly sophisticated grace.
Jamet 1991 Cote-Rotie
Contributed by the boys at Crush at the next table over. Perfect Cote-Rotie, like equal parts syrah and pork broth.
Bonny Doon 1985 Le Cigare Volant
Brought mainly as a joke to flaunt the "no Chateauneufs" rule. Icky nose of mint and sucking candy, and tastes icky-sweet too. 77% grenache, so what do you expect?