Finally getting some notes up from a truly remarkable tasting I attended at a friend's house this past October. It was all very hush hush and the location and most names will remain hidden lest I receive a knock on my door in the middle of the night. The dinner was originally billed as 1959 Right Bank Bordeaux, with the host providing almost all of the bottles, but a few of us also brought some '59's for good measure.
We only had one corked wine amongst the dozen wines from '59 and most of those wines showed extremely well, giving testament to what a superb vintage 1959 was throughout most of Europe. The wines showed extraordinary depth, wonderful balance, a rusticity that no longer exists in modern Bordeaux and a wonderful sweetness to what, in most cases, was a cherry fruit profile.
Many thanks to the host for including me in one of the best wine events I've attended and to all the participants. You know who you are!
1959 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 890 - Spain, La Rioja, Rioja
From a bottle with a great fill and cork. Shows that wonderful, classic old school Rioja nose of sweet cherries, cedar, beef blood and hints of dustiness. There's also a lactic note that blows off quickly. On the palate it's mature, but also sports some youthful qualities. The cherries initially have that dessicated quality to them that comes from age, but retains sweetness and are joined by earth, leather and spice flavors with worn wood. With air the cherry flavors really blossomed to the point that Sasha said it reminded him of a Vosne-Romane. Lovely sweetness throughout the mid-palate, though the finish does dry out a little. It's a little too butch to call it elegant, though it's certainly harmonious. Beautiful wine, though I'd start to drink up. A/A-.
1959 Joh. Jos. Prm Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Sptlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Golden colored with a complex nose of old stone fruits, pickled pears, mineral and a touch of fish sauce. On the palate the wine is resolved with not much holding it together, but there's still sweetness. In fact, the sugar has an interesting caramel quality to it. With air the stone fruits took on more of a tropical character and it did seem like the wine was searching high and low for bits and pieces of structure to cobble together to provide some semblance of a backbone. More appealing intellectually, though there certainly were some nice things to enjoy. I do wonder a little bit about the provenance throughout the years given the presence of fish sauce and caramel. B.
1959 Chteau Grand Mayne - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
An oddball nose that showed some funk, charred earth, perfumed cherries and vegetal notes. Lean and fading on the palate. The host mentioned he had had better bottles than this one. Meaty and herbal with a strong iron note and plenty of leather. Coarse and austere. It's a bit of an old school bruiser. B.
1959 Chteau La Pointe - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
Entices you with aromas of sweet red cherries, tobacco, leather and earth. Just beautiful on the palate. The wine is young, fresh and full of vigor. There's lovely sweetness to the red fruit that continued to grow with air. Cedary oak, leather and mineral with a rusty iron note rounded on the flavors and as it stayed in the glass a distinct charred steak character emerged. Still firmly tanninic. Solid A-.
1959 Chteau La Gaffelire - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
More muted on the nose than the Grand Mayne or La Pointe, though still showed coffee, herb, cherry and root spice aromas. On the palate it's a bit of a deceptive wine as upon entry the initial impression is that of a silky, aged claret, but then the tannins come in and beat you with a shillelagh on the finish. It's much more brown and aged in character than the previous two wines, with earth and leather flavors dominating with the fruit in major retreat. Lean and drying. Drink up. B.
1959 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
This is a helluva wine from the get go. Wonderfully perfumed with riper fruit on the nose than any of the other wines thus far. There's cherry, leather, herb and earth aromas, but it's the fruit that stands out. It shows a strong acidic backbone on first sip, but a little time in the glass sees it slip back into providing structure and not being a lead character. Just gorgeous on the palate. There's a vibrancy to the wine that's very attractive. The cherry fruit is sweet and succulent and shifts a little into the strawberry range and is rounded out nicely with more complex herb and earth notes. Impeccably balanced with great depth and length. Old Bordeaux as it oughtah be. Solid A.
1959 Chteau Ausone - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
The Canon was going to be a tough act to follow, but this wine was insane. Certainly one of the best wine, let alone Bordeaux experiences I've had. This is a monumental wine with so many things going on in it, it's tough to know where to begin. It's rich, powerful, youthful, layered with extraordinary depth. I'm astounded by how sweet and vibrant the fruit is. There's a gorgeous melange of red cherries and wild red berry fruit with iron, earth and hints of leather on the nose and palate that overwhelm the mind and brings a rush of feelings of both ecstasy and bewilderment. How could this wine provide so much pleasure at age 50? How could it be so youthful? Indeed, with air the wine actually started to shut down and the formidable structure came a bit more to the forefront. A truly stunning wine. Solid A+.
1959 Chteau Figeac - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Corked. Major bummer as a lot of folks were saying what a great wine this is when intact. NR (flawed)
1959 Chteau Trotanoy - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
With a number of wines already showing some remarkably sweet fruit, this one showed the sweetest of the night, though the Ausone was a tough act to follow. There's a rush of black and red fruit aromas with baked clay, a touch of herb and game. While sweet and sappy on the palate, the fruit is a bit more coy than that of the Ausone and doesn't quite have the same length or depth. The fruit is blacker and has a cocoa and licorice alongside it. There's a little bit of VA present, but nothing to get upset over and there's some blood orange on the finish. Despite a couple of shortcomings, the wine still feels young and provides immense pleasure. A.
1959 Chteau Magdelaine - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Served as a mystery wine and from a magnum. Shows a very pretty and penetrating nose of fresh chervil and marjoram, plenty of licorice, raspberry and red fruits with a good dose of minerality. It's beautiful, lithe and silky on the palate, showing a much more feminine persona than the other '59's thus far. Fully mature and integrated with like flavors as aromas and a juicy finish. Really captivating for it's elegance and focus. A.
1959 Chteau Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Mdoc, St. Julien
From magnum. This one really needed some serious decanting, or maybe needs some more years in the cellar given the large format. Initially quite herbal with crunchy minerals, there was not a lot of fruit showing due to a thick blanket of structure that really smothered the wine. With extended air in the glass some sweet black fruit began to emerge and some of the herbal flavors shifted to more of a green tobacco profile. There's good stuff here, but this was still too young and had the kind of structure you don't see that much in Bordeaux anymore. A-.
1962 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Mystery wine. Unfortunately, maderized. NR (flawed)
1958 Chteau La Conseillante - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
What a wacky wine. Smells like Thanksgiving with a bizarre mix of Eucalyptus, jalapeno, cranberry, citrus and earth aromas. On the palate it's lean and maybe not so much mean as much as under fruited. High acid with like flavors as aromas. Just an oddball wine and not really my thing, but it still offers up some intrigue. B-/C+.
1955 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Maderized. NR (flawed)
1953 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Shows richness on the nose with cherry, earth and iron aromas. Tough and tannic on the palate with like flavors as aromas, but the wine seems a little simple and is truncated on the finish. The person that opened it said he's had much better bottles, so we chalk it up to a slightly off bottle. B.
1952 Chteau Magdelaine - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
A shot bottle. NR (flawed)
1952 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Cherries, iron and mineral dominate on the nose. Integrated and nicely balanced on the palate. As with most of the wines tonight, the fruit shows remarkable sweetness. This one shows more cedar than most of the other wines tonight, which gives the wine a nice spiciness. Leather and a hint of tobacco bring up the rear. Drinking very well now. A-.
1929 Chteau La Conseillante - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
There was quite a lot of excitement when the host opened this up. Part of the intrigue was in the veracity of the bottle as it had been relabeled. On one side of the bottle was a faded and largely missing old label, with a newer label dated 1929 on the other side of the bottle. It was believed to have been relabeled at the Chateau and once tasted, the unanimous opinion was that the wine was in fact original. The wine was a light garnet in color and had complex aromas of wet hay, red fruit, smoke/peat and beef and was lifted a little by a small dose of VA. On the palate it was not fully intact, but in pretty good shape. Joe described it as a Jaguar e-type with a few dings. Though dessicated, there's a lovely sweetness to the old red fruit. It's earthy with hay and barnyard flavors. With air a strong raspberry note emerged as did cedar and a nutty character. Resolved and gentle on the palate, but still showing persistence. A marvelous treat. A-.
1959 Hut Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
After all the reds, it was time for something with a little sweetness. Given the theme of the evening, it was only fitting that we had this. From an older bottling given the label and capsule, this one is showing youthfully and a little chunky, but is sublime. It's an interesting place right now as at age 50 it has youthful yellow fruit and a shows a lot of vitality in the structure, but it's also taking on more mature orange citrus, earl gray tea and cardamom notes. Moderately sweet, but of course there's brilliant structure in there to keep everything in check. There's some variation with some of the Moelleux bottlings from '59, though it seems to affect the Le Haut-Lieu bottlings more than the Clos du Bourg and some recent examples of both bottles have seen some showing a little drier than usual, but this is just a beautiful Moelleux. One of the best showings, actually. A+/A.
1986 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - France, Alsace, Hunawihr, Alsace AOC
I guess this was opened to refresh the palate and there was no beer in the house. I've never been a huge fan of this vintage. To me it's like getting raked across the face by a cat's claw and then having lime juice and salt splashed in the wound. It stings! The nose of this bottle is completely overwhelmed by sulfur. I'm sure it blew off with time, but given all the other opened goodies on the table, I didn't go back to it. The sulfur doesn't show up on the palate, surprisingly, but this wine is all about structure and minerality. It's lean with bitter green and yellow citrus. The structure is enamel stripping and almost seems tannic. While I like it, it veers a little too much into that fine line between pleasure and pain zone for my tastes, but everyone else around me seemed to enjoy it more than I did. B+.
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We only had one corked wine amongst the dozen wines from '59 and most of those wines showed extremely well, giving testament to what a superb vintage 1959 was throughout most of Europe. The wines showed extraordinary depth, wonderful balance, a rusticity that no longer exists in modern Bordeaux and a wonderful sweetness to what, in most cases, was a cherry fruit profile.
Many thanks to the host for including me in one of the best wine events I've attended and to all the participants. You know who you are!
1959 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 890 - Spain, La Rioja, Rioja
From a bottle with a great fill and cork. Shows that wonderful, classic old school Rioja nose of sweet cherries, cedar, beef blood and hints of dustiness. There's also a lactic note that blows off quickly. On the palate it's mature, but also sports some youthful qualities. The cherries initially have that dessicated quality to them that comes from age, but retains sweetness and are joined by earth, leather and spice flavors with worn wood. With air the cherry flavors really blossomed to the point that Sasha said it reminded him of a Vosne-Romane. Lovely sweetness throughout the mid-palate, though the finish does dry out a little. It's a little too butch to call it elegant, though it's certainly harmonious. Beautiful wine, though I'd start to drink up. A/A-.
1959 Joh. Jos. Prm Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Sptlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Golden colored with a complex nose of old stone fruits, pickled pears, mineral and a touch of fish sauce. On the palate the wine is resolved with not much holding it together, but there's still sweetness. In fact, the sugar has an interesting caramel quality to it. With air the stone fruits took on more of a tropical character and it did seem like the wine was searching high and low for bits and pieces of structure to cobble together to provide some semblance of a backbone. More appealing intellectually, though there certainly were some nice things to enjoy. I do wonder a little bit about the provenance throughout the years given the presence of fish sauce and caramel. B.
1959 Chteau Grand Mayne - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
An oddball nose that showed some funk, charred earth, perfumed cherries and vegetal notes. Lean and fading on the palate. The host mentioned he had had better bottles than this one. Meaty and herbal with a strong iron note and plenty of leather. Coarse and austere. It's a bit of an old school bruiser. B.
1959 Chteau La Pointe - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
Entices you with aromas of sweet red cherries, tobacco, leather and earth. Just beautiful on the palate. The wine is young, fresh and full of vigor. There's lovely sweetness to the red fruit that continued to grow with air. Cedary oak, leather and mineral with a rusty iron note rounded on the flavors and as it stayed in the glass a distinct charred steak character emerged. Still firmly tanninic. Solid A-.
1959 Chteau La Gaffelire - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
More muted on the nose than the Grand Mayne or La Pointe, though still showed coffee, herb, cherry and root spice aromas. On the palate it's a bit of a deceptive wine as upon entry the initial impression is that of a silky, aged claret, but then the tannins come in and beat you with a shillelagh on the finish. It's much more brown and aged in character than the previous two wines, with earth and leather flavors dominating with the fruit in major retreat. Lean and drying. Drink up. B.
1959 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
This is a helluva wine from the get go. Wonderfully perfumed with riper fruit on the nose than any of the other wines thus far. There's cherry, leather, herb and earth aromas, but it's the fruit that stands out. It shows a strong acidic backbone on first sip, but a little time in the glass sees it slip back into providing structure and not being a lead character. Just gorgeous on the palate. There's a vibrancy to the wine that's very attractive. The cherry fruit is sweet and succulent and shifts a little into the strawberry range and is rounded out nicely with more complex herb and earth notes. Impeccably balanced with great depth and length. Old Bordeaux as it oughtah be. Solid A.
1959 Chteau Ausone - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
The Canon was going to be a tough act to follow, but this wine was insane. Certainly one of the best wine, let alone Bordeaux experiences I've had. This is a monumental wine with so many things going on in it, it's tough to know where to begin. It's rich, powerful, youthful, layered with extraordinary depth. I'm astounded by how sweet and vibrant the fruit is. There's a gorgeous melange of red cherries and wild red berry fruit with iron, earth and hints of leather on the nose and palate that overwhelm the mind and brings a rush of feelings of both ecstasy and bewilderment. How could this wine provide so much pleasure at age 50? How could it be so youthful? Indeed, with air the wine actually started to shut down and the formidable structure came a bit more to the forefront. A truly stunning wine. Solid A+.
1959 Chteau Figeac - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Corked. Major bummer as a lot of folks were saying what a great wine this is when intact. NR (flawed)
1959 Chteau Trotanoy - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
With a number of wines already showing some remarkably sweet fruit, this one showed the sweetest of the night, though the Ausone was a tough act to follow. There's a rush of black and red fruit aromas with baked clay, a touch of herb and game. While sweet and sappy on the palate, the fruit is a bit more coy than that of the Ausone and doesn't quite have the same length or depth. The fruit is blacker and has a cocoa and licorice alongside it. There's a little bit of VA present, but nothing to get upset over and there's some blood orange on the finish. Despite a couple of shortcomings, the wine still feels young and provides immense pleasure. A.
1959 Chteau Magdelaine - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Served as a mystery wine and from a magnum. Shows a very pretty and penetrating nose of fresh chervil and marjoram, plenty of licorice, raspberry and red fruits with a good dose of minerality. It's beautiful, lithe and silky on the palate, showing a much more feminine persona than the other '59's thus far. Fully mature and integrated with like flavors as aromas and a juicy finish. Really captivating for it's elegance and focus. A.
1959 Chteau Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Mdoc, St. Julien
From magnum. This one really needed some serious decanting, or maybe needs some more years in the cellar given the large format. Initially quite herbal with crunchy minerals, there was not a lot of fruit showing due to a thick blanket of structure that really smothered the wine. With extended air in the glass some sweet black fruit began to emerge and some of the herbal flavors shifted to more of a green tobacco profile. There's good stuff here, but this was still too young and had the kind of structure you don't see that much in Bordeaux anymore. A-.
1962 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Mystery wine. Unfortunately, maderized. NR (flawed)
1958 Chteau La Conseillante - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
What a wacky wine. Smells like Thanksgiving with a bizarre mix of Eucalyptus, jalapeno, cranberry, citrus and earth aromas. On the palate it's lean and maybe not so much mean as much as under fruited. High acid with like flavors as aromas. Just an oddball wine and not really my thing, but it still offers up some intrigue. B-/C+.
1955 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Maderized. NR (flawed)
1953 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Shows richness on the nose with cherry, earth and iron aromas. Tough and tannic on the palate with like flavors as aromas, but the wine seems a little simple and is truncated on the finish. The person that opened it said he's had much better bottles, so we chalk it up to a slightly off bottle. B.
1952 Chteau Magdelaine - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
A shot bottle. NR (flawed)
1952 Chteau Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. milion Grand Cru
Cherries, iron and mineral dominate on the nose. Integrated and nicely balanced on the palate. As with most of the wines tonight, the fruit shows remarkable sweetness. This one shows more cedar than most of the other wines tonight, which gives the wine a nice spiciness. Leather and a hint of tobacco bring up the rear. Drinking very well now. A-.
1929 Chteau La Conseillante - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
There was quite a lot of excitement when the host opened this up. Part of the intrigue was in the veracity of the bottle as it had been relabeled. On one side of the bottle was a faded and largely missing old label, with a newer label dated 1929 on the other side of the bottle. It was believed to have been relabeled at the Chateau and once tasted, the unanimous opinion was that the wine was in fact original. The wine was a light garnet in color and had complex aromas of wet hay, red fruit, smoke/peat and beef and was lifted a little by a small dose of VA. On the palate it was not fully intact, but in pretty good shape. Joe described it as a Jaguar e-type with a few dings. Though dessicated, there's a lovely sweetness to the old red fruit. It's earthy with hay and barnyard flavors. With air a strong raspberry note emerged as did cedar and a nutty character. Resolved and gentle on the palate, but still showing persistence. A marvelous treat. A-.
1959 Hut Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
After all the reds, it was time for something with a little sweetness. Given the theme of the evening, it was only fitting that we had this. From an older bottling given the label and capsule, this one is showing youthfully and a little chunky, but is sublime. It's an interesting place right now as at age 50 it has youthful yellow fruit and a shows a lot of vitality in the structure, but it's also taking on more mature orange citrus, earl gray tea and cardamom notes. Moderately sweet, but of course there's brilliant structure in there to keep everything in check. There's some variation with some of the Moelleux bottlings from '59, though it seems to affect the Le Haut-Lieu bottlings more than the Clos du Bourg and some recent examples of both bottles have seen some showing a little drier than usual, but this is just a beautiful Moelleux. One of the best showings, actually. A+/A.
1986 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - France, Alsace, Hunawihr, Alsace AOC
I guess this was opened to refresh the palate and there was no beer in the house. I've never been a huge fan of this vintage. To me it's like getting raked across the face by a cat's claw and then having lime juice and salt splashed in the wound. It stings! The nose of this bottle is completely overwhelmed by sulfur. I'm sure it blew off with time, but given all the other opened goodies on the table, I didn't go back to it. The sulfur doesn't show up on the palate, surprisingly, but this wine is all about structure and minerality. It's lean with bitter green and yellow citrus. The structure is enamel stripping and almost seems tannic. While I like it, it veers a little too much into that fine line between pleasure and pain zone for my tastes, but everyone else around me seemed to enjoy it more than I did. B+.
Not Posted from CellarTracker