Wine of the Year

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
It is most definitely mature, and spectacular. Try one if you've got one.
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I'm with Keith here. Other than a corked couple of bottles over the years, this wine has never failed to deliver. Really great stuff that I've found has drank well from age nine, right up through the present. Now, the '82 on the other hand, I've never had one that's remotely lived up to the hype.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Mark, I'm not sure that "mature" is exactly the right word. The Leoville Las Cases '90 should be nicely within its drinking window but with plenty of time left and probably some room for improvement.

. . . . Pete
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the temperature of storage (say 60 degrees vs. 50 degrees) makes this statement a meaningless generalization. neither of these temperatures will cause any damage to the wine but will have, after 27 years, a marked influence on the maturity of the wine.
 
An apricot drink made by J-M Roulot from fruit grown by J-L Chave - what's not to like? I don't know whether it's more accurate to call it a spirit or a liqueur. It's somewhere in between. Lower alcohol than a spirit and lower sugar than a liqueur, but the apricot flavor is so vivid and pure.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
It is most definitely mature, and spectacular. Try one if you've got one.
Click to expand...

I'm with Keith here. Other than a corked couple of bottles over the years, this wine has never failed to deliver. Really great stuff that I've found has drank well from age nine, right up through the present. Now, the '82 on the other hand, I've never had one that's remotely lived up to the hype.
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Had that one too at the same dinner, a Panos-hosted vertical. Ben G. from Calvert remarked that the '82 was dynamite on release and has never been as good since. The '89 and '90 were both stunners though.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Mark, I'm not sure that "mature" is exactly the right word. The Leoville Las Cases '90 should be nicely within its drinking window but with plenty of time left and probably some room for improvement.

. . . . Pete
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the temperature of storage (say 60 degrees vs. 50 degrees) makes this statement a meaningless generalization. neither of these temperatures will cause any damage to the wine but will have, after 27 years, a marked influence on the maturity of the wine.
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Well, our bottles were chateau stock so as good a baseline as any for how it ought to taste. I suppose those who keep their cellars on "refrigerate" mode in a deliberate effort to arrest development can always pipe in that nothing is ready to drink.
 
I'll add a random note here: 1924 Pape Clement from Bern's. Astonishing color, sort of muted violet all the through to the edge. Wonderful nose. Surprisingly floral at first. Darker later. Plenty of acidity.

As to the taste: I am generally with VLM; it is easy to turn old wine into a fetish. Most old wine elides into a generalized taste with age. But not this bottle. Clearly matching my expectations of Graves / P-L. The cliched descriptors would be: candied leather, earth (not scorched, more mushroom), smoke of some sort. Initially a bit of tart red fruit to match the acidity. It didn't fall apart in the decanter, though it did evolve. My final look at the last 1/2 a glass did show that swirl of clear / wine color of an old bottle.

Delicious.
 
I've had that '24 Pape-Clement at Bern's - yep, classic Graves. The '24 Haut-Bailly and Domaine de Chevalier were on a whole 'nother level though.
 
However stupid a fool's words may be, they are sometimes enough to confound an intelligent man.

Or at least really annoy him.

And that's how we roll.
 
Well, cured me of my idle notion of subscribing to Wine Spectator again...

My wines of the year:

2015 Prager Gruner Veltliner Smargd Achleiten Stockkultur: What elegance and nuance, slightly bitter herbal brine presented with great finesse...

2001 Quintarelli Vapolicella Classico Superiore: Always a great bottle, but with 15 years bottle age, this presents as a volcano about to go off, deep subterranean rumblings and dark cherry and spicy underbrush on the nose

2002 Sylvie Barthod Chambolle Musigny les Cras: This is a rich, ripe wine that has hit its stride with enough bottle age, a mouthful and noseful of classic Chambolle

2002 Domaine de la Taille aux Loups (Jacky Blot) Montlouis sur Loire Demi-Sec: Best wine of the Loire trip, this has resolved all of its residual sugar to a quince-ginger elixir...

2016 Huet le Mont Vouvray Sec: Best of the 2016 Huet Sec IMO, slightly bitter herbal wild nettle signature backed by stony, sculptured Silex. Great vintage and wine in the making...

2011 Guiberteau Breze: Another herbal brine here, what a distinctive signature for these wines...

2009 Agrapart Avizoise: Maybe a small notch below the stellar 2008 Agrapart Avizoise, which is almost painful to drink, but this is such a beautiful expression of the Cote de Blancs. Razor-sharp focus, great length..
.
2015 Marcel Lapierre Cuvee MMXV: Really outdid the vintage here, powerful mix of bright wild black and red berries and underbrush on a sculpted, stony frame...

2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne: In a (proper) Zalto glass, this wine really shows its delicate vinosity

2015 Gobelsburg Lamm Kamptal: Wild nettles on a rich, saline frame, this is what you drink if you want to live to 150 years...

Honorable mention:
NV Agrapart Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Terroirs (2017 disgorgement): This is brilliant for a NV, great thrust and clarity...

2014 Pichon Lalande (375 ml): On track to be a great wine with its gorgeous pure fruit, overall balance, and very fine tannins, even if the oak is too obvious now.
 
Everybody needs to be buying some of that 2014 Pichon Lalande. It might be the best vintage since 2000 and also the cheapest. There is an ocean of low-tier Burgundy selling for more!
 
I liked the Baron as well but it was much harder to get a read on than the Lalande. Lalande has always been my preference of the two anyway. But I am buying pretty broadly across the vintage. When the window of opportunity opens for fairly priced Bordeaux, it doesn't stay open very long.
 
Here's my TN on the Baron:

Surprisingly pale red-fruited complexion on this, somewhat lighter in tone than usual for a wine that's characteristically black-fruited, and also mostly past the primary stage. Some bitter cherry and plums in the fruit department, along with cedarwood and a slight nuttiness. Nice Pauillac character here -- but the Comtesse is deeper and denser than the Baron this vintage, in addition to being more finessed. Neal Martin's note suggested some family resemblance to Latour, and that's not totally off base in terms of some of the flavor-wheel attributes, but Latour is the quintessential iron fist in a velvet glove and I can't say this wine has either. That's not to say it lacks power, but a lot of the power is in those raw, muscular tannins (actually a fairly old-school texture) -- in other words, a thick sheath on the surface rather than taut stuffing at the core. The overall effect is of a very sturdy, even strict wine that will likely need a long sleep in the cellar. The rugged structure is going to keep this one going a long time (a leftover glass's worth even held up well the next day -- rare for Bordeaux) and combined with the restrained and somewhat bitter fruit profile (also a rarity these days -- feels a bit short of the edge of ripeness) makes this a more old-style Pichon-Baron then they have produced in some time.
 
Keith, thanks. I saw some comments comparing the Pichon Baron '14 with the '90 which I very highly regard.

The downside is I'm no longer interested in waiting a long time for the drinking window.

I'll have to give all this some thought.

. . . . Pete
 
So, inspired by your post, Don Rice brought a '90 Leoville Las Cases, as well as a '90 Clos du Marquis, to dinner last night. Both showed beautifully. Fun to taste them side by side. The Clos du Marquis had beautiful fruit and was lighter, maybe a little less complex and more ready to drink at this stage, while the LLC was as great as it always is and at early peak. No need to rush with it.
 
Tom, I wouldn't have thought Jadot's Corton Charlemagne would have been suitable for that life span. Interesting!

I recently served and enjoyed the Comte de Vogue Vieille Vignes Musigny '85 which you would have liked. I was nervous about how it would show -- it was awesome.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Tom, I wouldn't have Jadot's Corton Charlemagne would have been suitable for that life span. Interesting!

I recently served and enjoyed the Comte de Vogue Vieille Vignes Musigny '85 which you would have liked. I was nervous about how it would show -- it was awesome.

. . . . . Pete
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Chambers has two bottles of the 1995 available for a cool $570 each.
 
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