2017 Katahdin wines (long)

2017 Katahdin Wines (long)

I wrote these notes 4 – 6 days after the wines were tasted, my memories are pretty clear but I wish I had gotten to it sooner. For the record, the first wines were consumed in my home by me and Sally, and Chris and Marjorie Bublitz. The others were consumed at Chimney Pond Campground on Mount Katahdin by me, Chris and Marjorie.

At my home, Thursday August 10th.

There were two sparklers we drank that evening to which I have some connection. I’ve written my notes but will wait to post until I figure out how to present them. Here are the others:

2001 Mayacamas Chardonnay – Medium gold color. Lovely secondary aromas feature pear, pine and hazelnut. The palate is quite rich with an almost oily texture. The flavors are fully secondary with a beautiful balance between honeyed age and mountain freshness. The ripe pear flavors have touches of both apple and peach and apricot (fresh, not anything like botrytis) and the texture unfolds in layers, with a very long finish. This is a beautiful wine at peak. Rated about 94.0, drink up.

2005 Bernard Morey Chassagne 1er Cru Caillerets – Medium straw color. Secondary aromas feature ripe apple and pear with some distinct minerality. The flavors mimic the aromas perfectly, this is medium bodied, beautifully balanced, secondary but still with youth an vigor, more so than the previous. There is a piquancy and freshness to this that is a contrast to the Mayacamas, it is very pretty but without the weight and gravitas. Rated 92.5, possible slight improvement for another year or two.


At Chimney Pond Campground on Mount Katahdin, in a lean-to on Saturday August 12th.

2012 Dublere Volnay 1er Cru ‘Taillepieds’ [decanted into plastic and hiked up 3+ miles on Friday by Chris] – The other reds we had were on another level, but in retrospect this was perhaps the best match to the mountain setting. No possibility of judging color (I thought a later Sauternes had gone completely brown, flashlight inspection picked up hints of gold). Lovely fresh aromas of red cherries, minerals and a strange but welcome and integrated hint of mint. The palate was fresh and vigorous, but not lacking in solidity with excellent balance. The fruits remain mostly red but with touches of black cherry and raspberry. Rated 91.8, up to two points of improvement likely over the next 5+ years, but no reason not to drink it now if you’re thirsty and like young Burgundy.

1996 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux [hiked up Saturday, about 5 hours before drinking] – I swear the color was pretty brickish on decanting and a healthier red on arrival. Aromas are blackberries, black cherries and red meat, with a broad streak of sous-bois (hardwood forest after rain) running through it. The palate offers some real weight, heavy on the meat, fine intensity, earthy, but excellent balance. The fruit flavors now show equal red and black, mostly cherries within a panoply of blackberry and red and black raspberry. I can live with the contradiction of stately vigor. Rated 96.0, fully mature but in no danger of decline.

1998 La Mission Haut Brion [hiked up Friday] – The aromas are beautiful, featuring ripe red and black plums, minerals, and the first hint of oak (but not much and beautifully integrated). The palate is shining, glistening, excellent weight and intensity, superb purity of fruit, mostly red, but a very deep red. This is still young with right provenance and storage, but at full maturity after the decant and hike. There is a polish and refinement here that I don’t associate with camping and previous bottles of aged Bordeaux have not done well on the mountain, but this was a glory. Rated 96.0, might have been better in a more elegant setting and certainly could improve a point or two over the next 5 – 10 years.

For me, the 1996 Burgundy was ever so slightly more enjoyable than the Bordeaux, but that has to do with setting. I felt the wine quality was equal, but with the Bordeaux still able to improve for a long time while the Burg is at peak.

My deep thanks to Chris and Marjorie Bublitz, first for making the trek and next for bringing and drinking the wine. Chris always gifts Sally with something she will really enjoy… she hasn’t yet opened Chris’s gift for this year, a half bottle of 1997 Yquem!

I have drunk fine and great wine at Chimney Pond for 19 of the past 22 years and invite all board members to join us in the future. Chimney Pond is one of the world’s most beautiful places. We eat decent food, drink great wine and hike some of the world’s great trails. It does not get better.

Dan Kravitz

This always sounds like a great trip. Hopefully get to do it some year.

Some great wines Dan! I need to get back there, maybe next summer.

Another great Katahdin Adventure. Many thanks to Dan for putting this together. I have made the trek up to Maine for this every year since 2009. Weather was fine, food and wines were great, Chimney Pond setting was spectacular as usual. Always nice to get together with Dan. Highly recommended.

The 1996 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux was a beautiful wine drinking at or near peak - great stuff.

The 1998 La Mission Haut Brion tasted great but is still a few years from peak - probably the best red Bordeaux I’ve had on one of these Katahdin Adventures.

I really liked the young 2012 Dublere Volnay 1er Cru ‘Taillepieds’ - tasted good on Friday night and Saturday night and was even better when we finished the last 5 or 6 ounces on Sunday night. Quite an achievement.

As to the Sauternes, it was a 2007 Climens and it looked like it was from a vintage about 60 years ago instead of 10. This has happened to every Sauternes I have brought to Chimney Pond so I don’t think I will try that again.

Special mention of the 2005 Bernard Morey Chassagne 1er Cru Caillerets. Very nice fresh aged white Burgundy that was enjoyed with lobster and scallops at Dan’s house. There was about a quarter of the bottle left that I put in a cooler in my car on Thursday night and kind of forgot about but discovered it on Sunday night. It was in great shape - wonderful stuff, no premox or deterioration after being open for over 72 hours. Went well with leftovers in our hotel outside Boston that night.

One other thing, I was very impressed by the 2001 California blanc de blancs that Dan opened on Thursday night. Great mature flavors and very Champagne like. That bottle disappeared pretty fast. What was it, Dan?

Lonnie, you should come back to Maine next year. I didn’t go up to Baxter Peak this year (just went to Blueberry Knoll with Marjorie). I have only been trying to go to the top every other year - 2012, 2014, 2016, so I expect to go up next year.

Interesting! I actually have a bottle of 1998 LMHB audouzing away in preparation for dinner tonight. The last couple I opened were dumb as dirt–hope this one reflects your experience!

Randy, by the time Dan tasted the 1998 LMHB, the bottle had been decanted over 30 hours and had been shaken up pretty good on the hike up to Chimney Pond. It’s a very fine wine that will be at its best in 5 to 10 years in normal circumstances. But, please let us know how your bottle turned out.

Chris, it turned out quite well, I’m pleased to say, improving markedly with air time.

Another great Katahdin report. This hike has been on my bucket list for over 10 years but right now I’ll have to wait a few more years 'til my kids get a bit older. The only time I’ve ever enjoyed fine wine in the backcountry was drinking a 2004 Clos du Papes CndP over the course of 3 nights on a 4-day solo backpacking trip in Yosemite a decade ago.

I did think of y’all the other week when I received a recent REI email touting this backpacker’s wine thermos – I have no affiliation and freely admit that 15.5 oz for an empty thermos is not exactly ultralight…

I have postponed posting on the bubbly because there is a bit of an ethical issue here.

This wine is made by a good friend who also consults on my only California wine, a Monterey Chardonnay. In theory I represent his wine so have never posted on it. But it is not cheap and there is so little of it that I’ve never sold any through the three tier system. I am reaching out to my friend to see how I can write this up… I’m hoping that I will just be able to quote retail direct from the winemaker for board members. I’m e-mailing the name to Chris. Once I’ve successfully disentangled myself from any commercial interest, I will post again.

A few other points:

If you want to hike with wine, pack light and not carry glass, decanting into water bottles works really well… but one factor is very important: I use 720ml bottles, in other words, they hold essentially a full regular bottle. When I decant them (I think trailhead is best), I fill them absolutely full, ideally not even a milliliter of air space. The goal is to completely avoid sloshing on the hike, which accelerates oxidation. The decant itself is plenty of oxygenation, if you can avoid any more on the hike to your destination you stand a much better chance of having your wine in good shape when you get there.

The '98 LMHB is really great wine. I’m thrilled that Chris brought it. If I owned any, I would wait ten years then do a normal decant. But it’s not too young to drink and a slowox apparently works fine… no surprise there.

Do not decant and hike with wines that are heading past their prime. You are priming yourself for disappointment.

to Ethan H: As mentioned, the hike to Chimney Pond is not hard for anybody in reasonable shape (3.3 miles, 10 degree steady uphill on a rocky trail). I always get passed on the way up by families with pre-teen kids. I plan to keep doing this as long as I can. I’ll be 71 next month. I may never make the top of Katahdin again (I still reasonably hope to), but have set another goal of going as far as Chimney Pond at least until I’m 80 (wish me luck). I don’t know how old your kids are, but once they are past the toddler stage, come on up! I should still be going by that time.

Dan Kravitz

Dan, thanks for the invite! I have a 15 month old and a 4 year old, and live in Moscow to boot, but will really have to think about making it next year. (I guess I can always drop the kids off with their grandparents…)