I was thrilled to have the chance to take part in this OL organized by Po-yu Sun at La Trompette. I was meeting him for the first time, along with Chris, Mike, Matt, Helen, Benedict and Justin. A fantastic time was had by yon scribe as conversation weaved easily in and out of wine, food, movies, travel and culture. It was and will be a memorable evening.
THE WINES
Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle
An older disgorgement—we believe at least before 89. Canary diamond colour—really pretty. Very pretty to drink too. Still with verve, but now a marked hazelnut factor to sweet apple and tinges of citrus. This does still have the clean spit-and-polish identity that endears me to this producer. Might have been my #4 or 5 tonight
2011 Ygrec (Y de Yquem)
I brought this and goodness—full of honeysuckle and floral with kiwi. Helen was all over that too. Juniper as well. Active dans la bouche, but in sort of 2 parts, front and back. Bits of melon and sweet grapefruit mix in and while it is very interesting, it doesn’t have conviction for me. Chris and I remark that it’s halfway between a Graves and a sweet-side California SB. Impeccable balance nevertheless and a bit of a savory note on retaste after the sweeties.
1986 Chateau D’Yquem
Really lifted nuzzie—pineapple sorbet comes to mind, overlay of flowers. 1 sip lasts a looong time. Very composed with melon, pineapple and a beguiling slightly bitter finish. Gorgeous with my scallops, jumps the wine into another explosive gear with even longer length and scads of all kinds of tropical fruit. When the end of the night came, this had faded into the background in comparison to some of the other wines, but still had its admirers and I would say that I think this ended up being the best match with its food.
1986 Chateau Climens
The Climens is a touch more reticent, but sweet lime, hint of mango and some Chantilly cream are there to sniff at. This is classic and classy—fine orange liqueur and mists off at the end. Fairy princess. And petulant princess—in stark contrast to the D’Yquem, when the scallops try to dance, it’s a big “nuh-uh” with a capital “NUH”. Some vanilla custard appears with time and aromatically starts to open up after 3 hours. So does the taste and this comes on very strong by the end of the night, possibly passing the D’Yquem in the pairing and a lot of people’s #3
1988 Chateau Climens
Tremendous difference in colour from the D’Yquem here—light gold. Only hints at a panoply of baking spices, dusting of brown sugar, coconut and very light brush of nougat. What you’d expect—super-racy, like a bridled horse. Charged lemon and orange peel with marzipan backhit. And so energetic—I could drink this as a desert island wine. Better yet with some warmth, but still very structured, linear and 88. A very good bottle.
1988 Chateau D’Yquem
Wow! such a different nose from the Climens—hits you with smoked maple syrup/fudge and a plantain and pie side. This, to taste, is awfully close to the 01’s perfection for me. Awfully close. Still needs 20 years, but vanilla, star fruit, maple fudge, kiwi and even a lick of aniseed, and it all lasts forever. On nose and mouth, simply a soul-drenching wine. My clear WOTN, WOTY so far and the group’s near-consensus #1. 99+ I saved some off into a shot-bottle and will check on it in 2 days.
1989 Chateau D’Yquem
More custard-y here, very “sure” bouquet with ripe yellow fruit. Displays its usual richness—a good bottle of this, has the get-up-and-go with buttertart and maple. And it just gets stronger and more resolved with each minute of air. Probably equal to the bottle Berto brought to me last July, only the presence of the 88 keeps this from WOTN, everyone’s near-consensus #2 tonight (and mine)—Chris had this #1 and I can see the reasoning. Should make my WOTY list as well.
1989 Chateau Climens
Wildflower/elderflower, hints of lime leaf, some very small nutmeg. And, somewhat in contrast to the 88, this is wonderfully expressive—full of citrus and pineapple exuberance. A very precocious individual of a wine, one of the most interesting Sauternes I’ve ever had. In its way, so un-Climens-like. I keep coming back to this! A wow wine—my #3 and very close to the 89 D’Yquem. I don’t leave this the whole night….and I don’t leave any in the glass either.
1988 Chateau Leoville-Barton
Nice bouquet here, bits of meat, dried plum, cured tobacco. Dash of blackberry. That’s 88 all right. Slender and deep with more dried plum and cedar. Good carry for sure. I like how this accented the gaminess and smokiness of the roe deer. These two really divided the table, with those preferring the 88 citing the fact that it’s in, or much closer to, its drinking window. I would still give this 5 more years
1989 Chateau Leoville Barton
“sweeter” aroma, with dips of cinnamon, nutmeg and maybe even cumin seed around deep cassis, blackberry and ripe plum. Definite difference on the palate, still is rugged with some minerality and blackberry, but tons of character buried in there. Lots more time—10-15 years for me—but excellent potential. I would actually rate this my #4 tonight (if we’d been allowed to rate the reds J )
1997 Chateau D’Yquem
Concentrated bouquet, bits of pralines and cream biting around poached pear and coconut core. This is goody-good at start, if a bit forward. Delectable poached pear and some raisin tart. Tiny bit of bitterness when paired with the crème fraiche tart wild. But this is the first of the D’Yquem’s with a palpable ceiling, and this is solid and good, but not great.
1997 Chateau Climens
Possibly the most intriguing of the Climens aromas—full of perfume and almost calvados. The guys think there’s a fair bit of sulphur still lingering here. On the tongue, it does show shorter compared to all the others and a little later some botrytis does prickle up. It gains some body and balance and by the end of the night is not bad at all, but a step below some of what we’ve had this evening.
2011 Chateau D’Yquem
A tale of two halves—the first half-bottle, sulphur on the nose and although for me it has clarity and a good vanilla base, we all wonder if it presents as “D’Yquem”. It could be just way young….nevertheless, the second half-bottle (mine (grin)) is clearer still and more solid, expressive although still not reaching the heights one would expect, especially from this year. And then a question gets put out there….is the first half-bottle a fake?? The labels are carefully compared and we note that the punts are indeed different. Benedict and Helen are going to take these to the estate in 6 weeks and we look forward to what they find out!
2011 Chateau Climens
The one of these where the botrytis is still in ascendancy, but filled with florals to go with that musk. And a dream to taste, very stately, very sure of itself. Extra-young but has everything----everything—to maybe outshine all the other Climens on the table someday. Lovely texture with pear, marzipan, twinge of lime and star fruit. I need to source me some of these, pronto!
I don’t mean to steal from the title of a show, but I did have an absolutely fabulous time. I will admit to some trepidation when I learned we were going to down ten FULL bottles of Sauternes. But this was a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do this kind of direct comparing and matching multiple bottles with different food. As my first visit was, the service and quality of food at La Trompette was spectacular, with Tanguy leading the way.
I will only quickly note that I passed around a double-shot of 22 year Glen Scotia (Mongtomerie’s bottling) that was enjoyed by many.
This was a great group of people—none of whom I’d met before, but all of whom I want to meet again! My huge thanks to Po for letting me take part. The bar has been set very high for the rest of my trip in Europe.
Kwa Heri
Mike