Hodgepodge of recent notes

I’ve had a handful of fun wine events recently, so I figured I’d share impressions of wines that are of note and might be interesting to others. No particular order and not from the same event.

96 Krug Late Release. I haven’t been the biggest fan of this wine in the past but I think it is finally starting to come out of its shell a bit. Still not my all time favorite Krug or champagne but I’ll hang in there with the rest of my bottles and check in in a few years.

04 Truchot Morey Clos Sorbes. Really nice wine. Always impressed how good Truchot is in leaner years. This is of a particular style that I’ve been coming to appreciate more over recent years–bright, focused, lighter in comparison to lots of, say, 99s or 90s. Really good.

57 Romanee-Conti. This was awesome and a real treat to taste. This was a bottle I knew to be real, and it was a joy. Exotic, with a profile that was sort of tropical citrus. Lighter red fruits. I had never had a 57 burgundy before, so I was interested to learn a bit about the vintage.

55 Ch. Latour. A real powerhouse. This wine was persistent and still young. I’ve had less perfectly stored bottles in the past that tasted more mature, but this was still on the upslope.

61 Ausone. Drank next to the 55 Latour above, and this was in a more mature spot. Beautifully light and ethereal. Best bottle of Ausone I’ve had. Was never a huge fan of the chateau before but this has opened my eyes.

62 Montrose Mag. I include this bc I thought it was interesting how good 62 was. A somm friend whom I trust about old vintages said he thought 62 had been overlooked on the heels of 61, which I hadn’t known previously. I was impressed by this. Not as good as 61, but far better than I had realized.

59 Lafite Mag. One of the best wines I’ve had in a long time. Just absolutely stunning, classic Lafite profile at its very best. Cannot recommend highly enough.

59 Margaux Mag. Very good but could not quite keep up with the Lafite above. A little more exotic, with a minty flavor. Good, but a little outdone.

31 Noval Vintage Port. I don’t drink ports all that often, but if you’re going to reach for one over the coming holidays, this won’t disappoint. It was absolutely delicious. Mature (at least I think so), really nice integrated flavor. Felt as weightless as I can imagine a wine as sweet as port being.

88 Rousseau Chambertin, Beze, and CSJ: There seems to be a fair amount of negativity about 88 red burgs floating through the zeitgeist recently, so I throw these out as a data point. These were all delicious, and I would not overlook them.

90 and 92 Leflaive Batard. Both delicious. Loving white burgs from 90 and 92 recently. A 90 Raveneau Chapelot was quite good recently as well. Pre-premox is where I want to be.

89 Guigal Turque. This was utterly decadent and delicious. I include this bc I feel like among a lot of the “serious” collectors, there is a strong feeling that the guigals are too big, open, opulent etc in their youth to be candidates for serious ageing. Not so. This is integrating beautifully and evidences as impressive a transformation throughout the years as any tannic bordeaux or nebbiolo.

90 Rousseau CSJ. This was killer. While i’m coming to like leaner years, as I said above, when ripe vintages are great they are still great. And this is great. Drink up if you’v got 'em. I no longer do.

Patrick:

Thanks for the notes on some interesting wines. Having close friends who were born in 1955, I’ve had the good fortune to drink a lot of 1955’s. For me, Latour is the class of the field and has shown very consistently over 8 bottles. We did have one birthday dinner where the 55 Cheval and Figeac were stunning, but other bottles of Cheval haven’t been as good.

Don’t sleep on the 62 Bordeaux either. At this point, however, I would only buy in mags, as most of the wines in 750 are getting a bit tired. The Latour Haut Brion is a stunner if you can find it, and I actually like 62 Lafite far, far better than the 61.

Steve,

Thanks for the tip on LTHB. I will keep an eye out for it. 55 Figeac is a good tip too.

Have you had 55 Haut Brion? I’ve had some pretty good experiences with that as well.

I’m a big fan of 55 Haut Brion. Had it on my 50th and 60th birthdays (I’m a 56er, but I cheat). Outstanding both times.

That was more impressive than your run of the mill hodgepodge.

David, I agree I’ve loved 55 HB too. I’ve had a number of lesser 55s that I thought pretty solid over the years as well. Any other standouts from the vintage in your view?

Patrick, I wish I had more experience with 55s. I’ve only had it once but La Miss was stunning, up there with Haut Brion. Also only one try with Latour and Mouton, both outstanding but a step behind. Margaux was a disappointment, not sure if it was the wine or a poorly stored bottle.

Don’t know if they qualify as lesser, but Lynch Bages, Talbot and Conseillante were all excellent on several occasions, none recently. Not at the same level as the first growths in my mind but I couldn’t swear I wasn’t influenced to some degree by the labels.

Which ones have you liked?