TN: Avery Family Cellar Wine Dinner - The Worst Wine Dinner of my life

WINE TALK
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AVERY FAMILY CELLAR WINE DINNER - THE WORST WINE DINNER OF MY LIFE - The Grill Room at Rosewood DC (2/1/2018)

This was the fourth rendition of the Avery Family Cellar Wine Dinner. The first two dinners were resounding success. The third dinner had a lot of madeirized bottles. Despite of having 16 Avery bottles, we had so many Madeirized bottles that we were forced to order two Barolos for our last savory course. Strangely, all but two corks were tightly sealed and in excellent condition. The wines were opened at 4:30 pm and drunk 7 to 10 pm.

The grill room is now managed by Wolfgang Puck. The new chef, Andrew Skala, prepared a six course tasting menu which was very good. The service was excellent as usual.

16 Avery bottles

Caviar

Sea Urchin

Trout
White Burgundy
Both should very well, showing ripe fruit and strong mineral.

  • 2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
    This is aging beautifully. Opulent yet focused nose displaying rich orchard fruit, lemon, lemon curd, a hint of pear, honey, white flowers, a hint of crushed white pepper, saline and strong wet stone. Despite being ripe, there is a hint of white fruit to give a good freshness. Dense and slightly coiled, ripe citrus and pear driven palate impression, lemon oil, medium acidity, strong wet stone mineral and a long opulent yellow fruit and mineral driven finish. I am a big fan of the 09 Raveneaus as I find them to be focused and precise via strong mineral presence. Don’t look for Dauvissat here. If you are a fan of the style of Raveneau, this will be a great treat. (95 pts.)
  • 2009 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
    The style is very similar to the 09 Ravenau MdT. Very rich yet cool nose displaying pear, apple, a hint of lime, mint white chocolate, honey, lanoline and crushed rock. Beautiful harmonious palate, ripe white fruit and mint driven palate impression, dense and slightly coiled, medium acidity, strong mineral presence and a medium to long opulent white fruit and mint white chocolate driven finish. Still quite youthful and a long life ahead. Excellent showing. (95 pts.)

Champagne

  • 2006 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne - France, Champagne
    So far, the most delicate and airy example. Delightful refreshing nose displaying pure white fruit, pear, granny smith, saline, coriander, ginger, oyster jus, oyster shell and limestone. Fresh and energetic yet beautifully integrated harmonious palate, incredibly fine mousse, bright acidity and a long clean energetic finish. It is fascinating to taste next to the 06 Clos des Goisses, which is deeper and denser, both excellent in different ways. (97 pts.)
  • 2006 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses - France, Champagne
    Big scale nose displaying ripe yellow fruit, baked apple, apple sauce, a hint of pineapple, honeysuckle, a hint of Campari soda and brioche. Excellent concentration, the mousse is not as fine as the CdC but still fine and generous, clean ripe yellow fruit driven palate impression, good acidity and mineral, and a long ripe yellow fruit driven finish. This youthful and impressive bottle is ready to go but can easily improve for another decade or two. Clearly and obviously expressing quite differently than the 06 CdC. (95 pts.)

Avery White
The 43 Oliver was to die for. The 34 Charmes also was very enjoyable. A nice way to start the Avery flights.

  • 1934 Averys Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
    Despite from a half bottle, this is surprisingly fresh and precise. Still showing good freshness, generous yellow fruit, fascinating orange juice, candied orange rind, peach, apricot, crème brulee and sweet spices. Fully integrated palate, generous ripe orchard fruit driven palate impression, bright acidity that keeps the freshness and a long sweet yellow fruit driven finish. Surprisingly fresh and really enjoyable. (94 pts.)
  • 1943 Château Olivier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    The best example that is even better than the last bottle. Beautiful light golden color. Perfectly harmonious nose displaying decadent yellow fruit, apricot tar, yellow peach, crème bruless, a hint of botrytis, tea, lanoline and honey. Round, rich, harmonious, energetic, fresh, precise, decadent, hedonistic, opulent and complex, all in one. It reminds Kelly, a beautiful perfectly mature Sauternes. Incredible showing. (98 pts.)
  • 1964 Averys Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
    First bottle, slightly madeirized. It can be enjoyed like a nice fino sherry. NR (flawed)
  • 1964 Averys Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
    Second bottle The cork fell in but tightly sealed. A bit dirty and madeirized. Fresher than the bottle before. NR (flawed)

Burgundy
All dead as door knob!

Leoville Poyferre
Still batting 1000!

Grand Puy Lacoste
I let Justin pour to change the luck and it worked.

  • 1961 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    Finally a very fresh bottle. Beautiful fully mature claret nose, cassis, plum, a hint of strawberry jam, noticeable bell pepper, lead pencil and earth. Medium concentration, cassis and lead pencil driven palate impression, silky in general but a hint of coarse tannins, good acidity and a long cassis and lead pencil driven finish. I suspect the yield was high. It lacks the intensity and shows a hint of green. However it is a beautifully mature claret. (95 pts.)

1929 Bordeaux
Justin’s luck ran out. The 29 Beychevelle showed incredibly well.

  • 1929 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
    Madeirized. NR (flawed)
  • 1929 Château Pontet-Canet English-bottled - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    The last bottle was flirting with perfection. Another oxidized bottle. NR (flawed)
  • 1929 Château Rausan-Ségla English-bottled by Bridges Routh/Fearon Block - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    Madeirized. NR (flawed)
  • 1929 Château Beychevelle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
    Exquisite mostly tertiary nose, still generous amount of cassis, black cherry, plum, caramel, leather, cedar, cinnamon, clove and earth. Exceptional concentration, beautifully layered cassis and black cherry, silky, dense and chewy, bright acidity and a long cassis and caramel driven finish with a hint of cedar and leather at the end. There is something magical about the 20s Bordeaux. In general, they are much more concentrated than the 60s-80s Bordeaux. Absolute pleasure. (97 pts.)

Coutet
Absolutely gorgeous!

  • 1937 Château Coutet - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
    Perfectly mature complex nose displaying exquisite yellow fruit, apricot, peach melba, crème brulee, a hit of botrytis, red tea, butter scotch and honey. Still showing exceptional concentration, beautifully layered opulent yellow fruit, silky and polished, bright acidity and an incredibly long finish that resonates. Incredible showing. (98 pts.)

Desperate times
Paul kindly brought a back up bottle. We were so desperate that we ordered from the list. Luckily the prices were very reasonable.

  • 2008 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Albesani di Neive - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
    Pretty nose displaying raspberry, strawberry jam, sap, a hint of sweet spices and earth. Medium concentration, bright sweet red fruit driven palate impression, nicely integrated tannins and a clean medium finish with the bright red fruit and sap at the end. It is pretty but not terribly complex. (92 pts.)
  • 2010 Cappellano Barolo Piè Rupestris Otin Fiorin (Gabutti) - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Very primary nose displaying intense black fruit, black cherry, dry cherry, tar, sap, dark spices and earth. Initially incredibly tannic. With air, soften up a bit, nicely layered intense black fruit, silky and polished, bright acidity, strong earthy mineral and a long intense black fruit and tar driven finish. It is a very impressive wine that will need another two decades to reach the peak. (96 pts.)
  • 1985 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    Very youthful nose displaying cassis, red currant, tobacco,a hint of ash and lead pencil. Fully integrated palate, silky and polished, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, and a medium to long cassis driven finish. The palate is silky and sensual. It is a very polished medium weight Haut Brion that is drinking beautifully. (95 pts.)

I can’t really explain the miserable rate of failure. For all of us, this was the worst wine dinner of our lives. However, hanging with a bunch of great friends made the dinner still quite enjoyable.
Posted from CellarTracker

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Kevin, your notes and pictures are impressive, as always. Sorry about the poor showing of some bottles.

Serious question, do you ever wake up some mornings with a craving for a greasy hamburger and a PBR?

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I had grilled chicken burgers and a Levet Cote Rotie last night. Going PBR is accepting anarchy, walking away from civilization. K-Shin is a refined man of distinction and class, Corey, do not try to bring him down like you do all others!

Kevin, awesome pics, as always! Yea, the misses sucked, but looks like you still had some serious beauties in there. Bummed about your 1920s flights.

A couple years ago Keith L, Charlie Carnes and I shared a flight of 3 Leovilles from the 1920s, all were smoking, incredible representations of classic, mature Bordeaux, with plenty of life still in them. Granted, they came from Bern’s cold cellar. Some amazing wines from this long-gone era. Hard to say which was best, all were beauties, but that 1926 Leoville Barton was one of the better, mature Bordeaux that I have had. The 1920 Poyferre was just a hair behind. Check out the hand-typed Poyferre label! The old art deco label on the Barton is incredible, wish they would go back to it.


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I like a greasy burger but not so much PBR. There were so many madeirized bottles that overindulgence was not an issue. Beside, I spit in general.

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What I learned here is… drink wine much younger
Yikes

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g
Yeah, seriously. Given the age of the bottles involved, I’m surprised any of it was drinkable.

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Why on earth were they opened so many hours before drinking? They may have been nice wine shortly after the corks were pulled.

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A shame Kevin but I guess it is what it is. I drank a lot of John Avery’s old wine with him and the family and many were great but plenty didn’t make it. It’s the dice we roll and luckily we’ve both won enough times to keep rolling.

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Stirring the pot here all in good natured ribbing…These would have all been 98 point wines if properly slow ox’d and depending on who drank them. [foilhat.gif] [berserker.gif] [bye.gif]

In all seriousness, this is about what I’d expect for such old wines. In that there’s a good 50/50 chance they may show nicely or just plain over the hill. A lot of factors come into play with wines this old, even from within the same case. Gotta look at the positive side Kevin, you’ll never forget this tasting and you’ll all probably talk about it for some years to come.

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Indeed Matthew,

There is something magical about the wines from pre 50s. They are a lot more concentrated hence dense and sweeter. If we had a 50% rate of success, we would have been incredibly happy.

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Worst wine dinner ever with 9 wines scored 95 points or higher!!! Imagine if those Avery’s were good…maybe your best

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Out of 11 Avery reds, 9 were maderized/oxidized.

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Overall it does seem to have been a good purchase.

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Wow- not a good overall showing.

Curious- did you have to pay to attend this dinner?

I have been to a number of BYO dinners where all or part of the theme focused on wines over 40 years old- and it is just standard practice that everyone brings one backup. The backup is usually much younger, but will still be in theme or of the caliber of the other wines.

Not sure if there is any generally recognized etiquette around this, but if I were paying to attend such a dinner and THAT many wines were off, I would expect there to be some backups on hand to keep the night from being a disaster.

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That’s the best worst wine dinner I’ve ever seen Kevin.

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No great old wines, only great bottles (and all that…).

Still, unlucky strike rate for sure!

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Nobody wants this experience but it happens. I took away the memories of the good wines but more importently the great fun and commaraderie.

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I have to admit, I get a good chuckle over the title “Worst Wine Dinner of my life” and then seeing some of the amazing bottles opened that performed well.

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I agree.

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I am one of the partners who bought the bottles. FWIW, We simply shared the cost. Having said that, we plan to organize another Avery dinner for all the attendees.
We had four young whites plus the 85 Haut Brion as backups.