Quick TN's: 86 Mouton, 97 Ornellaia, 01 Sandrone Cannubi

Last night Blake Brown was visiting LA, and so we had dinner with a mutual friend, Richard. A few Italian wines and one Bordeaux:

1986 Ch. Mouton Rothschild. Our friend Rich’s very generous bring. Having said that, I’ve never had an 86 Mouton that’s really blown me away.
Last night’s bottle wasn’t opened or decanted beforehand, and it was extremely tight, tart, and tannic. Even coming back to the leftovers now,
it’s only opened up just a tad. Right now, there’s just an extremely dense core of pencil shavings and iron. Will this wine every open up and blossom?
I don’t know, but it’s crazy dense now, without much complexity to show for 30+ years of age. Perhaps for the next generation or beyond?

1997 Ornellaia. Perhaps an unfair comparison, since I had decanted it 3-4 hours before we even got to the restaurant. This is a super Tuscan blend of
Bordeaux grapes: Cab. Sauv., Merlot, Cab. Franc, and Petit Verdot. Lots of dark fruits and pencil shavings in the nose, which follows through to the taste.
Beautiful ripe red/black fruits in the midpalate, but really lifted by great acidity. Excellent balance, and drinking at or near maturity. Perhaps bottle bias since
I brought it, but it was my clear favorite. Wow plus.

2001 Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis. It was opened a few hours before dinner, but not decanted. Decanted once we got to the restaurant. MUCH more
approachable than I expected, with medium ripe reddish fruit, slight oak/caramel notes, and a bit of forest floor/mushroom with aeration. While not at maturity–
I would expect more complexity over the next 5-10 years at least–the tannins were already smooth-ish and nicely integrated. While not as “wowful” as the
Ornellaia by itself, perhaps a better match with the truffle fettucine entree. Delightful.

Bruce

Great wines, pasta looks great too.

Bruce, I finally got notes together, so here’s my spin. They are written in the format I usually do for a large email list I have and not personalised. It was great to make your acquaintance and share a marvellous dinner.


A dinner in LA was created by a mutual friend to place 2 of us online wine geeks together for a first time face to face. We dined at La Bruschetta, a traditional Italian restaurant close to Westwood Village and enjoyed 3 great wines as well as good camaraderie.

Prior to leaving for the restaurant, my sweetie and I enjoyed some champagne in our hotel room that I`d bought for dinner, but was dissuaded in doing as 3 wines for 4 folks was considered plenty. We sipped away while watching a sunset over the South Bay of the LA basin and the Pacific:

2006 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC- I just had to go with this remarkable bubbly once again as it has shined so brightly over the past few years and there`s still many bottles in the cellar; I was surprised to discover this bottle deviated, at least for the first 30 minutes, from the expected and consistent notes of close to 20 bottles I’ve had in the last couple of years; after some floral wildflower aromas came an abundance of lemon honey notes in the nose and taste profile with some honeysuckle joining in as well; with time, a nutty component arrived along with Meyer lemon, peach, pear and more honeysuckle; missing was the typical toasty brioche flavor; it was very rich and creamy and at its apogee, reached a state of impeccable balance.

At the restaurant, 4 of us drank these gems:

2001 LUCIANO SANDRONE CANNUBI BOSCHIS BAROLO- the cork was pulled early in the day and the wine was decanted once first seated {didnt pack a decanter}; we had a good bottle with blueberry fruit in spades from the nose though the tail; it was young and vibrant and very approachable now but has such bright acidity and tannic structure to ensure a long and ever so pleasing lifespan; licorice, plum and blackberry came in late and all was delivered in a velvety textured substance adding to the overall sensory treat; this is very good now and promises to give many treasures upon maturity. ![fullsizeoutput_1f62.jpeg|2448x3264](upload://yR10KWsPe5bQRDCQSb6xXYmTJJb.jpeg) 1997 TENUTA dellORNELLAIA SUPERIORE BOLGHERI- 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc; the nose was so inviting with super attractive aromatics of leather and cedar laced dark fruit which on the palate translated into blackberry and black currant with a touch of eucalyptus; it had a so pleasing silky smooth mouthfeel confirming its soft tannins, was full bodied and improved over the course of the evening from its outrageous early on appeal to a place beyond stellar. This was brought with the idea of bridging the gap of a Barolo and First Growth and it worked perfectly; fabulous wine.

1986 CHATEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD PAUILLAC- 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot; keeping up the pace and perhaps taking it up another level, this beauty was ready to give and give it did with overwhelming gracious generosity; it had layered depth and complexity, was in perfect balance, had a silky smooth texture, wondrous texture, tasty dark fruit and a long sustained ending to call it a complete deal; more specifically, black currant, black cherry and blackberry was accented with subtle hints of leather and milk chocolate; it exuded youthfulness, class and elegance.

What a fine evening. Greeted at the door by a caring chef/ owner, served with professionalism by informed wait staff, feasting on homemade breads, pastas and sauces, drinking stellar wines and making new friends is what its all about.

Cheers,
Blake

Nice report. I’ll admit I’m a bigger fan of Champagne and Bordeaux than Italians, but those wines all sound delightful.

My take on the 86 Mouton we had back in March was closer to Blake’s than to Bruce’s: plenty of complexity, great balance, but the primary impression was of depth and power, with decades of life ahead. It was preferred by a slight majority of our group to the 82 drunk alongside it, which was richer, lusher, and plusher, with just as much complexity but not quite as much depth and power.

I don’t think I’ve had an 86 Mouton alongside an 82, and of course at this stage of the game, you can expect some bottle variation.

That said, I have yet to have an 86 Mouton that is as delicious and complex as a good bottle of the 82.

Bruce

I would say the same Bruce, and in fact my vote was for the 82. The group was almost evenly split. This was the first time I’ve had an 86 that was showing some complexity, not just a wall of tannins. All my earlier experiences were similar to your note.

BTW, the 2 champagne stems shown with the 06` Comtes de Champagne are from a new line forthcoming to the US from Austria. They are part of a handblown and lead free Grand Cru line from Sophienwald. I like them even more than the Zaltos. They have a wide base, perfectly situated equator for maximum aeration and aromatics and are light as a feather, but not as fragile as they seem. The paper they were wrapped in weighed more than the stem.