TNs: Blind Pinot Night in rural SE PA with Bob Hughes and a 1986 Lafite-Rothschild (or two)

Last night the planets aligned and the illusive Bob Hughes finally ventured out to the PA boonies to participate in a blind Pinot night. Bob sported a very unusual and chilly bottle of red, in a 2008 Pepiere Clos Briords bottle. Blind Pinots were also contributed by attendees Scott Christie and Don Myers. All wines were served blind (and for the most part double blind) and were wrapped (rewrapped if needed) by my wife, ordered, numbered, and served randomly. Bob’s “Briords” was transferred to a clean empty Pinot bottle to restore its anonymity.

Scott Christie was delegated official TN taker, but in the interest of identifying the wines (and making his job a bit easier, if and when he gets to it), my brief impressions are below. Guest Bob Patricia got the party started with a non-blind sparkler:

NV Cedric Bouchard Inflorescence Val Vilaine Blanc de Noirs
Crisp clean, agile, elegant and bright. Hints of red fruit with mineral and citrus underpinnings. Very tasty. This is the fresh style of Champagne I prefer.

Flight 1

2007 Evening Lands Seven Springs Pinot Noir, OregonA touch of oak with lovely acidity, balanced red fruit attack with excellent intensity and fine length. The earthy component tipped off its Oregon origins. My initial wine of the flight. Later in the evening this slipped a bit as the oak became more obtrusive.

1997 Ken Wright Shea Vyds Pinot Noir, Oregon
A bit riper than the Evening Lands with some aged coloration. Floral notes featuring fresh red and black cherry fruit. Nice acidity. Particulary well balanced and the profile was Burgundian enough to have me guessing that direction. It improved as the evening went on and eventually surpassed the Evening Lands.

2004 Bethel Heights Seven Springs Pinot Noir, Oregon
This didn’t taste like Pinot. A bit of age there was a pleasant midpalate with good food friendly acidity. There was more earthy, tarry Nebbiolo character to the wine causing me to guess “Non- Pinot”. The red fruit showed a bit of browning and was quite subdued. My last bottle of this 2 years ago was singing…enjoyable but missing the firepower.

Flight 2

2006 George Descombes Regnie VV Beaujolais
I love sneaking Cru Bojos in to blind Pinot tastings…and this fooled everyone including me. My blind guess was Burg. Cinnamon and clove spice with red cherry that avoids being overtly candied. Good intensity and bright acidity. Moderate smooth finish. Shapely and controlled. Awesome value < $30.

1996 Domaine Maillard, Corton-Renardes Grand Cru
Earth and root vegetables with bright acidity and cranberry fruit. Showing some aged refinement. The overall impression is classy, elegant and feminine with excellent midpalate depth and a great finish. Captivating in its subtlety. A previous WOTN at a tasting a year ago…and a repeat performance last night. Lovely. Fairly obvious as a Burg.

2006 Inman Olivet Grange Pinot Noir, California
Noticeable oak spice but appreciably less than a recently tasted 05. Soft, gentle and smooth. The midpalate falls off faster than expected but is saved by some reaffirming tannins. A wallflower compared to the other Pinots of the evening. This could flesh out and integrate with some bottle age. Easy guess as Cali.

Flight 3

2003 Voillot Volnay Champans 1er
Some oak spice with dusty ripe red fruit and soft minerality. The initial reduction blew off after a few hours of decanting. Decent acidity. Smooth, ripe and easy going. Blind guessed as a Burg. My wine of the flight but not up to the performance of the Maillard, Evening Lands, or Ken Wright.

2006 Cameron Clos Electrique, Pinot Noir, Oregon
Some mild stinky reduction that required appreciable air with decanting to tame. No Brett. Red fruited and smooth. Milder acidity than the Burg with an enjoyable middle and moderate finish. My wine yet I miss-guessed it as a Cali. I expected more class and robust flavors but the vintage character may have trumped the winemaking.

2002 Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Something odd about this performance. Earthier and slightly darker fruited. It seemed un-Pinot-like. Much more about dirt than the subdued fruit. Perhaps a bit shutdown.

Flight 4

1986 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Grand Cru Classe, Bordeaux
Clos Briords Rouge…hmmm. Lovely acidity and balance. It was missing the tobacco, cigar box, cedar and other Bordeaux tells. Aged yet youthful at age 23. Integrated earthy red/dark fruit with some leather, fringed by a touch of mint. Soft but noticeable tannins. I thought it was Italian. A persistent middle and an appealing long finish. Wine of the flight. The table was shocked when it was revealed…to the point that I fell out of my chair. Bob was somewhat disappointed with the showing compared to a bottle he’d consumed a few months ago.

It turns out that the86 Lafite provided Scott Christie with his first seminal wine experience and hooked him on the pursuit of vinous rapture. The table’s shock was magnified, when the ever prepared Bob Hughes offered up a 2nd bottle…which passed the temperature gun test at 60F. But alas, liquid ambrosia was not in our stars as the backup was tragically corked. Efforts at carbon filtration were futile.

2004 Rhys Family Farm Pinot Noir, California
Light oak, earth, decent acidity but slightly lean. Fairly easy to spot as Cali. How do you follow up a Lafitte-Rothschild? Scott indicated that it needed some special handling to get some initial odors under control, which might have toned down the overall impression.

2005 Virely Rougot Pommard Clos des Arvelets 1er
Over the years I’ve heard countless descriptions of Pommard as rustic and coarse. Compared to what? This was light, elegant and balanced with good acidity and a gentle midpalate. Nice minerality. Accessible with a pleasing long finish. Finessed and quite enjoyable. Pretty clearly a Burg.

1995 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir Oregon
There’s a woody non-oaky stemmy quality supported by earth that I immediately associate with Oregon. Good acidity and integrated oak. I believe Bob may have shared this same wine a year or 2 ago at an off-line. It was very familiar and it helped to know there are only a few OR Pinot producers that he owns. The fruit was vivid yet somewhat calmed by age. Not enough mushrooms to be a 99. It hit me as a mid-90’s Beaux Freres and I took a wild guess of 1994.

Dessert

2001 Chateau Soucherie Coteaux du Layon - Corked

2001 Baumard Coteaux du Layon Paon
Just what the Doctor ordered to pair with a Lemon tart. Honeyed and rich with great acidity and citrus intensity enhanced by some tropical notes. A fine savory sweet finish.

This was quite the gathering with a range of palates and preferences and an atmosphere that morphed from geeky/studious to raucous. Who brings a Lafite to a blind Pinot night?! Impressively generous. Great way to celebrate New Years Eve Eve.

Sante!

RT

Yeah, too bad the Lafite itself decided it wasn’t going to show us it’s wares - as Scott said, no great wines, just great bottles.

The benefit of having a smaller group (as well as folks taking judicious initial pours) was our ability to go back to wines after they had been open and breathing. While I was unimpressed with the Corton Renardes initially, I thought that it gained a great deal on my 2nd look at it an hour or so later, and was probably my favorite wine of the night. Still, nothing really blew me away (well, except for Rich’s incredible, all-day roasted on-the-grill chicken, to which I gladly helped myself to seconds ).

The Baumard was also a very nice way to cap off an interesting evening, albeit an evening seemingly spent hundred’s of miles from “real civilization” . As it turns out, I probably liked flight 2 the best, because the Beaujolais was also quite attractive at inception. And I guess I hadn’t remembered bringing the '95 to a previous tasting or I would have included something else - probably should have brought an '86 LLC to pair with the Lafite .

Rich, thanks for having me, and my plane flight home was very smooth!

Nice “placeholder” notes, RT. Thanks for including me (even though I don’t get (nor deserve) the same billing as Bob)…

I opened another corked bordeaux last night in anticipation of NYE dinner - I moved to Cali Cab, feeling the dark cloud of portugal over my head… Bob’s generosity with the hinterland group was amazing - the first bottle of the '86 was off in my opinion - showing some of the austere tannins I always seem to find in the '86 vintage but clearly missing elements as listed above. Somehow, I became knighted the designated TCA detector in the group - and the second bottle was very corked IMO.

I have to admit not being a fan the Bojo - it was too candied for me, and I have enjoyed other Descombes wines in the past. The champagne was superb and RT’s note is spot-on.

Clearly, I don’t drink blind enough. Great crowd, stellar food (kudos to chef RT) and a good learning experience for me.

I’m sorry I can’t provide video evidence of Richard falling off his chair - but a great time was had by all. Thanks again for including me.

What, no Thomas?!

Seriously, great notes, as always. Sounds like another enjoyable evening in the woods!

There’s a time for every wine Greg.

Don, as one of the most experienced and respected palates at the table…who else would we consult for TCA confirmation? Wonder if the first Lafite might’ve had some.

Despite the many things than can be said of Mr. Hughes ;^) He certainly raised the bar for blind Pinot night.

RT

Well, the first bottle was clearly sub-par given multiple prior showings, although it was still eminently drinkable, so if it was mildly corked, it was so mild that one couldn’t discern it on the nose. The 2nd bottle was so badly damaged I believe that your dogs would have been able to “sniff” that out

FWIW, I kept a small pour from the first bottle in front of me until the end - and didn’t detect anything.

Great stuff guys. Interesting to see a note on the Evening Land. I suspected they were going to make excellent wine but I am still not buying. Although now it looks like it is getting blow out for about $30 or less. Hmmm.

I wonder what’s up with the Bethel Heights.

Cheers,

Jason

Dog sniffers are more impressive than you might think. Tera can retrieve an arbitrarily selected stick or rock hurled deep in to the woods, just from a few seconds of contact with my hand. With a little training, I’m sure they could pick out a corked bottle and probably before the first glass was poured.

Jason, I have higher hopes for my last couple bottles of 04 BH 7-Springs…as well as Bob’s remaining '86 Lafites.

RT

OK, so I had a whole page of notes typed up when the page $hit the bed and crashed on me… I lost everything. Clearly I’m out of practice with TN writing. Having little patience left at this point of the evening, here are some quick notes:

I correctly identified my 3 wines blind from among the pack…this has not always been the case, so either I brought wines that were easy to spot, or my “taste memory” is improving. Of course I want to believe it was the latter , but I know it was probably the former.

The Champer starter was really good. Brilliant acidity got my mouth watering.

The Evening Lands is worth grabbing at the price Jason mentioned above (despite the principles sacrificed in doing so), but the oak is starting to crash what was a pretty good party right now. Shutting down.

The Ken Wright really was beautifully balanced…I also guessed Burg.

The BH was a shadow of its former self, where it was WOTN or runner-up to everyone at a large dinner gathering. Off bottle or shockingly advanced.

The Maillard Corton rocked. Hughes must still have been acclimatizing to our altitude in the boonies, as I thought it started great and only got better. My WOTN

The Inman showed similarly to past bottles of the 06…she did a great job given the vintage conditions; definitely one of my favorite 06’s from California. Tannins are creeping up a bit more though now, so I’m wondering if this will shut down as the 05 has.

I thought the Voillot Volnay was from California…vintage ripeness perhaps? This didn’t really grab my interest.

I also thought the Cameron was from California. After 2 particularly ripe 06 Camerons in a row, I’m now officially concerned about how they’ll cellar. Probably should put them into the “sooner than later” queue.

The Drouhin did show differently than the one RT and I shared approx. a month ago. This bottle seemed harder to coax much out of despite being open for a few hours prior. I’d say hands off for another 3 to 5 based on this showing.

Where to start on the 86 Lafite(s)? First off, Bob Hughes is a baller. Not only did he remember a past thread where we discussed what wine “set the hook” on this hobby/obsession, he brought it to Pinot night! Theme be damned! Then, when that bottle didn’t comport itself as first growth caliber, he fires up the back-up bottle…which was f-ing corked! Generous? Oh yeah…and then some. Thank you again Bob.
Funniest part of the story? I now have a shelf in Bob’s cellar. Bob is bound and determined to serve me a good bottle of the 86 Lafite, and well, he apparently has 4 more bottles to experiment with. I feel it’s only right, and indeed my duty, to assist him in trying to find this elusive bottle. Somehow it also slipped that I was born in '72, to which Bob mentioned he happened to (now) have a de Vogue Musigny with my name on it from 72. I’m liking the way my shelf in Bob’s cellar is shaping up!
Did I mention that Bob Hughes is a baller?

The Rhys was terribly stinky when I opened it, and it got worse with a couple hours of air…which prompted me to open my back-up bottle (the Inman). I have very cold storage, but it was not enough to inhibit the well-documented brett problem with this bottle. Once served the stink was not as bad as it had been earlier, but it was still slightly distracting to me.

The Pommard was young, but showed well. Perhaps the hallmark rusticity becomes more transparent once some time has passed? I only say this because I thought this was still really primary.

I didn’t venture a guess on the vintage, but was nearly certain we were drinking a Beaux Freres of some stripe. Context certainly aided my guess (last wine on the table and we knew it was Bob’s). I liked that loamy character RT mentioned.

The Baumard Paon…well what’s not to like?

Great food, great wine, even better company. Thanks again everyone.

DUDE! Step away from the Lafite. Those are MY bottles!

Oh yeah, I also was not a huge fan of the Bojo…someone cranked up the Christmas cookie spice box to eleven on this bottle. Distracted from the otherwise well-structured red fruit. Nonetheless, an excellent ringer for blind Pinot night (fooled me ).

Thanks for chiming in Scott. Do you and Berry Crawford both need remedial instructions on BB usage ?

You and Don are tough on that Bojo. It was a playful Roberto Benigni compared to the suave sophisticated Charles Boyer-like Corton-Renardes. If it’d been flighted with some high test Cali Pinots , you guys would’ve come around.

Wouldn’t mind a tour of “your shelf” some day Scott.

RT

“shelf” being a relative term in the Hughes wine cellar

And who the hell is Roberto Benigni - and is he any relation to Roberto Rogness?

I’d enjoy meeting those relatives.

RT

“I also thought the Cameron was from California. After 2 particularly ripe 06 Camerons in a row, I’m now officially concerned about how they’ll cellar. Probably should put them into the “sooner than later” queue.”

Fear not, my friend.

Actually, let me qualify that somewhat: The Cameron Abbey Ridge PNs and Chards will age gloriously. We recently enjoyed a vertical tasting back to the mid-90s w/ John Paul (at the Portland Racquet Club, last spring I believe) and the wines rocked–the clear favorite that day was the 96 (a horrible vintage for some, fantastic for a few) with remarkable complexity, verve and balance.

The Clos Electriques are more prone to earthy, mushroomy (dare I say ‘bretty’), sweaty tones of course and haven’t reliably aged, at least for me.

Side note here: the Cameron Dundee Hills PN bottling is a perennial favorite–especially for the $.

Regarding the Chardonnay: all I can say is wow (esp the Abbey Ridge 06). He leaves it on the lees in neutral oak for around 2 yrs and just lets the wine make itself…or so he says. Great juice.

best,

Doug

Thanks for the insights Doug. I’m a John Paul / Cameron fan and would’ve loved that tasting. Only having had their 03 - 07 vintages, it’s been a bit of roller coaster so far. Agree about the quality of the Chards. Have not experienced any Brett in any of the 2003+ wines, but there’s no shortage of reduction. The 04 Abbey Ridge PNs have been inconsistent of late. 05 and 07 are quite promising across the board, but need time IMHO. Did you get a taste of any 08s?

RT

I haven’t tried the Cameron 08s in barrel or bottle (only one released is the Dundee Hills Chard, according to wine-searcher) but look forward to it.

Am very anxious to try the ‘high end’ Oregon 08 PNs–a lot of hype, but some of the earlier releases are in a strange stage right now: big fruity wines with a super-rich mid-palate, cotton-ball mouthfeel and plenty of tannin. I think they need to settle down a few months.

BTW thanks for the great tasting notes. I’ve stashed a few 86 Lafites and am always wondering when to pop one. Sounds like they’re starting to come around.
best,

Doug

Doug,

I’ve had the '86 Lafite on five separate occasions since 2006, and this was by far the most disappointing showing (and I’m ignoring the corked bottle because that is was it is).

In mid-November, I had a couple bottles that were absolutely singing. Having said that, I think it is also fair to say that the wine is clearly marked by the vintage - it is still tannic and a very large-scale, brooding Lafite, so perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s also the kind of wine where, if it is well-stored, it will outlive every member of this Board and be discussed by the next wine generation’s Audouze at his or her tastings, so there is absolutely no reason for you to hurry and/or worry about opening one in the near future.