Week 4 Virtual Tasting Series - Bordeaux for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Fund

Bordeaux for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Fund (https://www.puertoricorecoveryfund.com)

Hurricane Maria not only blew away our power grid in September 2017 it also blew away our Christmas spirit and traditional Christmas celebrations. In Puerto Rico Christmas season starts after Thanksgiving and ends on the last week of January! The Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief fund will place a special impetus this year in making sure that a great Christmas is enjoyed by those most affected by Maria.

The contribution for this week tasting notes will be as follows.

• $5 per tasting note of white Bordeaux dry or Sauterne
• $5 per tasting note of Bordeaux 1995 or younger
• $10 per tasting note of Bordeaux 1994 or older

Thanks for playing!

In deference to your having hosted my wife and I in Puerto Rico when we were there, and since you have chosen the same charity as my choice last year, I will use this as an excuse to open some older Bordeaux that doesn’t travel well so I have to drink it at home. I think I could be forced to part with a 1966 Clos Fourtet and a 1975 Gruaud LaRose for the cause.

Thanks Counselor. Come back and we’ll do it again!

And we are off. We have an anonymous matching donor. Thanks for your generosity.

Ah perfect timing, I just got 3 cases delivered today of some very nice mature wines from a backfilling exposition!

But I have started tonight before I saw this thread with a friend: 2009 Chateau Lanessan. I bought lots of this vintage, showed so exceptionally well, and surprisingly red-fruited for a solar vintage. Some age has added depth and darkness to the wine. This is huge QPR. Looking forward to following it for many years, such a nice everyday drinker, one you can pop with no guilt.

And Jay, Carlos hosted me too, but said I was infinitely more charming!

Will pop a few older Bordeaux this week for the cause!

Lets get this started. At lunch yesterday with friends.

1985 Duhart Milon: classic Pauillac and classic 85. Sweet fruit up front and fully resolved tannins with a hint of bell peppers. Drink em if you hold them.

1985 Olivier: grabbing to life with its fingernails. Mature claret that is clearly over the hill and falling fast. Held together for about 30 minutes with notes of tobacco and gravel and then died.

2001 Cos: powerful wine and still a baby. Fruit tannins starting to yield but still primary. Will be good.

Cough up $10 bucks, Carlos!

Popped a 1986 Chateau Potensac, Medoc.

Have always had a soft spot for this traditional QPR.

An enjoyable bottle for the AFWE crowd, interesting, perhaps a bit charming, but not gonna make you go, “wow”. A cool climate profile of crispy reds, some green pepper and a menthol top note. Dry earth, lean but tasty fruit, crisp acid for structure, tannins fully resolved. I saved 1/4 bottle under Coravin to give it a second look tonight.

(87 pts.)

PS. The 2014 is a very good buy. TW has it for $30, or $24 with its 20% coupons floating around right now. Stock up on that and 2014 Lanessan and Sociando, then call me in 10-15 years to say thanks.

A friend brought a 2000 Leoville Barton to Republique. While still youthful, it was a wonderful bottle of wine. Just starting to show some tertiary characteristics, this blossomed over a couple of hours in the decanter. A bit riper than I anticipated, but not in a bad way, probably more a function of its youth. Would hold for now, but if you do open a couple hour decant will help.

I am not sure if I get half credit for a half bottle of Palmer 1990. Took its time to work its magic but lovely at the end. The half bottle of Prieure Lichine 2010 was pleasant without being profound.

We have a BYO tonight; I am sure there will be a few Bordeaux

Was at Vaucluse with a few others last night and had more Bordeaux than I normally do.

’90 Margaux - The most floral and spicy wine of the night. Vibrant fruit. Silky texture. Still youthful but very pleasant to drink. Staggering

’86 Gruaud Larose - while not the best Bordeaux of the night most likely the best wine dollar for dollar. Don’t believe I’ve had this in several years and this bottle was much more open and approachable than previous examples of this wine. Still with plenty of dark fruit, a little bit of smoke and cigar box aromas. Excellent Plus

’82 Haut Brion - some similarities to the Gruaud but with more pronounced notes of smoke and cedar/cigar box. This has been my favorite first growth to drink for 20 years due to its quality, elegance and softness. This bottle was fully mature. Staggering minus

’59 Latour - The color is remarkably dark which caused me to take pause. However, the aromas are explosive and have the complexity of great older Bordeaux. Notes of leather, tobacco and cedar soar from the glass. Plenty of red fruit on the palate. one of the best bottles of Bordeaux I’ve had in a while. Killer minus.

’52 Cantemerle - from the Graham Lyons Cellar Sale. The hit rate on bottles from his sale has been extraordinarily high especially considering some of the so-so vintages and age of the bottles. Not surprisingly it could not compare to the previous wine but it still delivered plenty of pleasure. Still has some fruit but it has been drying up over the past ten years. Complex tertiary flavors. Excellent

’45 La Mission Haut Brion - unfortunately this bottle was a little shaken up and was therefore a bit murky with fine sediment. Still, the classic Graves aromas and flavors were there, but they were diminished on the palate due to the sediment. Would surely have been better if the bottle had been stationary for a least a few days. Excellent Minus.

Also had a few non-Bordeaux, the highlights of which were -
'85 Cristal Staggering, '82 Clos des Goisses disgorged in '98 Excellent Plus and '71 La Mouline Staggering Plus.

Some bottle pics including the 1945 w/missing La Mission label (but was a period bottle and did have a proper cork).

1982 Gruaud Larose

At the monthly FKALBTG dinner. This was controversial. Josh Leader thought it was corked, and he was the host, so he pulled it from the line up and substituted a backup bottle of something that did not qualify for the challenge. When we found out what had been pulled, we decided to taste it and both Alan Chan and I thought it was not corked, just classic Gruaud funkyness, which Alan described as green pepper and I described as “that Cordier funk from their portfolio in the '70s and 80s.” Gil Bauer agreed that it was corked.

I think it was an off bottle because the more I worked the glass, the better it got, which is not characteristic of corked wine. Some red fruit, but not a lot, slightly heightened acidity, a mushroom/herbal component, not a lot of that saddle leather that you often get in Gruaud.

Great start! Let’s keep them coming.

We had five nice Bordeaux last night, and would have had a Sauternes as well except that I accidentally left the bottle at the house:

2004 Château Gazin Pomerol - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol (12/12/2018)
Plum, spice, and pyrazine savoriness, good but young. (90 pts.)

1993 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (12/12/2018)
Red currant and a fair bit of savory bell pepper, great elegance with a good bit of fine tannin and drinking very well. An outstanding performance from a vintage that is generally mediocre at best. (93 pts.)

1986 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (12/12/2018)
Black current, minerals, a touch of bell pepper, still an infant with plenty of ripe tannin, but delicious with prime ribeye. It keeps adding nuance with air, though it never quite catches up with the 1986 Montrose. (94 pts.)

1986 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (12/12/2018)
Black currant and leather, fabulous complexity, still young with air it keeps getting more expansive and impressive, it has decades of life left, but is awfully enjoyable now with a decent decant. (94 pts.)

2010 Château Léoville Poyferré - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (12/12/2018)
Intense black currant with a bit of vanilla, it has enough fruit to be approachable, but enough structure that it really should have more time in the cellar. (91 pts.)

2000 Château Cantenac Brown - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (12/13/2018)
Someone else said “good wine, not great”, and that largely sums it up. This wine has never been a star. It’s solid, a bit foursquare, but an agreeable dinner companion.

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Finished off the 1986 Potensac, got bored, so popped a 2002 Chateau Magdelaine. This wine is surprisingly very youthful, I expected more evolution given the vintage. This wine is also shockingly similar to its 2011 version. Only better. Both wines have a vein of cool menthol/eucalyptus that permeates both the nose and the palate. While I pick up some green notes in other vintages of Magdelaine, it’s more pronounced in these two. And I dig it. Nose of menthol, herbs, charcoal and dark fruits. Cool climate feel on the palate, crisp red fruit acids, fanning out with some dark fruit flavors. Still almost primary, chewy, still tannic. This wine needs 7-10 years, I think. Color me surprised. I think this wine is excellent. Looking forward to what tomorrow shows on this youthful wine.

2015 Ch. Senejac

Pretty, Bdx nose of red cherries and maybe a hint of tobacco. Starts with a nice, sweet tannic attack. Some oak on the palate. Nice fruit. Upside, but drinking nicely now. This is pretty new-world in style (oak), but it’s good for the $10/half I paid.

• 2010 Château Haut-Bergey - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (12/13/2018)
  Took an early look in on this. Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Dark red to rim. Not a very exuberant nose, but cassis and some earthy, smoky elements are there. Medium body, good balance, no complexity, medium finish. Nothing wrong here but not that exciting. Will wait a few years to see if any complexity starts to develop. Very good.

Holiday party season, so a few random notes:

1986 Talbot: not as funky as one might expect, but opened up as it warmed from cellar temp, fully resolved, nice tobacco and herb aromas, very enjoyable.

1986 Rausan Segla: surprisingly tight and ungenerous, after 2-3 hours, it was far better, but the acidity was a bit too jagged.

2000 Domaine Chevalier: very young and primary to me, showing hints of Graves character, but mostly hidden behind the structure.

Last night at dinner with good wine friends.

2005 Margaux Pavillon Blanc: Very elegant wine with subdued acidity and solid length. The nose wa shy and it took time to coax the Sauvignon Blanc aromas. Tasty.

1989 Gruaud Larose: This is so good. Still young but starting to get interesting. Secondary aromas popping up and the fruit and tannings are gelling .

2008 Gruaud Larose: To my palate this is way too young to evaluate. Good fruit and aromatics but coiled.