15 wines which have illuminated 2014

WINE TALK
1

During 2014, I have drunk 1003 wines. Such a figure is rather normal as for 14 years I have in my files 12,333 wines for which I have comments. Among these 1003 wines, 235 were older than 50 years, with an average age of 76 years corresponding to an average millesime of 1938.

I have selected among all these wines 15 which represent what I try to discover in the world of wines.

  1. Richebourg Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1939 vigne originelle française non reconstituée. This bottle is extremely rare as the grapes of phylloxeric vines were vinified and bottled separately. When I called Aubert de Villaine saying that I had just opened a Richebourg 1939 (his birth year) whose perfume is incredible, he told me : “would it be from original not reconstituted vines?” and he added : “if it so, you have in hand a fortune”. And I told him “too late, it is opened”. And the wine, prephylloxeric was a pure wonder, a wine of eternity

  2. Champagne Salon 1943 : invited by Didier Depond, president of Salon for a friendly lunch in the domaine, I had the incredible chance that he opened this champagne knowing that it is my birth year. Fantastic champagne which is my greatest Salon. Only ten 1943 remain now in the cellar of Salon. What a gift.

  3. Montrachet Domaine Leflaive 1996 : this wine is produced with a volume ten times smaller than the yearly volume of the Montrachet DRC. This wine had such an incredible energy, that it has impressed me a lot. One week later, visiting domaine Leflaive, I saw Anne Claude Leflaive having a large smile. She kissed me and thanked me for the nice words that I had for this 1996. And being so glad, she opened in the cellar a Montrachet 1993 to thank me.

  4. Auxey-Duresses Les Clous, Domaine d’Auvenay, Lalou Bize-Leroy magnum 2006 : drunk in Les Crayères, the famous restaurant of Rheims, the man who invited the table ordered three magnums of this incredible wine. I have rarely drunk something so pure and so dynamic as this fantastic and unusual wine

  5. Château d’Yquem 1893 : having drunk approximately 100 millesimes of Yquem, I consider that the 1893 is the most archetypal of all. There are Yquems which are great and atypical like the 1921. But the 1893 is the most in the historical line of Yquem. I opened two bottles from my cellar for one dinner and the two were fantastic as I expected, with mango, apricot and a perfectly controlled sweetness

  6. Nuits-Saint-Georges 1899 : the producer is not readable. I opened it to be drunk on 31 December 2014 at midnight. It was so glorious, with a taste of eternity that I am sure that this wine is prephylloxeric, bringing a great emotion

  7. Grand Musigny Faiveley 1906 : drunk with friends, this wine has what one expects when he collects and drinks old wines. All is balance, strength, charm with a feeling of perfection. The perfect Burgundy

  8. Champagne Billecart-Salmon magnum 1961 : this champagne is exactly what everyone would like to drink as the representation of a perfect and comfortable champagne. It is extremely impressive to have attained such quality

  9. Hermitage La Chapelle Paul Jaboulet Aîné rouge 1947 : drunk in a dinner with legendary wines, I have ranked it first. It is in the league of the best ever La Chapelle. It is not at the level of the 1961, my best ever red wine (for one exceptional bottle), but it is very near. A wine which has everything, velvety, silky, with an enormous charm

  10. Domaine de Bouchon Sainte-Croix-du-Mont Café Voisin 1900 : Café Voisin was in the 19th century the most famous restaurant for its cellar, exactly as was La Tour d’Argent in the 20th century. I have bought some old bottles of Café Voisin and not knowing what was Domaine de Bouchon, I did not know what to expect from the wine of a very dark bottle. What a surprise when I drank a lovely sweet wine of an incredible complexity. A fantastic surprise. Studying more, I discovered that there was a Sainte Croix du Mont which was Domaine Bouchon. I love such surprises.

  11. Romanée Conti Domaine de la Romanée Conti 2000 : for New Year’s Eve, I wanted to have a Romanée Conti and a young one. I use to drink RC either too young when I drink them from barrels or newly put one the market, or rather old (all in all I have drunk 41 vintages of the DRC Romanée Conti). I asked Aubert de Villaine which year to drink and he suggested 2000. He was right. This wine has the perfection of the legend plus a delicious youth. A great moment, enlarged by the fact that we drank at the same moment the Nuits 1899, separated by 101 years

  12. Champagne Clos du Mesnil Krug 1979 : Among all the Clos du Mesnil I consider that the first one produced, the 1979, is the greatest of all. And the one which I drank confirmed my analysis. This is the example of the most sophisticated champagne which exists, among “still young” champagnes

  13. Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1929 : a complete curiosity for me as i did not imagine that it could be possible to find one. Brought by a friend, it had all the characteristics of a perfect CdP, with no suggestions of Burgundy wine as young Rayas often give

  14. Champagne Salon 1964 : apart from the 1943 mentioned above this is one of the greatest Salon. This one was elegant and vibrant

  15. Madère Moscatel 1875 : I have had the chance to make a working trip to Madeira with some sommeliers including one World best sommelier. We have drunk more than 80 Madeiras, all different and full of passion. This is the one that I preferred. I have bought one (only one) during this trip to drink one again.

I have drunk many other legendary wines, but I found these 15 particularly emotional, when there is a “story” around.

2

In this list of 15, there are no red Bordeaux. It does not mean that I do not like Bordeaux, as in 2014 i have drunk fantastic ones, as Haut-Brion 1945 or Lafite 1949.

But these Bordeaux can be drunk again if I have some other or if I buy some other.
In my list, the rarity factor plays a key role.

3

Francois, as always fantastic notes and your passion really comes through. Thank you.

4

Great list Francois. I hope you surpass it in 2015.

5

A delightful read, François - that you for sharing!

Regards,
Tom

6

Happy new year François.

7

I’m going to email Anne Leflaive to tell her how much I like her wines and just post a bunch of glowing CT reviews. Come on Leflaive montrachet!!

8

No offense intended here but I kind of would like to know out of 1003 bottles with that kind of age just what the spoilage rate is? I have problems with just up to ten year old wines being corked or Viniger tasting.

9

Great. Finally I get to play.

I opened a bottle of 1875 Barbeito Reserva Velha Malvasia for my 60th Birthday. I don’t drink other stuff at Francois’ level, so for me it was much better than just top 10 that year. Tied with the 1970 Monfortino that year for WOTY. Definitely illuminated my year. Worth the price of admission. A religious experience, reaffirming a belief that the hand of something more than mortal man had a part in it. Research also indicated that it must have been pre-phylloxera vines because although phylloxera came to Madeira a few years earlier, there had not been enough time to graft and replant by 1875.

I commend it highly to anyone who can lay his or her hands on a bottle.

10

Don’t quote me on the exact wine, but I know you can order 1.5 oz pours of pre 20th century Madeira for around $300 a pop at Bern’s.

11

Joe B,
I have had the chance (and the will) to observe what happens when you open a bottle of wine.
And I have observed the incredible effect of the “slow oxygenation method”, called by some sympathetic people : “the Audouze method”.

An anecdote about that. Bernard Pivot is a famous journalist in France who is a critic for literature and a great wine amateur. He wrote a dictionary of the words which are the ones which have had importance in his life. And by a miracle, he included in his dictionary the verb “audouzer”.
Audouzer a wine is to open it according to the Audouze method which is to open a bottle 4 to 6 hours before it is served, and to let the bottle quietly stand, letting air act on it.

For example, the Nuits 1899 which belongs to the 15 wines that I chose would have been thrown away by 99% of wine amateurs as the smell of the wine was so muddy and tired, that nearly nobody would have thought that it could recover and come back to life.
And I too was very anxious. But after slow oxygenation, the wine completely recovered and was perfect.

In the book that I have written 10 years ago, I said that I was convinced that 50% of the wines which were thrown away due to ugly smells were great wines. Not only good, but great.

So, all in all, the ratio of undrinkable wines does not exceed 3% for me. No wine maker can imagine that it is possible because whenever they open old wines, they never wait a sufficient time to let the wine recover.

Last remark, the percentage of good wines from the decades 30ies, 40ies or 50ies is greater than for wines of the 70ies or 80ies : better corks, technics with less chemistry and so on.

What I say is that generally the death of a wine appears in my cellar and not on my table : for a meal, I chose bottles with nice levels. The one which die are the ones with low levels, which die in the cellar. The death of a wine comes from the cork. Nearly never from the wine.

If you want some more comments about this important issue, please ask questions.

12

Dang, Joe, what the heck are you drinking? Hope I do not jinx myself here, but my rate on spoiled or corked wines is exceedingly low, and my range includes some very mature wines.

I have not really tried the slow-ox method, but perhaps worth playing around with it.

13

I would not want to violate the rules about what happens at Berns stays at Berns, but I was there last week and you can get in under $300. I had a half ounce pour of a pre-war Sercial for $33 a few years ago. That’s pre Civil War. But I think it’s not there any more.

14

Nice work, Francois! I have a 1915 Burgundy ready to drink some time this year, and when I do, I will think of you.

Ed

15

Does anyone know what the first vintage of Rayas was? It must have been right around then.

16

Thanks Francois.

Next time I get one I’ll let it sit undisturbed for a four or more hours.

New Years eve I opened about six bottles for my family. All were recent vintages up to about 8 years old except one. The 1996 Caymus. It smelled off right from the open. I decanted it and tasted some life but also some Viniger. Got worse with time. I think this bottle would have benefited from your system.

Good advice.

17

Bonjour, François …

Great list.

I really enjoyed these old wines in 2014 :
Jurançon Clos Joliette sec 1971
Jerez Barbadillo Oloroso seco aged 30 years Vors
Madère Barbeito Malvoisie 1900 (thanks Luis Gutierrez at Monvinic, Barcelona)
Margaux Bel Air Marquis d’Aligre 1947

For younger wines :
D’Auvenay Meursault Narvaux 2005
Chambertin Rousseau 2007
Chablis Dauvissat les Clos 2004
Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberg Spätlese 2006 (Auction/Versteigerung - AP 07/07)

18

I’m guessing this might be pre 19th century, because there are a few famous 17xx Madeiras still around. And there’s no need to follow that secrecy stuff about Bern’s any more, because someone already spilled the beans about the Caymus.

19

1920 if I’m not mistaken (this question was also asked on the French forum).

Alain

20

I paid $165 this year for a nice pour of a mid-1800s Madiera that Keith L was raving about. My recollection was that there were quite a few Madieras from that century all under $200/pour.