Tell your 15 year old La Tache story to Keith Levenberg, Burgundy Al and DCWino (kshin here on Bersekers) who had it in the past 4 years and scored it 97, 93 and 97 (combined number of DRC bottles consumed and reviewed on CT of the three guys stands at 727 across all bottlings and vintages, so even though I hadn’t had the 81 one myself, you must understand that I would trust these guys reviews a tad more than your experience more than a decade ago).
Re you’re Bordeaux names: Bordeaux had indeed a few good wines. On Cellartracker there are 28 wines with average ratings of 90 to 93 and Pichon Lalande (#14), Gruaud Larose (#23) and Las Cases (#25) are indeed among them. Sauternes is good too (my list above was red wines only - as labeled).
It’s an interesting data point, albeit not statistically significant. If you include non-reds, Krug CdM and Krug Vintage float to the top of the list… and by a wide margin.
True, true. Not so many ratings out there for the 81s - hence always a bit a wild card to only look at such a ranking in such a vintage. And true, if you include all wines, not only the reds, three Champagnes would be at the top of the list (Charles Heidsiecks Cuvee Charlie would join both Kurgs you mentioned on the podium).
Well, I won´t argue with the rating of Keith and others, however I had the LT ´81 among 3 other vintages of LT then, and it was clearly the weakest (after ´80, 82 and 88). Not a bad wine itself, but it did not convince the group as great or even outstanding for LT. Given the price of close to 3.000 or above nowadays it´s not really a recommendation. I haven´t had a ton of 1981 Burgundies, and no really great one among them, I would rather stick to Rhone, Bordeaux or Spain for this vintage.
VS Unico is great, and some other Spaniards, too, and Guigal LM, and more than a dozen outstanding Chateauneuf-dP can be found for 50-200, so why buy a questionable vintage of La Tache?
I have no problem tasting 81 LT if it crosses my way in a tasting where I have to pay my fair share for a glass, but won´t buy a bottle at the present prices.
Moreover I do not want to convince you, but want to help Jeff who asked the question -
Appreciate the vote of confidence & the kind words, but I should mention that the '81 La Tache I have a note on was 1) pristinely stored and never moved since release and 2) the same bottle as Al’s note, so you can count that as one data point instead of two. It was magnificent (and far superior to an '88 I had earlier this year) but I have doubts that any bottle acquired on the open market today could be as good.
Totally agree, I wouldn’t buy the La Tache either. The list was just based on the average score. I recently had a Margaux vertical and the 06, 08 and 12 showed really well, still I wouldn’t buy them for my cellar as you get better wines for less money from better vintages.
Keith and Al’s bottle was the same bottle of ‘81 La Tache 2 years ago. A few of us were there, and it was mind-boggling good as Keith’s note suggests. But generally I actually agree CT is not the best way to make this call on an ‘81 unless it’s someone who is trusted.
Added: I’ve caught up on posts now and see that Keith also responded.
So many great suggestions from regions I’ve never explored. Really appreciate all the feedback. I believe the bday boy’s 2 favorite bottles were a '12 Le Petit Mouton and a '12 Stag’s Leap Fay. If I had to pick a 3rd he really enjoyed the '12/'13 Corison Cabs. Hard to put into words but I think fruit forward with nuance, not overpowering bombs if that makes sense.
Sure, you always have to look into who wrote and scored what, how many scored and reviewed it and when (probably it is just good now or was just good 10 years ago). Nevertheless, it’s a highly useful tool - as a starting point (you can’t deny that seeing that most of the wines appearing in the list were mentioned before here and there by bersekers).
1981 Mastroberardino Taurasi, drunk a few years ago, was a really nice bottle, and would fit the fruit forward mold, although much softer than those Cab-based wines (really no tannin perceptible at all on the Taurasi). However, at the price at which I see it online, it sounds as though you could score one of the LdH’s, which may be more reliable to hit home.
1981 Pegau is one of the greatest red wines I have had. It’s been 10 years, but I bet it is still terrific. Maybe Berserker Dan Kravitz, importer of Pegau, has some insight.
I would also second Gruaud Larose. The Cordier era GLs seem to age effortlessly.
I have one left. had one sometime during the fog of covid and it was terrific. living on the acidity which is my preference and honest old-school cabernet nose and flavors. bottled in may of 1985, which is wild.