1982 Bordeaux Dinner-short notes and impressions

WINE TALK
#1

11 of us got together at Carlos’ Restaurant in Highwood, Il. 10 x 1982 were poured. Not a single bottle corked or damaged, although some thought the LLC may have been a bit off. Hard to believe the PLL and Gruaud were 30 yr old wines. Such power, yet plenty of finesse. I preferred these 2 to the first growths. I think it was split half and half for preference between flight 3 and 4. Expected more from Ausone, Lafite, and Cheval. Liked the 82 HB better the only other time i have had it.

1982 Dom Perignon
plenty of bubbles, great complexity and mouthfeel, rich, toasty-94

1982 Perrier Jouet Fleur
surprisingly still going, can taste the age, slight sweet aged fruit-91

Flt 1

1978 “Y” Lur Saluces
slightly burnt sulfur nose, minerally, a touch of botrytis, hint of sweetness, long finish-89

1980 Haut Brion Blanc
very strange wine, nose of chinese food, cabbage, soy, sesame oil, meh-85

Flt 2

1982 Cheval Blanc
classic aged bordeaux nose, hint of chocolate, slightly green, lead pencil, a bit austere-92

1982 Ausone
green, slight spice, short, crushed cranberries started to appear on the nose-91

Flt 3

1982 Pichon Lalande
wow, what a nose, dense, powerful, great fruit, hint of chocolate, amazing balance from start to finish, how is this wine 30 yrs old?-98 My WOTN

1982 Gruaud Larose
another great nose, just not as powerful as the PLL,slightly burnt on the front end, a bit of rubber band as well. However,the fruit pushes right through,long finish-97

1982 Leoville Las Cases
sweaty nose, muted compared to previous 2, slight acetone, touch of funk, fruit not as prevalent as other 2 in this flight, some thought possible heat issue-92

Flt 4

1982 Lafite
great powerful nose, however the palate didn’t live up to the nose, soft, not much complexity, hint of soy-92

1982 Haut Brion
odd funky nose, rubber band, acetone, muted fruit, not a fan of this wine-no score

1982 Latour
not showing much on the nose right of the bat, picking up some crushed red fruit, seems a bit shut down, expected more-92

1982 Margaux-94
oops, no notes

1982 Mouton-95
seems to just be coming out of it’s long sleep, again not much notating

1959 Yquem-93
very dark amber color, hint of caramel nutty sweetness, went better with the crunchy part of the creme brûlée, than the custard part, prefer a bit young sauternes

#2

#3

Seems like more than a few didn’t show like expected, the Ausone, Cheval and LLC are usually rock stars…hope the vintage is holding up.

Still, I wish I was there. [cheers.gif]

#4

Nice lineup! Question however, are you sure there were no other flawed bottles other than perhaps the LLC mentioned? Not what I expected to read at all on the 82 Leoville Las Cases, Latour, Lafite, and Cheval Blanc. On the 82 Pichon Lalande, any grass, greeness or brett? All pop and pour?

#5

short decants on all but the ausone and cheval. the burgundy folks preferred the first growths. Fills were into neck on everything. No one suspected any flaws other than on the LLC. No brett on the PLL. a hint of green but barely noticeable with so much power, finesse and fruit.

#6

Great event Jordan.

A few thoughts

re the 1980 HBB - I believe I had an 80 Chevalier Blanc a few months ago which first opened up with a ton of cabbage, seaweed and kelp. After two hours, the wine blew off the funk and blossomed into an ethereal expression of semillion. So it may have been an air issue.

re the 82 Gruaud - woe it was when Parker re-rated it 99. The wine was found quite attractively in the 150-200 dollar range as early as 1-2 years ago. Now it seemingly has doubled.

re the 82 Las Cases- I’ve had two bottles of this in the last year and neither time did it hit the initial RP100, but rather showed closer to the 93 point re-rate. The wine still has a ways to go and shows some lovely chocolate and cassis elements with fine tannins, but it lacked the special quality that one finds in the like-priced PLL.

Cheers,

#7

I’ve had the the LLC and it never reached the heights of it’s reputation.

Numerous reports of the 82 Cheval Blanc fading now.

The 82 Lafite several years ago was glorious and clearly the best bottle of Bordeaux I’ve ever had.

#8

Even 30 year old Bordeaux’s need some air. I wonder if a little longer decant might have helped some of the wine. Nonetheless, had a similar impression of the 82 LLC in a recent mini vertical of LLC that we did.

#9

I fully believe that anytime you do a tasting/dinner with 30 (or older) year old wines …you will have significant variables to deal with. Since a few of these wines did not show particularly well; I would like to know the provenance and sourcing of the bottles . Were any/all of these wines bought on release (or futures) by the actual participants or were they purchased at a later date? I guess the key issue to remember is that no matter how great a vintage is; there will always be variations among bottles and these variations will be accentuated over time. Nonetheless, this seemed like a great event and certainly provides a valid reference point for observers of this vintage…Thanks.

Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]

#10

the lafite was bought on release. no idea about the rest. not only will you have bottle variation, you will of course have reviewer variation. The burgundy folks liked the first growths more. Order that the wine was consumed can affect impressions as well.