1989 Bordeaux at Bobby Van’s in NYC

WINE TALK
1

A good dinner with fine wines and steaks, plus our usual fun local Bordeaux gang, meeting up at Bobby Van’s near Times Square to drink up some 1989s from our cellars.

Dale is considered as our official and the go-to for accurate TN posts, but I’ll start the ball rolling with some notes on the wines.

Wines were served single blind, but were arranged by Ben so as to keep the bottles from the same commune within the same flight. There was 1 flight where the paired bottles were from different communes. None of the attendees know which flight was which commune, and voting for flight preferences were done prior to revealing the bottles at the end of each flight.


White:

2010 Meyer Fonne Kaefferkopf Grand Cru Riesling
Acidity and minerals abound. Very young and quite harsh at times. B


Reds:

Flight 1

Bottle A: Open, expressive Bordeaux bouquet. Not flashy but good in a pedestrian sort-of way. Tasted like a runner-up whenever it competes. B+. 1989 Pichon Baron. Group 2nd in flight.

Bottle B: Subdued nose. Power, sometimes brutish, but tight to my taste. I thought this had more to offer with additional cellar time. B+. 1989 Lynch Bages. Group 3rd in flight.

Bottle C: I detected slight fishiness in the nose. Ripe and lively red and blue fruit. Good balance. Silky. A-. 1989 Pichon Lalande. Group 1st in flight. Tied for 2nd place WOTN (12 votes).

This flight was quite a shock for most about the Lynch Bages not easily running away with the honors of being the best. A revelation for some with the exceptional showing of the P Lalande.


Flight 2

Bottle A: A whiff of tobacco. Some tannin was present, but was a very good, smooth drinking wine with both power and finesse. Good long finish. A-. 1989 Montrose. Group 1st in flight. Tied for WOTN (13 votes).

Bottle B: Milky notes in the bouquet. There’s that slight green taste amidst the lush flavors. Comments about being very Merlot-like (40% according to producer’s website), prompting reactions that this may be the Saint Emilion flight. B. 1989 Cos’ d’Estournel. Group 2nd in flight.

The Montrose, imho, showed that it is a formidable wine in the vintage when the bottle is on and not suffering from the up-and-down variability that the 1989 version (as well as the 1990 version) had been noted by most. The Cos was simply over-matched and suffered from being paired in the same flight with the Montrose tonight.


Flight 3

Bottle A: Sniffed fresh meat in the complex alluring bouquet. Layers of plump ripe fruit at every sip. Complete. Understated elegance. A-/A (my WOTN). 1989 Palmer. Group 2nd in flight. Tied for WOTN (13 votes).

Bottle B: Good tasty length. Satin mouth-feel. Bursts of delicious lively cabernet fruit. A-. 1989 Leoville Las Cases. Groups 1st in flight. Tied for 2nd place WOTN (12 votes).

This flight deservedly generated the most “best flight” comments. I’ve happily tasted the 1989 Palmer quite a few times (courtesy of bottles from my own and others’ cellars), but afaic recall tonight’s bottle from Diane was the best I’ve had. A great showing by the 1989 LLC … easily ranks up there as one of the best LLC from any vintage that I’ve sampled.


Flight 4

Bottle A: Declared corked by most before my first sip. I’m not ultra-sensitive to corked wines, but was convinced that this had the mildest of being tainted. 1989 La Conseillante. Not rated.

Bottle B: Wet earth in uhe nose. Some green element which I thought was positive in the overall scheme. I like the structure. Long. B+ . 1989 L’Evangile. Group 1st in flight.

Bottle C: Easy-drinking lush wine. Fine balance but not a blockbuster in any way. B+. 1989 Vieux Chateau Certan. Group 2nd in flight.


Flight 5

Bottle A: Corked (dammit!). Smelled and tasted corked. 1989 Angelus. Not rated.

Bottle B: Tannic and young-tasting. Showed the most modern style amongst all the reds tonight. Quite pedestrian. B. 1989 Tertre Roteboeuf. Group 1st in flight.


Dessert wine:

1989 Domaine Cauhape Jurancon Quintessence de Petit Manseng
I’ve never heard of the wine but this amber-colored sticky with some burnt caramel and hard candy notes hit the spot for me. Imho, better than any of the shared dessert that were ordered tonight. B+


WOTN Recap:
WOTN: 1989 Palmer and 1989 Montrose (tied WOTN 13 votes each)
2nd Place: 1989 Leoville Las Cases and 1989 Pichon Lalande (tied 2nd Place 12 votes each)

2

A good group got together Tuesday night at Bobby Van’s Grill for another look at 1989 Bordeaux. I enjoyed a warm spinach salad and shared a porterhouse.

Starter was the 2010 Meyer-Fonne “Kaefferkopf’ Riesling Grand Cru
served a bit warm, rich, honied, a bit soft and formless, but that might have been temp, but for me last night B-/C+

We knew the wines, and Ben arranged in flights when he bagged, but we didn’t know what was in each flight. These are my scores while blind, I think I was being extra conservative.

Flight 1
Wine A- Sweet, full, a little blocky next to Wine C, but only in comparison- I liked. B+
1989 Ch.Pichon Baron.

Wine B - quite muted at first, opens a bit, quite soft, some cassis but short on finish. B-
1989 Ch.Lynch Bages

Wine C - at first sniff I thought corked, but that completely disappeared, leaving behind a funky/herbal complex nose. Fresh, full, and got my vote for WOTN. A-
1989 Ch.Pichon Lalande

I think everyone was surprised at showing of the Lynch, though I’ve had variable bottles (though this didn’t seem cooked)

Flight 2 I liked one more than 2, thought this was Angelus and Tertre-R . Whoops!

Wine A- Plush, friendly, hint of animal, complex. A-/B+
1989 Ch.Montrose

Wine B - a bit hard, some wood, stern though ripe. B
1989 Ch.Cos d’Estournel

Flight 3
Wine A- a little kirsch, wood, merlot-y, but with long finish B/B+
1989 Ch. Palmer

Wine B - Fleshy, ripe, full, easy.B+
1989 Ch. Leoville Las Cases

Flight4
Wine A - at first I didn’t think this was corked, then it developed swimming pool aromas, then real cardboard,. Too bad, seemed nice underneath.
1989 Ch. La Conseillante

Wine B- balanced, full, fresh, black cherry and plum, leather., B+/A-
1989 Ch. L’Evangile

Wine C - leathery, earth, less giving than wine B but I liked. B+
1989 Vieux Chateau Certan

Flight 5
Wine A -corked, damn!
1989 Ch. l’Angelus

Wine B - a bit roasted, jammy/plummy, mature. B/B-
1989 Ch. Tertre Roteboeuf

As noted those were my grades from when wines were blind. There were quite a few (both Pichons, Palmer, Montrose, Evangile) that I thought improved with air, those should have been bumped a bit, but I was trying to be consistent, and didn’t retaste all.

Tighter voting than usual. We did our usual 3 points for favorite, 2 for second, 1 for third, ended up a very tight race. The wines that got votes
13 pts Montrose and Palmer
12 pts Pichon Lalande and LLC
8 pts Pichon Baron
2 pts L’Evangile

There was also a non-blind finisher
1989 Cauhape “Quintessence du Petit Manseng” Jurancon
Apricot, wool, quince, moderately sweet, nice. B+
Good night, and I caught a comparatively early train

Grade disclaimer: I’m a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn’t drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

3

I retasted pichon baron and pichon lalande at the end of the night. The PB had opened up and was so much better than when first poured while the pichon lalande had faded to some degree. I think the voting would have been different if all had retasted.

4

Thanks for the notes – very inciteful. Were any of these decanted and given some air time prior to tasting? I’ve found many of these to improve with air – especially the Pichon Baron, Lynch and Montrose. If right out of bottle I’m not surprised that the Pichon Lalande showed so well as I think it is further along in it’s maturity than many others. In my experience, if the Angelus had not been corked it may have stolen the show.

5

A great evening. I agree with Paul regarding the Baron, it really opened up at the end of the night. I was surprised how good the PLL was and how bad the Lynch Bages turned out.

Can’t wait for next years visit.

6

Thanks for the note; glad to see the 89 Montrose showing well as I still have a few of those.

I have the same question as Gary re: decanting, since I would expect the wines to change drastically with at least 30-60 minutes in a decanter.

Bruce

7

I love me some '89 Bordeaux. IMO they are frequently surpassing their more heralded '90 counterparts.

Sounds like a great night!

8

Wow. Looks like an off night. A lot of my favorites from '89 in that group and it doesn’t look like they performed to their usual standards. Even the '89 Cauhape, which is a pretty stellar wine when on. Always found the '89 Cos and Tertre Roteboeuf duds, though.

9

Well this same group double blind voted '89 Tertre Roteboeuf the #3 WOTN a few years ago against some pretty stiff competition:

#1 1988 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins
#2 1991 Mongeard-Mugneret Richebourg
#3 1989 Tetre Roteboeuf
#4 1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne
#5 1997 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT

further down:
1996 Château Haut-Brion


I’ve had two spectacular bottles of '89 Tertre Roteboeuf and one so-so.

10

Thanks for the report fellows. I have some of these '89s resting in the cellar!

11

I think the Lynch also got better at the end of the night although still not as good as other bottles I’ve had. Gary, some of this group is against decanting which I think with a vintage like '89 is a mistake.

12

What’s the argument against decanting Bordeaux?

13

No argument against decanting here. Just don’t have decanting apparatus if I decide to bring my bottle to work, before coming to the dinner-tasting. Also, couldn’t decant my bottle for that night as it was a group-decided last-minute replacement bottle, in lieu of the original whose owner couldn’t make it that night.

14

Hey Ramon,

Just curious how the wines were scored…
For example, mathematically how does the LLC finish 1st in the flight, but 2nd for WOTN? meaning people liked the Palmer less compared to the LLC (in the flight), but somehow the Palmer was WOTN (tied)?

15

Hi Mark,

Must have been a change of preference by somebody in the WOTN voting near the end of the dinner.

edited to add: still possible without changing flight preferences. Voting (scoring above as per Dale’s notes) for WOTN at the end of the dinner is numerical voting; whereas flight preference is raise-of-hand method.

Cheers.

Ramon

16

Craig, I’m not sure but I know Steve, Suzanne and Diane are against decanting. I’ve only recently learned this and haven’t asked why.

17

Yes, as Ramon said, even without changing it’s possible for a wine to lose flight and come out ahead in overall voting (for instance, if the minority in flight voting all put as WOTN with 3 pts each, and the majority was voting for wines from other flights as their WOTN). That said, I think the Montrose and Palmer gained votes after unveiling, but they both opened up a lot. I didn’t change my scores after unveiling, and voted by blind scores, but certainly thought Baron & Palmer improved with air.

I walk or drive to commuter rail, bounce into Grand Central, walk to restaurant, so pretty much always double-decant (my wines were Evangile and VCC, and even with decant and being in last flight they opened more in glass).

18

I know some folks who think the 1989 Cos d’Estournel is a sensational wine, interesting that is lagged the field so much (though a good field it was). Does it just need more time or did (gulp) Parker get it right on the 89 Cos?

19

quite a few of the wines would be delicious on their own for a nice dinner. When drinking side by side it is much more easy to become critical.

Regarding the decanting issue. I believe that older bordeaux wines taste fresher to me when not decanted. YMMV.

20

Nice going guys and gals - I love several of those '89 Bords. Nice stuff and only one in a string that you all have coming up :slight_smile:.