Dinner with with some friends on Friday night. We spent the entire evening out on the patio & the weather was perfect. The food was delicious & everyone was having a great evening. Then Bruce announced that he had one more bottle to open.
This was purchased in the early 70s at a Sotheby’s auction, as part of a mixed lot of magnums. This particular bottle was listed as “DRC magnum. Unknown vintage, unknown vineyard.” There was no label, but a DRC capsule. ABout 20 years ago, the capsule was removed & using a penlight, at that point the stamp on the side of the cork was quite easy to read- 1948 La Tâche. By now, the ullage was high shoulder. The cork broke in two on extraction, even with the Durand,
But the wine was sublime. It still had a vibrant, ruby hue. There was quite a lot of very fine sediment, so it was decanted. I could try to describe the various components of the wine, but there is no way I could possibly do it justice. The aromatics were seemingly infinite & continued to change. It had tons of fruit, completely resolved tannins & just enough acid. In short, the wine was utterly sublime. As with all great mature burgundy, the wine completely captivates. It was pretty quiet for a while after it was poured, as everyone had their noses stuck in their glasses, contemplating. There was a bit of the usual discussion, trying to throw some appropriate descriptors out in an attempt to categorize what it was we had in our glasses. There was a pretty quick consensus that we were doomed to failure & everyone elected to concentrate on appreciating just how amazing the wine was. I have been privileged to drink many great bottles of wine, but this is without a doubt, one of the greatest.
It turned out to be one of those “moments” that we all have with wine: a collection of great friends, on a perfect evening & a truly memorable bottle. This is why we spend so much time, effort & money on what ostensibly is merely fermented grape juice.
I did not take a picture to use as an avatar. Knowing Bruce as I do, the bottle still currently sits somewhere in his house or cellar & I will take a photo & it will become my new avatar (at least until the EPL starts up again & I am forced to switch to the “Miley Cyrus in a ManUre jersey” to taunt those who support a club as vile as ManUre…).
On a more wine-related topic, as far as I can recall, I have never seen a note on a Burgundy from the '48 vintage. Occurring between '47 & '49, it is at a minimum, in the shadow of those two vintages. What can anyone tell me about the vintage as a whole?
More seriously, from Broadbent (take w/grain of salt), one star vintage, “a good but bypassed vintage. Fairly beefily constituted, full and fruit wine.” Gave La Tache 4 stars and wrote–“full bodied, packed with flavour but still green and immature (Oct 1958). Perfect seven years later: deep; really ripe, rich bouquet and flavour; slightly sweet, soft. Still perfection. Last tasted May 1980.”
From Parker (take with block of salt), “the most abundant vintage for Burgundy’s Cote d"or after 1944 . . . large quantities of some surprisingly good wines.”
1948 not reviewed by Clives Coates, Remington Norman, or Richard Olney.
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