Over the Top Lunch

WINE TALK
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Continuing my tradition of posting tasting stories from @Mark_Golodetz lunches on the train ride home. Another amazing time with some highs and lows, company obviously being a high.

OVER THE TOP LUNCH - Ibiza Restaurant Chappaqua (9/13/2024)

Mark G brought a bunch of us together for this year’s iteration of the over the top lunch. The meal at Ibiza was wonderful, wines plentiful.

  • 2018 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    Blind. sweet red berry, a bit of jam, sweet finish into toasty oak. Ripe but still restrained. Not my personal style but a nice wine.
  • 1945 Château Olivier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    served blind. deep orange brown. A. It of sweetness up front, some orange blossom towards the finish into acid and finish. Phenomenal wine.
  • 1989 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    served blind (to everyone but me) looks youthful. A bit green on the nose. With the food the fruit explodes, really needs the time
  • 1983 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    red fruit, loads of tobacco and earth. Got lost in the flight
  • 1982 Château Cheval Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
    light, red fruit, leather, earth, but the fruit carries on forever. Wine of the night

Personal WOTN’s for me: 82 Cheval Blanc, Montille Malconaorts and 70 Unico. Lots of wine probably would have benefited from more air or a smaller group with larger pours to follow over more time. biggest surprise may have been the 2009 Auslese at the end.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks for the notes.

1945 sounds great!

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It was incredibly surprising

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I think the PYCM was the Bienvenues, not the Batard-Montrachet. And the Haut-Bailly was the '82. Very fun event, the food was outstanding and a lot of the wines were terrific. A couple of the ones that weren’t were eye-opening and also pretty useful reference points (esp the Palmer, sigh, not a fan of what seems to be happening there.)

My impressions:

OVER-THE-TOP LUNCH - Ibiza (Chappaqua, NY) (9/13/2024)

  • 2008 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine - France, Champagne
    Lot V08, disgorged April 2010. Perhaps my favorites of the Champagnes today; vibrant and brightly fruited with intense citrus and pear flavours, chalky minerality, and more savoury yeasty and lightly toasty flavours. Love the acids and sense of energy here. I’m surprised how youthful it shows with relatively little development apparent, but it’s absolutely delicious.
  • 1996 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut - France, Champagne
    Relatively disappointing, this was enjoyable but also came across surprisingly advanced and more oxidative than I would expect (even for Krug). A deep yellow color, and savoury nutty flavours dominate here - a strong toasted almond topnote over some ripe orchard fruit and marzipan, and while there’s good acidity beneath I’m left wanting more freshness and vibrancy to the fruit flavours. Hoping this bottle was just unrepresentative.
  • 2007 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut Rosé - France, Champagne
    Very much a one-note wine (albeit a very pretty, enjoyable note); bright strawberry and raspberry fruit from the first sip but there’s not a whole lot here beyond that. It feels somewhat one-dimensional and simple. There’s nice acidity beneath that gives a sense of freshness and vibrancy to the fruit, but not a great deal here beyond that.
  • 2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut - France, Champagne
    Definitely one of the best CDC Rosés I’ve had; love the aromatics here - a burst of bright red fruited and floral notes with more savoury yeasty and toasty notes, and a palate that adds more mineral depth to the fruit and toasty flavours with a spine of bright acidity and lively effervescence. Still quite primary, but quite delicious right now.
  • 2018 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    What the hell happened here?! A blast of new oak and varnish on the nose, and a palate that’s full of immensely extracted black fruit with a finish that’s equal parts bitter tannin and burning alcohol. About the only enjoyment I get from this is from imagining what Ralph Wiggum would say if he had to drink it? Probably “this wine tastes like burning”.
    Managed two sips, winced with each one, and dumped the rest.
  • 1945 Château Olivier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    Hard to put this whole experience into words. It’s certainly old and a bit faded; there’s a lot of savoury nuttiness here but also some gentle orchard fruit and orange compote, and a lot of other savoury/developed complexity that’s hard to describe fully. Certainly past its peak, but a wonderful experience to sit and drink.
  • 2020 Jobard-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
    New producer on my radar, and this is one I should definitely explore more based on this experience. Noticeable new oak and some reduction on the nose at first, but the reduction clears quickly and gives way to a flavour profile of bright fruit accented by light chalky mineral notes, faint woodspice, and lighter toasty and other savoury notes. There’s a richness and sense of power on the palate that I love, and it’s balanced beautifully by a spine of bright acids. Terrific wine.
  • 2015 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
    More impressive than genuinely enjoyable at this stage. The dials on *everything* are turned up to 11 - lots of ripe fruit, oiliness, oak, this is an absolute powerhouse right now. It needs time (whether in the cellar or in the decanter - this gave the impression of easing up and coming together with some air in the glass, but so many wines at the table meant I couldn’t really follow it).
  • 2016 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
    Who put Sauvignon Blanc in my Raveneau?!? There’s tart citrus fruit, a stony mineral base, and the minty herbaceousness I sometimes in find in Chablis… but it’s all dominated by an intense vegetal grassiness that overwhelms and distracts from the other flavors. Sigh.
  • 2014 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
    Another wine that gave the impression that it needs a lot more time (or air) to show better. Love the raw components here - buttered popcorn; ripe orchard fruit; a chalky minerality underneath; that fatness I get in some of those great old-school white Burgs - but it also feels a bit tight aromatically and seems to need more air/time for the different components to come together more seamlessly.
  • 2008 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru
    Love the aromatics here - just a beautiful, perfumed fragrance of intensely red and dark fruited flavours accented with high-toned spiciness, with more floral and other savoury notes emerging with more air. The palate is a bit tight initially but with a bit of air (swirling and time in the glass) it starts to show the depth that mirrors the nose. Powerful, yet never heavy - love the sense of lightness and overall balance here. Tremendous wine, one of my favorites tonight.
  • 1999 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Clos de La Bussière - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
    Love the aromatics here - just an incredible perfume of red fruits and florals, the kind of fragrance that I could have kept smelling all night. The palate doesn’t quite live up to the nose for me - it doesn’t show the same depth and the flavours on the palate feel darker fruited/riper than the nose suggests, with some light but grainy tannin emerging on the back end.
  • 2008 Domaine de Montille Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts Christiane - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
    Flat out wow. Stunning aromatics - perfumed and so intense, with an array of spices, floral notes, and higher-toned stemmy notes accenting a core of red fruit. There’s a remarkable sense of freshness to the red fruit on the palate; it feels almost crunchy with the acidity giving it a bracing energy.
  • 2020 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
    Powerhouse of a wine, also incredibly primary but unlike the other white Burgs earlier, the various components here seem to come together much more seamlessly and this is really a wow experience. Love the depth and sense of power here - layers on layers of ripe fruit, oak, buttered popcorn, and mineral notes, all coming together on a full-bodied frame with impressive power and length.
  • 1989 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    Served blind. I’ve liked this a lot in the past, but this was not its best showing. A touch of VA on the nose is a bit distracting, and beneath is a core of dark fruit and savoury earthiness. It doesn’t have the depth or the vivid graphite/tobacco I’d typically expect from L-B or the appellation, it’s a good wine but relatively disappointing especially after the reveal.
  • 1982 Château Cheval Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
    Hard to describe this one. There’s remarkable depth of flavour here, fruit and earth and spice and all kinds of savoury notes coming together into a whole that is so much more than the sum of the parts, and it would be useless to try and catalogue the individual components. Remarkably polished and graceful on the palate - this has a finesse and sense of lightness that took me by surprise (and is hard to describe without resorting to clichés), and the finish just keeps resonating on and on. A remarkable wine.
  • 1982 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    A pretty wine, but completely overwhelmed by the Cheval Blanc alongside. A savoury, middleweight wine with classic Graves flavours - lots of those savoury smoky and tobacco flavours around a red fruited core; a gentle, silky palate presence with the tannin largely integrated and drinking quite nicely now. Not a powerhouse, but would be a lovely Bordeaux to sit and follow over a dinner. But in this setting with a lot of wines, this struggled.
  • 1970 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
    One of my favorites of the night (though opinions differed quite a bit across the table on this and the Unico). So elegant and fragrant with a core of gentle red berried fruit, earth, cedar, leather, and a fresh red apple note that adds a sense of brightness and vibrancy to the whole package. It’s a fairly gentle, medium weight wine in the mouth - the tannin is mostly integrated and the structure here comes largely from the acidity, which gives it a nice lift. Kept coming back to this over and over in the flight.
  • 1970 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único - Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero
    Wasn’t impressed by this showing. Perhaps my pour (from the end of the bottle, with more than a bit of sediment) wasn’t the most representative, but this felt a bit muddied with the flavours lacking clarity or freshness.
  • 1990 Château d'Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    Tremendous wine, unmistakably Yquem with those rich orange marmalade and vanilla botrytis flavours around a core of ripe tropical fruit, and a rich, luscious palate presence that almost feels slightly oily. This isn’t a light wine, nor is it trying to be - there’s a palate-staining intensity to the flavours here, and it’s an incredible way to finish the meal and accompany the various desserts and cheeses.
  • 2009 Rainer Wess Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese - Austria, Niederösterreich
    Tasty, but relatively one-note and simple for a TBA. Lots of botrytis apparent with ripe honeyed and tropical fruited flavours on a full frame that shows plenty of sweetness matched by just enough acidity to keep it from being cloying, but not a whole lot else here.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Great lineup all around!

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2018 Palmer sounds very unappealing.

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Mark blinded it intentionally…its very hard to judge on a short pour without a ton of air, but im not loading up

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Appreciate the detailed notes. On the uncertain ones, I was fortunate to grab photos:

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Having been a part of this, appreciate the detailed and free notes. Cheers

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The OTT lunch has been going for around thirty years. It used to be held on the first Friday of the New Year, now it’s been moved to the first Friday after Labor Day as a final hurrah to the Summer. A change of venue. Ibiza in Chappaqua has been serving some of if not the best, food in Westchester, and yesterday was another example of owner, Ignacio’s flair and generosity.

Half a dozen tapas to begin, served outside, their glorious shrimp in a clay pot, anchovies, octopus, Iberico ham on bread rubbed with tomatoes, croquettes etc.

Then the first course grilled langoustine, and the large red Catalan shrimp. A perfect pairing with some of the white Burgundies. Then possibly the best foie gras I have had in years, duck, ribeye steak, cheese and desserts. We rolled out of there after four hours.

The wines.

The idea behind the OTT is to give people the opportunity to share wines that are too expensive and rare to pull out under normal circumstances, and it softens the blow when it’s part of a group of similar wines. The definition of an OTT wine is one that when you pull it out of the cellar, you hear a scream, and realize that the scream is coming from your lips. There were plenty of screamers yesterday, which made for a very fun afternoon.

The Bouchard was fresh, and improved with time. A quite beautiful Champagne and an interesting contrast to the Krug 1996 that followed it. For me, Krug is always a wine that fascinates rather than gives pleasure. I spend a lot of time with it, but can’t say I love the yeasty slightly sherried flavors.

The Taittinger Comte’s rose 2007 was matched against the Cristal rose 2007. While the Taittinger improved in the glass, and was probably the better accompaniment to the tapas, I preferred the Cristal which showed far more depth and complexity and a marginally longer finish. Both wonderful Champagnes though.

Palmer 2018
It’s been a couple of months since I last tasted it. It’s a wine that was made under conditions that I am sure that the people at Palmer hope will never be repeated. Mildew reduced the harvest to ridiculously tiny yields, 11 hectoliters per hectare around one third of normal production. The result is a wine described by one critic as sui generis, a once in a century effort. I served it blind, and there were people at the table who loved it, people who hated it, and some in between. It is massive, possesses a mineral complexity that differentiates it from some of the bigger wines from Napa, and a very long finish. No doubt it will take a couple of decades to be show the greatness that I think it will have.

(Loved Salil’s note, but can’t say I agree, especially the bitterness of the tannins).

Chateau Olivier Blanc 1945 (Graves)
Also served blind. Certainly the oldest white Bordeaux I have ever tasted, and it showed incredibly well for a wine approaching its eightieth birthday. A clear copper and gold color. A nose of dried fruit, orange peel, smoke. Quite nice on the palate and a decent finish. An OTT is the perfect occasion for something this rare.

Jobard-Morey Mersault Charmes 2020
I loved this wine. Absolutely classic Burgundy in the making; young, vibrant with sweet white fruit and a ton of minerality. Good finish. Bought a couple of bottles after the event.

Raveneau Valmurs 2016
God knows what happened to this. I don’t know if any of you remember the black glasses that Riedel made, seeing if you could tell white from red. Never a problem for me, but this would have been. Weird slightly red fruit. Nothing that reminded me of Raveneau. Especially Valmurs, probably my favorite bottling. Flawed wine, hit the spit bucket quickly.

Pierre Yves Colin Bienvenue Batard Montrachet, 2015.
I was excited to try this, but it started slowly. Took the best part of twenty minutes to open up, and even then a little shy. There is certainly a fair amount of apricot and peach there, but it seems masked. I think time will help.

Comte’s Lafon Mersault Charmes 2014.
This was a gem. Beautiful wine, showing well now. There was something that reminded me of the English candy barley sugar, stone fruit and minerality. On the palate, great depth of flavor and a fine finish.

Niellon Chevalier Montrachet 2020
Although it was included in the next flight in error, I am putting it among the other white Burgundies. It got my vote as not only the best of them, but also the best wine of the day. Very young of course, but already packed with gunflint, stone, brine and of course, Niellon’s signature apricot and white pear. It will improve for several years, but today, utterly delicious.

Hudelot Noellat Romanee Saint Vivant 2008. For those in the know, apparently, this is a sleeper from a really superb vintage, and yesterday, it showed beautifully. In last year’s OTT, there was a quite lovely Tremblay Chapelle from the same vintage, and there was a resemblance to this, right down to a shard of bright red fruit kicking in at mid palate. This was a gorgeous effort, red fruit and violets up front, but then showing the beginning of some tertiary flavors of leather and earth. My favorite wine of the flight.

Roumier, Morey Saint Denis Bussiere 1999
It’s a Roumier, it’s from the brilliant 1999 vintage, much was expected, and it did not disappoint. Lovely wine on the edge of full maturity. Crimson, with scents, of spice, anise and flowers. A fair amount of fruit, nice finish. Tiny bit lacking in depth, but still very fine.

Cheval Blanc 1982
The bottle looked absolutely pristine, fill was into the neck, the color a deep crimson. The fruit was red, black, there was smoke, leather, spice, the balance was perfect, the finish multilayered and extremely long. When the 1982 Cheval is on, it is a marvelous example of the vintage. Not surprisingly, it ran away with being the best wine honors of the tasting, with 12x first place votes (my second behind the Niellon)

There were a couple of cellar errors, and an Haut Brion 1982 was missing, but in its place

Haut Bailly 1982
It showed actually very well, although overshadowed by the Cheval. Fully mature, it offered so many flavors I associate with great old Graves, leather, brickdust, and still enough fruit to keep it fresh. Lovely wine, and I actually preferred it to the Lynch Bages 1989.

Lynch Bages 1989
A legendary sleeper, which may sound like a contradiction in terms. It’s a very fine example of a Pauillac from an extremely good vintage, the plum fruit still going strong, and there is coffee, a little herb and cedar. Very full bodied although maybe a little rustic.

Vega Sicilian and Lopez Heredia. I am going to let others weigh in on them, as I found neither particularly compelling. I preferred the Vega but vaguely.

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Yup, my guess is that it’d show differently over a few hours or if not pnped. But I’m also fairly averse to that style (it seemed too modern, oaky, and alcoholic). Perhaps another bottle in different circumstances will show differently/better, but right now it’s one I’m not planning to buy any time soon.

(Also, meant to say the H-B was the '82, not '83. Typo’ed that. Pretty wine, but overshadowed in the context. But it reminds me I need more Haut Bailly in my cellar and need to drink it more often. Also had a lovely '78 a few weeks ago.)

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⦁ 2008 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine - France, Champagne
Pleasant, but fading. The peach notes I associate with VV are there, but I personally never loved how the Bouchard wines of this period have evolved. Was overpowered by the Krug.

⦁ 2007 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut Rosé - France, Champagne
Tons of tangerine fruit, but there’s no minerality here. As a rose champagne, it’s nice, if simple. As a Cristal rose, it’s definitely disappointing. The 2005/2006/2007 years are my least favorite for Roederer in this century - the 2004 Cristal is great and the 2008 is an absolute triumph, but the years in between less so.

⦁ 2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut - France, Champagne
Bright, pretty, sappy, almost drinks like a saignee, has some good density. Not the most complex wine, but fits the vintage.

⦁ 1996 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut - France, Champagne
A good bottle of 1996 Krug; like drinking sourdough in the very best way. A very good wine, though I do think the acidity overwhelms the fruit and I don’t think it’ll ever let go.

⦁ 2018 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Do not put in my mouth bad. The nose is oak with a dose of shoe varnish, the palate is acrid oak on the finish. An unpleasant experience.

⦁ 1945 Château Olivier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Some greenish notes remaining, so I assumed this had a good amount of Sauvignon Blanc blind, but other than that I found this more interesting than pleasurable.

⦁ 2020 Jobard-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 2 - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
Unlike the other whites, this had the benefit of quite a bit of air. Very pretty white fruit on the nose; I’d maybe like a bit more complexity on the finish, but overall a very nice wine. Was added as a wine of interest rather than “OTT”. Perhaps I’m being tougher than intended as this was my “other” wine.

⦁ 2016 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Smells like spritzy sauvignon blanc and tastes like a bad aloe fizz - a bad wine from a terrible vintage. I didn’t think this bottle was flawed, I thought it just wasn’t good - it had a weird spritzy elderberry herbal note I find in some Chablis as well as occasionally on some Barolos. This wasn’t very surprising to me - post 2010 Raveneau is consistently and predictably poor in off-vintages.

⦁ 2015 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Very post 2010 PYCM - a very dense wine with a ton of dry extract and well chosen oak. There’s a ton of white fruit and the skill in winemaking shows here - it’s a warm site and a warmer vintage yet this is in absolutely no way wide. This really could have benefited from a lot more air as there was some really pretty white fruit on the nose but the fruit struggled to break through the density of the wine on the finish in particular. I strongly suspect with an extra hour of air (especially in the decanter) it’d have gotten there. The case of a titan contained by a powerful frame at the moment.

⦁ 2014 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
Elegant notes of peach and honeysuckle on the nose, but this also really suffered by being effectively opened a few minutes before being poured. The acidity here is still overpowering on the finish; unlike the PYCM, this needs more time to me to settle in bottle rather than with air. The bones are there, but the acidity on the finish made this tight, tight, tight. An absolutely lovely nose though, especially from a bigger bowl.

⦁ 2020 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Served slightly later and likely benefited from the extra air. A very classy wine though, again, too young. The structure is well integrated and the density is much more seamlessly interwoven than the PYCM. This is a wine that’s deceptively delicate - the flavors are, the power is hiding in plain sight. The complexity isn’t quite there yet, but will obviously come with time. A treat to see a preview of it.

⦁ 2008 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Romanée St. Vivant - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru
Typical showing for this wine - it has now gone full secondary and there’s a fair amount of rose petal, some spice and the touch of almost olive oil to express the fruit’s power. The palate doesn’t have a huge amount of structure - this is 2008 - so this is more about the fruit and the nose than the power. Extra time in the glass doesn’t do all that much for this. There were differences in opinions at the table as to the wine, I think the stem in which it was served made a huge difference; not a wine for a narrow bowl.

⦁ 1999 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Clos de La Bussière - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
Very late 90s Roumier - the structure on the finish will not let go and turns the tannins harsh. Christophe was supposedly doing a lot of odd experimentation at this time, perhaps this is the result?

⦁ 2008 Domaine de Montille Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts Christiane - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Super pretty on first pour with raspberries and strawberries and a hint of stem; this also has more power and structure than the 2008 RSV served next to it. A more powerful version of Vosne; with air the stems really come out, which is not my preference in Burgundy, but a very good wine. I didn’t get a ton of spice on this, but perhaps that’s the work of the stems. Someone suggested crunchy as a good adjective and I am very sympathetic to that.

⦁ 1989 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Perhaps I just don’t get Lynch-Bages - both the 82 and the 89 have consistently shown poorly for me at dinners. This felt ungainly - the oak stuck out on the finish and there was a somewhat green note that is surprising for such a vintage (the Cheval Blanc had far fewer pyrazines by comparison).

⦁ 1982 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Somewhat lost in the shuffle; a pleasant claret that was lost between a fool and a giant. On any day a delightful accompaniment to a good steak.

⦁ 1982 Château Cheval Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
My glass was unfortunately full of sediment, but this was a spectacular showing - brilliant fruit; I’d be wasting time writing the usual Bordeaux descriptors. When on form, Cheval Blanc has a real argument to be the greatest producer in Bordeaux.

⦁ 1970 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único - Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero
Unico always feels somewhat international (I would never call this Spanish blind), but it is also an “international” wine that ages well, which is a rarity (unlike all the modernist Barolo that hasn’t). Still drinks so young and fresh, in some ways this is so much less developed than the Lopez served next to it, but has a remarkable unity of fruit and structure around it - almost remaining primary despite its age.

⦁ 1970 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
Another sediment filled glass, but I really enjoyed this - a very bloody wine, in that it tasted so much of iron, but it hadn’t devolved into tea. More pretty than powerful, very fun to drink.

⦁ 1990 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
⦁ 2009 Rainer Wess Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese - Austria, Niederösterreich
I didn’t really focus on these, but liked the Yquem and found the Wess lacking in minerality (though that’s my typical complaint with Austrian wines).

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Fascinating juxtaposition between Mark’s love for this 2018 Palmer - which he has said before - and the notes from Greg and Salil. I had similar sentiments on a recent 2009 Palmer. Not a chance that I would buy Palmer in a ripe vintage like this. Kinda my feelings on the 2015 Ausone as well.

Great notes across the board, guys!

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I think it will take while for the verdict to be in on 18 Palmer, and I sort of disagree with mark on it not being similar to the 47 cheval; that’s sort of what I think it will turn out like, and to me that would be wonderful.

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An amazing afternoon of great company, food, and wine.

Standouts for me was the Cheval, Yquem and the Malconsort.

Thoughts on the Palmer, was that I thought it was approachable but a bit disjointed. Many reviewers gave this high 90’s if not 100 points. Do not see where that makes sense though…

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Am enjoying the discussion of the Palmer. One side of the table had real problems tasting it, others seemed ok with but not loving it. It was certainly young, and has a very way to go. I may have been the only one who thought it excellent, but even so, there is a brilliant if precarious balance to it. Where it differs from the 1947 Cheval is the good acidity, and the total lack of plummy sweetness. It’s a completely different animal.

The fact that I agree with the critics, most of whom I have disparaged in the past, worries me, but I have tasted the wine three times, and the results have been very consistent.

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It’s funny you mention good acidity, as the 2018 Palmer has an unusually high pH level (3.83) as well as a relatively high (for Palmer) alcohol level of 14.3%. By comparison, the 1947 Cheval Blanc measured recently at 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.69 (plus some residual sugar, which may account for some of the sweetness you noted). Maybe the 2018 Palmer has the magic “it” factor that transcends the numbers.

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Not sure which side of the table had trouble tasting it Mark; but for me it was quite literally “do not put in my mouth” bad - I scrambled to borrow Bob’s little paper cup to spit it out. I had trouble drinking it, not tasting it.