If there’s interest, I’d like to host a Chateau Branaire-Ducru mini-vertical in Portland, Maine (with a few other Medocs thrown in for good measure).
So far, the tasting will include the following.
Vintage
Wine
1982
Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru)
1996
Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru)
2000
Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru)
2005
Château Branaire-Ducru
2014
Château Branaire-Ducru
2016
Château Branaire-Ducru
1989
Château Cantemerle
2000
Château Giscours
1995
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
2000
Château Lagrange (St. Julien)
Possible Dates
May 29, June 3, June 5, June 25
The tasting will begin at 6pm and there will be charcuterie in case folks get hungry. Please let me know if you'd like to attend and which dates work best for you. This is my first time hosting a tasting so please bear with me as I do everything wrong.
It’s not a restaurant but a very pleasant venue in downtown Portland with plenty of seating for our purposes. This is a bit of an experiment for the owner so I’ll DM folks the address prior to the event as I’m not sure they want to promote publicly that they can do this type of event yet.
I’ll provide the wine so no need to bring any wine or glassware.
I’m potentially in. June 25th is tentatively the best date for me as my Friend Eileen will probably be here. June 3rd or 5th would work, I would be alone. I can’t do May 29th.
Unless you round up more people, it seems like a lot of wine. I don’t like to waste wine, prefer to go to tastings at about one bottle per person.
Two non-Berserkers are in for June 25th so that would get us up to 6 if that date works for @David_W1. At one bottle per person with 6 we could taste all of the Branaire-Ducru vintages.
That sounds really good. I could also invite my accountant in Portland, he’s a wine lover, not very knowledgeable, I’ve done barter with him for 20+ years.
I could bring a bottle or two of Champagne to start. Where are you doing this?
I can’t do May 29th, but I’m a yes for June 3rd and 5th, and unfortunately will have to be ‘tentative’ for June 25th, as I may be in Italy that week. I’ll have confirmation on that in the next week or so. Also, my +1 may be able to attend depending on her work commitments. Will update when possible.
Excellent! By my count we’re at 8 or 10 right now depending on whether David and his +1 can make it. I imagine the venue could handle 15 pretty easily so I think there’s plenty of room to invite your second.
I’ll be bringing at least 10 bottles so please don’t feel like you have to bring anything but anything you decide to bring is appreciated!
No problem, thanks for making the trip down to Portland. Looking forward to it!
I might want to invite another couple? We’re at 8 - 10, I’m penciling in one more, maybe 3 more. I can bring some mid-range Bordeaux with some bottle age as well as a few bottles of Champagne. The venue can accommodate 15 very easily.
I think it sounds great! Please feel free to invite your additional 3. I’m not waiting on any other responses from non-berserkers so that’ll be the full group. I have two of the '82 so we can open the second if we decide we want folks to have a larger pour of that one (assuming neither is flawed). I would just need to bring something else to Brunswick.
Hey @RyanM - I finally got my act together and can confirm that I am ‘in’ for June 25th. My +1 is tentative/probably won’t make it. Let me know if I need to bring anything.
@Dan_Kravitz and @David_W1, seeing as this is my first time hosting, do y’all have any tips / preferences as to how I prep these wines prior to the event?
Depends on how many decanters you have, but for a line-up this size, I’d probably just uncork the wines a few hours before. You’ll probably only encounter two or three crumbly corks from that lineup. Ideally, the '14 and '16 would get a double decanting a few hours before, which not too big of a lift. Also nice to have a couple/few empty decanters at the tasting so if a wine needs some air, we can decant and return to the wine in a little while. Let’s see what Dan has to say as well.