Stellar Bordeaux Night: 59 Beychevelle, 70 Magdelaine, 95 Trotanoy, etc.

WINE TALK
1

Great night in midtown Manhattan with a stellar line up of mature Bordeaux, good Italian food, and a fun convivial group. Aside from a few oxidized bottles, the quality of the wines was uniformly excellent and it was unusually hard to pick a top 3 at the end of the night. My scores are conservative, any number of these bottles by itself could have gone higher. Fabio’s Cucina did a nice job with the food, including a trio of fresh pastas, osso buco and panna cotta, but our semi-private dining area got hotter and hotter as the night went on.

1989 Zind Humbrecht Heimbourg Gewurztraminer VT
Compelling gewurz nose of rose, lychee, and the essence of Turkish Delight. Sweet, smooth, mature yet vibrantly bright with great length. Sensational. 92-93 pts.

1989 Zind Humbrecht Turckheim Riesling
A bit of petrol, notes of sherry-oxidation on the bouquet, but rich and creamy to taste. Not much fruit showing, but good dry extract. 88 pts.

2012 Rhys Horseshoe Chardonnay
Blind, this would pass for a topnotch white burgundy. Bright and aromatic, with lemon, ginger, lanolin, even a bit saline. A touch of richness, so classy. My first Rhys, I was impressed. 91-92 pts.

1947 Clos Fourtet
Fun to try a '47. The nose was a little over the hill and a bit raisiny, but the palate was still alive showing lots of cinnamon and bright red fruits.

1959 Beychevelle
Bright, aromatic, red fruit, finesse wine with a lovely sweet top-note. Got better with air actually, probably didn’t give it enough attention, others were more impressed. 92 pts.

1966 Beychevelle
Beautiful mature aromas of cigarbox, wintergreen, and ginger. Fairly light and bright on the palate, with a silky texture and a refreshing attack of sweet-n-sour orange, and a minor green-stemmy note. One of the evening’s best bouquets, old school and ethereal. So lovely. 92-93 pts.

1966 Calon Segur
Oxidized nose, over the hill. Palate better, but still a flawed bottle.

1966 Domaine de Chevalier
Terrific stuff. The nose was a little tight on opening, but blossoms with air showing mint-menthol, cedar, orange peel. Bright, resolved, elegant yet intense with a long finish. Classic. My third favorite of the night. 93 pts.

1970 Magdelaine
Wow, this is really good. Sweet, zesty nose, ripe, bit of wintergreen. Deep, plenty of fruit, resolved, mature yet fresh, perfect balance, drinking wonderfully. My second favorite of the night. 94 pts.

1970 Canon
Expressive, ripe nose with a bit of sur maturite, fig, mint, brown sugar, a hint of raisin. Palate is fresher with excellent fruit, a fleshy mouthfeel, cooling menthol, meaty notes, cherry reduction, but shows slightly stewed fruit with air. Svelte, round fruit with citric tones keeping it fresh, all-in-all wonderfully mature. Maybe not a perfect bottle, but still really good. 92 pts.

1970 Leoville Poyferre
Oxidized nose, another over the hill bottle. Palate better, but a flawed bottle.

1982 Beychevelle
Intense, dark, highly aromatic, deeply ripe, but very fresh. Mature yet vigorous with heaps of menthol-mint-wintergreen, a wonderfully tangy-citric midpalate, plush texture, and a long layered finish. Could be better in another 5 years. My WOTN. 95 pts.

1995 Grand Puy Lacoste
My first try of the 95 GPL and I was impressed. The bouquet is quite evolved, showing lovely tobacco and cassis and loam, with a round, medium-bodied palate. Cooling, with quintessential cabernet sauvignon notes of leafiness, black tea and capsicum. Long dry finish. Wonderfully poised between youth and maturity. Loved it. 93 pts with upside.

1995 Trotanoy
Shy nose at first, showing a bit medicinal. With air this becomes vinous and classic, sporting a exotic bouquet after all the Left Bankers. Really good core of ripe fruit, classy, comes across almost like a restrained Cali Cab. Still young, but sexy. 93 pts.

2

Great notes. Beychevelles get really aromatic with age. I’m drinking through some 83s I found, and have just loved them. Not as effusive as the 82s, but a lovely wine nonetheless.

3

Sounds like another great night at Fabio’s, Patrick. Thanks for the notes. I regret that I drank my 1982 Beychevelle way too young, but that was when I was just cutting my teeth on red Bordeaux. Wonderful to read about those older bottles.

4

It was a really fun evening, although I conked out before the end, probably the heat. Pat hit all the highlights, the Beychevelle was also marginally my WOTN, but it had a lot of competition. I was especially taken with the Trotanoy and Grand Puy Lacoste flight, the GPL was ready and willing, the Trotanoy took its time, but I think ended up the better wine, and matched a truffled spaghetti beautifully.

The Magdelaine was also spectacular, no surprise here, but I usually don’t sing its praises too much, because I don’t need more competition as I look for more. Actually this year, I have had a series of right bank 1970s, and almost without exception, they seem to be showing particularly well. The sleeper here was the 1966 DDC, which was almost lazy in its refusal to be hurried, but when it did knit together, was quite lovely. In an evening, where there were a number of great wines, it was in danger of being overlooked, but every so often, someone retasted it and said how good it was, and we went back to it, and it showed better and better.

5

Patrick was in town and a nice group gathered at Fabio’s in midtown to greet him. Restaurant is in a new space, and we were seated in a raised alcove. Fabio offered a different table, but we stayed where we were. Some whites made the rounds as folks gathered

1989 Zind-Humbrecht “Turckheim” Riesling
Dry, stony, and smoky, apple and ginger, good length, I like this B+

1989 Zind-Humbrecht “Heimbourg” Gewurztraminer VT
Big and balanced, honied apricot tones over tropical fruit. Great acids. A bit sweet for apertif, I should have revisited at end. A-

2012 Rhys “Horseshoe” Chardonnay
Pear, green apple, balanced acids, Really one of the nicer CA Chards I’ve had in a while. B+/A-

I had a nice appetizer of roasted chickpea cake with an avocado salad.

1966 Beychevelle
Minty nose that integrates nicely into a complex herbal nose, dark fruit, really quite elegant. B+

1966 Calon Segur
Nose of shoe polish/VA and char, better on palate but this is clearly an off bottle.

1966 Domaine de Chevalier
Lovely from start, herbs and cigarbox, classic mature Graves. A-/B+

A little tasting of pastas- cheese ravioli with lobster sauce, another pasta with fresh tomato sauce, and one with a sausage and truffle.

1995 Grand Puy Lacoste
Sweet cassis, cedar. Some tannic structure, but approachable with a long future. B+/A-

1995 Trotanoy
I thought this smashing, lush and exotic with a great mouthfeel. Red fruits, incense, anise, A-

I had short ribs with polenta

1970 Leoville Poyferre
Someone called celery, but the greenness was more weedy to me. Fruit way in the background, a bit clipped, though I thought it improved a bit. C+

1970 Canon
Red fruit, elegant/balanced, some coffee and floral notes. Very good though I’ve liked a couple other bottles a bit more. B+

1970 Magdelaine
I’ve loved this wine, but this is best bottle I’ve ever had. Just textbook classic RB - beautiful giving fruit framed by cedar, leather, and tobacco. Gorgeous. A-/A

1947 Clos Fourtet
My first 1947 RB I think. Nose is a little daunting- some VA and decay. But palate is pretty good and nose cleans up quite a bit. Red fruits, meat, earth. I quite enjoy though Josh said earlier bottle was better. B+

1982 Beychevelle
Black fruits, lots of tobacco, ripe and full but with a backbone of both tannin and acid. Long future. A-/B+

1959 Beychevelle
Red fruited, floral, earthy, another elegant wine. A-/B+

We did our usual 3-2-1 voting (Mark had to leave before voting).
70 Magdelaine 17 pts
66 DDC 7 Pts
82 Beychevelle 4 Pts
59 Beychevelle 4 Pts
95 Trotanoy 2 Pts
66 Beychevelle 2 Pt

There were some stickies to end. We should have taken the alternate table, our alcove got uncomfortably warm as night went on. And all the ice in ice bucket melted, and first go round these were too warm. Some ice replenishment and we tried again:

1971 Prinz von Hessen (Landgräflich Hessiches Weingut) Johannisberger Klaus Riesling Beerenauslese
Dark, honied, this was cloying when warm. Better when cold but there’s a musty/clay note, and more sensitive declare this corked.

1985 Zilliken Rausch Auslese Auction (375 ml)
Crisp and pure, laserlike in its focus, honied botrytis and floral honeysuckle notes over bright citrus fruit. A-

1986 Rieussec
Apricot, orange marmalade, honey. Good length, Quite nice. B+

Quite a fun night with an outstanding group


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.

6

Wow, what a night! Thanks for sharing!

7

Impressive lineup.

8

Great to see the notes. Looks like a terrific evening. So bummed I had to miss it.

9

Thanks for the notes. Looks like an excellent wine dinner and glad to hear Fabio’s is bsck to form. I’m sorry I missed the event.