TN: 05 Richter, 90 Guigal La Landonne, 90 Latour, 90 d'Yquem

Last night, Jane and I were invited over to friends home for dinner. There were five couples in total and two bottles of each wine were generously opened. As I always note on evenings like this, the food and wines were great, but what really makes the evening is the conversation. This is absolutely my favorite way to enjoy wine. Thanks to Bela and Patty for a great time. I did not take notes, so these are my recollections.

2005 Max Richter Riesling Auslese Graacher Himmelreich
Golden in color, clear and bright. The nose is very nice, a bit fat. Grapefruit, wet stones, but bold. On the palate, this lacks a bit of cut but does not seem shut down in any way. Just the amount of sweetness I want from an Auslese. Nice grapefruit notes with a long finish. Nice way to start. 50+4+13+16+7=90

1990 Guigal La Landonne
Served blind. Dark purple in color, slightly opaque. The nose had black raspberries, and black pepper. Full bodied. This wine was elegant and delicious. Nice black raspberry flavors, excellent balance. A long finish. My first inclination was Northern Rhone, but then I over thought it and decided it must be paired with the second wine. I guessed Bordeaux. While it was delicious, there was nothing about this wine that seemed to really stand out as being a 100 point wine. But, as I said, it was very good. 50+4+13+19+8=94

1990 Latour
On the other hand, this wine was singing. Purple in color with some garnet at the rim, shimmering bright. The nose is awesome. Cassis, tobacco, slight roasted meat notes, a bit of leather, it just kept going. Totally perfect nose and classic Bordeaux for me. Full bodied. On the palate, this is just starting to enter maturity. Tertiary qualities show, but there is still so much fruit. I was pretty sure this was a 90 left bank first or second growth wine, not because I am any good at blind tasting but this was so classic and obvious. Layers of cassis, leather and just a hint of damp forest floor. Long finish. Not a perfect wine perhaps, but everything I could want in a Bordeaux. 50+5+15+19+9=98

1990 D’Yquem
Served blind, this was easy to guess. I didn’t even need to smell or taste it. If someone is serving the above two wines, it is likely this will be the dessert wine, no? Still I tasted it, just to be polite… Orange/amber in color, shimmering bright. The nose is gorgeous with apricots, peaches, and honey. On the palate, this is perfectly balanced, despite its sweetness, the acidity cuts thru it. For me, the most amazing thing about Yquem is the finish. I don’t know of a wine that goes on longer. It was beautiful. 50+5+14+19+9=97

Loren,

Impressive that you could call the year of Latour, recognizing it was a Bordeaux from 1990, just because it was ‘classic’ in its flavor profile. You say you are not a great blind taster, but if you can call a specific year and region in Bordeaux blind, I’d disagree with you!

Was '90 chosen for some particular reason? An anniversary, perhaps?

Loren,

Nice line-up and notes.

Agree with you on the '90 Landonne - it’s very good but unremarkable. I find that for most Guigal Landonne’s. Not nearly as complex aromatically and intense on the palate as Mouline or La Turque.

Todd, I think our host is just in the enviable position of having mature wines, bought on release and in his cellar to open. Thus sparked the “theme”.

Impressive lineup. Thanks for the notes.

Excellent notes Loren and I agree with Todd; you are being too modest [cheers.gif] BTW, I had an 05 JJ Prum Auslese this past weekend. Very smiliar TN’s to yours.