TN: 1978 Big Dogs at Riverpark

WINE TALK
1

1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (8/4/2014)
A breathtaking bottle. Powerful, knock-you-over porcini and roses nose, but fresh, with mixed red and dark fruit that doesn’t show a hint of raisining. So rich and richly textured but without any weight, and seems like it has twice as much flavor per drop as any other wine on the table. Wow. (96 pts.)

1978 Château La Mission Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (8/4/2014)
Another great wine . . . Red fruit, smoke, dust, wet leaves, and a green note that reminds me uncannily of Sichuan pepper, but without the tingle. High acid but not sour, this is light bodied and great with food but has sneaky-great concentration. Tannins resolved; this is probably as good as it gets for this. (93 pts.)

1978 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace - USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain (8/4/2014)
Oh boy this is ripe and good. Sweet plummy fruit and flowers, a fresh, loud, lush wine, this tames down with air and takes on cedar, menthol and truffle notes, with still a laser of sweet fruit on the palate. Rich textured and resolved; no sharp edges. Excellent. (93 pts.)

1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut - France, Champagne (8/4/2014)
Excellent. Slightly oxidative, honey, lemon, smoke and a faint whiff of nuttiness. Long and chalky. Poor QPR, but a damn fine bottle of champagne. (92 pts.)

1995 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (8/4/2014)
Wow, this is insanely sweet and has insane acid, with a honeyed nose and overripe stone fruit - this is a glass of perfect dried apricots. Sneaky extracted, even tannic - this is a big wine! Dark golden color but very fresh tasting. What a treat. (92 pts.)

1991 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (8/4/2014)
A very good wine, but a big disappointment. Flamboyant and ripe, with sweet dark fruit and a polished texture, this has a hint of tertiary mush roominess but is frankly a bit simple. I suspect not the best bottle of this. (91 pts.)

1978 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Riserva Grande Annata - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (8/4/2014)
Very nice. A bit out shouted on a heavyweight table, but i thought this would’ve been really good on its own, since it was elegant but balanced, with a nice balance of red fruit and flowers juxtaposed against a truffle note. A bit tart, so it shows better -excellently - with food. (90 pts.)

2007 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (8/4/2014)
I was a bit underwhelmed by this. Surprisingly oxidative - more so than the 1990 Krug it was poured next to - this has the waxy, honey, nutty character that I might blindly associate with aged semillon. Apple and quince fruit. More elegant than concentrated. Very nice, but I wasn’t blown away by this. (89 pts.)

1985 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow - USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain (8/4/2014)
This was either corked or crappy, but it was thin in comparison to the 78 RRT tasted alongside and oddly musty. An interesting tapenade note, but where is the concentration? Higher acid than the 78, too. Another in a long line of meh 80’s Diamond Creeks. (86 pts.)

1978 Domaine Louis Remy Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru (8/4/2014)
Grumpy, sour muddied old burgundy. Anonymous. A bit better with food, in a mushroomy, earthy way, but still. Most dumped. (84 pts.)

2

A fun night. That La Chapelle was really something

1978S + OTHERS AT RIVERPARK - (8/4/2014)

  • 1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut - France, Champagne
    Toasty baked yellow apple, some supporting touches of caramel and baking spice, touch oxidative but not over done. Shows good richness but still has nice citrusy acidity underneath and while not a super mineral champagne there’s a kiss of chalk on the back end and excellent length. Certainly very good if not OMG level. (92 pts.)
  • 2007 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Kind of an odd ball. Quite volatile/shoe polishy, a bit oxidative and almondy, ripe tree fruits. With air the oxidation blows off a bit and it picks up a nice minty quality. Oily texture with good acidity but not especially concentrated. Underwhelming. Given the pedigree here my hunch would have been that there was something not quite right about this bottle but I was assured by those at the table with more experience with Chave blanc that this bottle was representative. (88 pts.)


  • 1978 Domaine Louis Remy Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru
    Ripe fleshy dark fruit, earthy and mushroomy, relatively anonymous old burg with only a hint of iron to suggest even Gevrey, let alone Chambertin. The tannins are bit rustic and the wine is short and tart. Drinkable but nothing special, a disappointment considering the vineyard and vintage. (86 pts.)
  • 1978 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Kind of get lost in the shuffle. Not actually all that different from the Chambertin, but a little more interesting. Dark fruit, truffly and earthy, some tannins that are mostly relaxed, lots of acid, elegant. (87 pts.)


  • 1978 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace - USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
    Explosive, sweet ripe black fruit on the nose, blackberries and plums. The fruit is sweet and fresh and leaps from the glass, and in the mouth the fruit is rich and lush and concentrated. But for a wine of this caliber, it’s a bit one-note – there’s nothing like the complexity of the LMHB next to it – and the tannins are just a touch rough around the edges and unrefined. I preferred the LMHB. (92 pts.)
  • 1985 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow - USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
    Others thought this was corked. There certainly was something to that, as there’s a dirty/funky edge here. But the funk always stayed in the background and didn’t get any worse with air, which is unlike TCA in my experience. There’s some still very primary cassis fruit framed by nice herbal/olivey/cedary notes, although the green here is nowhere near as prominent as the LMHB. But the structure is still out in force, as the tannins are drying and the acidity is extremely high, so high that as this is otherwise phenolically ripe I wonder if it was acidified. Better with steak, which cuts the structure some. I would say this still needs more time to resolve the structure, but does it have enough concentration to last long enough for that? Compared to, say the 85 Dunn HM (also a tannic, mountain cab), which also needs years and years more time, this is a lightweight. (87 pts.)
  • 1978 Château La Mission Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    There’s plenty of red fruit in there somewhere, but what you notice right away is all the other stuff: green peppercorn, scorched earth, smoke, cigar, BBQ, a hint of caramel and walnut. Not a big wine, on a smaller frame than the 78 Diamond Creek, but there’s still plenty of smokey red fruit in the midpalate and the comparison with the Diamond Creek makes it seem lighter than it actually is. Really excellent with beef, which cuts the acid and allows the fruit to show more. Lovely. (93 pts.)


  • 1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Ok, now this is the real deal. Thse nose is lovely, with wonderfully fresh meaty red and black fruit and lots of pepper and earth, but does nothing to prepare you for the palate. Incredibly concentrated and intense meaty fruit, somehow it’s both rich and dense and lush while being airy and light at the same time. Completely different flavor profile, but the only one I’ve had that resembles this texturally is 1982 Pichon Lalande, which is similarly a knockout. True vinous magic here. (96 pts.)
  • 1991 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    First experience with a Guigal La La. Plenty of ripe, concentrated black fruit with a distinctly glossy texture but not much complexity. Noticeable if unobtrusive oak on the nose but this is still carrying unintegrated oak tannin 23 years out that clenches down and dries out the midpalate. The haterz say Guigal’s wines are overoaked; sometimes the haterz are right. This no doubt suffered being poured next to the 78 La Chapelle but I wasn’t especially impressed. (90 pts.)


  • 1995 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
    Superripe apricots, spice, honey, lots of sugar, lots of acid, significant botrytis. It’s dense and sweet but well-balanced, but it’s a bit tannic and there’s a touch of bitterness from the botrytis, and it’s not especially complex by Mosel riesling standards. Delicious no doubt, but I liked it less than others did. (90 pts.)
3

Well, that was a fun dinner. Thanks for letting this out-of-towner come along.

Regarding the restaurant, Riverpark, I thought the food was uneven but mostly quite good, and the service, especially the wine service was truly excellent. I’d go back.

For me, WOTN was easily the 1978 La Chapelle, which really reminded me of the 1990, which is my favorite wine ever. The advantage I had with the 90 was that I shared it with only two others, so was able to see its evolution over an evening. I suspect the 78 would have matched it, had I had the opportunity for a second and third glass. Oh well.

The 78 La Mission and the 78 Diamond Creek were also top notch wines, that encouraged one to keep going back and forth between them. Again, I selfishly wish I had more.

I suspect that most of the other “lesser” wines would have shown brilliantly, served alone with dinner.

Thanks all for their generosity. It was a pleasure seeing/meeting you and was a very fun evening. Thanks to Dan for organizing. If we get to drink like this, maybe I should come to NYC more often.

Ah, time to pack up the Voerzio and Giacosa for tonight’s encore.

4

When I saw David’s original post about the oxidized aroma, I wondered if that hadn’t blown off. I haven’t had a white Chave in a long time, but it’s one of those wines that can have what seems to be madeirization but really isn’t. In a thread on that topic a year or so ago, a winemaker said that, if it blows off, it’s probably a sulfur-related compound rather than oxidation.

5

If we get to drink like that, you SHOULD come to NYC more often, Brady.

6

It wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was some sort of odd sulfury thing. I found the Chave weird and impenetrable.

7

I haven’t had one in a while, but I’ve had some very old ones that were stunning. At a big dinner with the Chaves, pere et fils, back in 1999, we had whites back to the 60s that were as fresh as [pick your metaphor]. I thought they outshone the reds.

8

Great notes, and the 78 La Chapelle sounds absolutely spectacular. The never-ending oddness of N Rhone Whites continues. In my opinion, you have them young or you bury them for 10-15. The middle-phase of these wines is really unforgiving and may leave you thinking you have oxidized wines.

9

I’ve heard this a number of times, but I haven’t had enough of them to test it for myself.

You guys in NYC live large! Sounds like a great evening.

10

I’ve seen a lot of mixed notes on '91 La Turque and not sure what to make of it. What is the history of this bottle? FWIW, the couple bottles I have had have been stellar.

11

Paul,

The 91 La Turque was bought from a trusted retailer, who bought it out of a cold damp British cellar. I hand carried it back and stored it for several years in off-site refrigerated storage. I don’t think the bottle was dodgy, it just suffered from being tasted next to the sublime 78 La Chapelle. In comparison, it seemed a bit obvious and modern, with noticeable oak. On its own, I think it would have been great.

Funnily last night we had a 1990 Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive and a 2000 Voerzio Brunate, and the comparison was similar. On its own the Voerzio would have impressed, but next to the more classical and restrained Giacosa, it seemed almost garish, well to two of us anyway. Happily our third liked it best. The addition of a superb 2001 Hudelot Noellat Clos Vougeot created the unusual situation where we all preferred a different wine.

I’m enjoying NYC. Our next planned event is Peking Duck and Pinot on Tuesday, yay!

12

Very interested in how that Giacosa showed - that same bottle was very unimpressive a few weeks ago from Coravin.

13

Brady, thanks. I’m always curious when there are so many differences in notes. If it is one or two I just chalk it up to an off bottle. Another thing to think about is if you travelled with it from London. I’ve done a lot of dinners in London and I swear there was an impact from the travel. Bottles were mostly a few pegs under what I would have here. Good but not as good.

I was going to say that I would be drinking burgs half a block away from you on Tuesday but then realized I’ll be out on Wednesday and not Tuesday. Have fun!

14

I’m interested in what you disliked about it.

I guess the advantage and disadvantage of Coravin is that the wine doesn’t get oxygen. To me, Nebbiolo, more than any other variety requires lots of air. I opened both bottles around noon and left a little headspace to breathe, then decanted off the sediment an hour before leaving. The Giacosa started a little slowly, but as it warmed, it showed the classic nebb characteristics (tar, violets, etc), slightly on the tertiary side (mushroom, tobacco), all while retaining noticeable mixed fruit. Some prefer older, more tertiary wines, others like more fruit driven versions. For me, this was in the sweet spot.

The Voerzio was noticeably darker, yet was also clearly nebb, but much more dominated by the tar, and, increasingly with time, wood tannins.

For me the last two nights either demonstrated the superiority of traditionally styled wines, or maybe the benefits of an additional ten to fifteen years of bottle-age.

15

I overnighted the wine from Chicago to New York last week. Happily the weather was cool. But travel shock seems a credible theory for both the Guigal and the Voerzio’s showing.

I’m free Wednesday. [snort.gif]

16

The Giacosa was short and tart - nothing overtly flawed, but just seeming more like a $40 bottle than a $400 bottle. We let it sit in our glasses for a few hours and it improved slightly, but not dramatically.

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that it simply needed the 6+ hours of air that we couldn’t provide.

17

One of those I always want to try, if I shall ever be so lucky… great read!

18

Here are notes from last night:

  • 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (8/6/2014)
    Pretty red neb fruit on the fruit with a strong menthol character, turning darker and earthier with air. Still quite structured with lots of acid and tannin, but there’s enough concentration to balance it out here. This goes from very good to oustanding with some braised lamb, which cuts the structure and allows the purity of the fruit to shine through. Drinking quite well now with lots of air, but those that like their Nebbiolo more tertiary and resolved should probably wait a little longer. (92 pts.)
  • 2000 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Brunate - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (8/6/2014)
    At first, shows the dark side of nebbiolo, but still distinctly nebbiolo, with black fruit and lots of tar. The black fruit is rich and concentrated and a touch glossy, but there’s a lot of unintegrated gritty oak tannin that clamps down hard in the midpalate and dries out the back end. With air the nose gets riper and sweeter and less distinctively nebbiolo, and it develops an odd, strong coconut suntan lotion note. Since gritty oak tannin is a personal pet peeve, this wine did nothing for me. Others less sensitive enjoyed it. I preferred the 1990 Giacosa alongside by miles. (87 pts.)
  • 2001 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Clos Vougeot - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru (8/6/2014)
    Gorgeously pure, perfectly ripe raspberry fruit from the word go, the kind of pure red fruit you only get in pinot. There are some subtle hints of dark clovey spice and with air, and in a bigger glass, it shows a little darker and more herbal and meaty. Medium-bodied, round and light and airy with superfine tannins that provide just enough grip on the back end, you hardly feel this is there until it’s gone, where the length is excellent.

A companion describes this as a modern burg, and he’s right in that it’s clean as a whistle and a little slick texturally (it’s not traditional in the Gouges or Lafarge sense), but whatever oak this saw is invisible and this is relatively unextracted as far as grand crus are concerned. Not a ton of structure here, I don’t see this as needing much more bottle age, although presumably it will get more tertiary and continue to drink well for many years. (93 pts.)

Besides the six hours of air, which I’m sure helped, for me having the right food made a huge difference for the Giacosa. There’s still a lot of structure there and you really need the meat to smooth it out a bit and let it shine.

19

Nice set of wines! Thanks for posting the notes. I had the 1978 LMHB several years ago and it was flat-out stunning; one of the best bottles of Bordeaux I have ever tasted. The owner of the bottle bought it on release and had kept it in the same location until it was opened. It really opened my world to how good aged Bordeaux can taste.

Thanks,
Ed

20

I’ve been traveling, and haven’t had time to post my impressions until now. I don’t think I handled this tasting very well–I was so in love with the '78 Diamond Creek that it kind of overshadowed all the other wines for me, and with 8 people the pours were too small for me to really grapple with the wines that I didn’t immediately “understand” (principally the LMHB and La Chalpelle). Nonetheless it was a fantastic evening with as passionate a group of oenophiles as you could ever hope for, and I think everyone (except for maybe Omar, for whom such events are commonplace) came home with at least one strong WOTY candidate. Let’s do it again as soon as we can repair the damage to our bank accounts.

1978 BIG BOYS + FRIENDS - Riverpark, NYC (8/16/2014)

We also had a 1990 Krug and 2007 Chave Hermitage Blanc to start, and a fantastically delicious 1995 Schloss-Lieser Beerenauslese to wrap up, but I didn’t record notes on them.

Burgundy & Piedmont

  • 1978 Domaine Louis Remy Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru
    I sure hope Leroy is doing a better job with these vines than Louis Remy did. This is tired and anonymous–very musty, muddy, a lot of earthy character, funky. No power, no elegance, no fruit. Seems like it would take a heroic sabotage effort to make this wine out of 1978 Chambertin grapes. (85 pts.)

  • 1978 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Cannubi Muscatel - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Winner of the (modest) first flight. I didn’t have enough time with this, but it was quite nice, one of the first Piedmonts I’ve had that was neither too young nor too old. Florals, soy, acid, fresh-tasting fruit. Wish I could have studied it more. (91 pts.)

Cabernet

  • 1978 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace - USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
    Firing on all cylinders. Leaps out of the glass with redcurrant, mint, honey, and a really distinctive Sierra Mist smell. Very fresh and lively with a light-framed body, refreshing acidity, an almost frizzante texture. Makes me envision a bumblebee buzzing around just-bloomed flowers in a spring meadow. (94 pts.)

  • 1978 Château La Mission Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    This was served alongside a 1978 Diamond Creek that I loved so much I probably didn’t pay the LMHB sufficient attention, so as a disclaimer I have low confidence in this note. Really distinctive in the combination of a very prominent green/bell pepper note while still offering a fleshy, generous texture. Dark fruit, a hint of chocolate, the Graves smoke comes out with air. This didn’t pull at my heartstrings, so I may be underrating it–I was mainly impressed by how its combination of size and aromatic profile seemed to defy logic. (91 pts.)

  • 1985 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow - USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
    Served alongside a 1978 Diamond Creek and 1978 La Mission, it surprisingly bore more resemblance to the Bordeaux. Green, musty, and clunky, the table consensus was TCA–though I’m yet to meet a post-1980 Diamond Creek that’s impressed me. NR (flawed)

Syrah

  • 1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    This was the consensus WOTN in a stacked lineup, and some people were saying it was a candidate for the best wine they’d ever had. We only got smallish pours, and for whatever reason I didn’t feel the magic here. I did find this very elegant, complex, and distinctive. The nose had a tropical/passionfruit/melony fruit profile, which I’ve never detected in a red wine except for Paolo Bea’s Sagrantinos. There’s coconut and marzipan smells, though I imagine any oak treatment would have vanished into the wine long ago, and mature notes of barbecue sauce and leather. On the palate it was lightweight, soft, integrated, and very impressively long. Like the 1978 La Mission but to a greater degree, this fascinated me cerebrally but didn’t move me. (92 pts.)

  • 1991 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    In your face. Very ripe and pure plum fruit, tasty vanilla oak, mouth-filling texture, grippy tannin. All power, not much finesse. Tastes far younger than its years. A little modern/internationalist, but just because I wouldn’t know it was Northern Rhone blind doesn’t mean it’s not delicious. Simple and straightforward for now, but dense enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if it revealed a lot more complexity in another decade. My score reflects this potential. (92 pts.)

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