My wife and I went to Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park tonight with some old friends and I told her I was taking my “I might get hit by a bus tomorrow” wine.
1990 Ch. Margaux: Great right out of the chute, decanted and showed a big soy nose, then more complexity with red fruit, touch of wood, bit of ash, and spice. Lush but not big. Very flavorful. Drinking very nicely and I guess has many years of evolution ahead.
We also had a very nice Roederer Estate Brut Rosé that I thought was pretty fairly priced at $50 (and $10/glass). Flea St. has never disappointed me and I really enjoyed their grilled sardines and duck two ways. My wife had a very nice house-smoked trout appetizer and maybe the tastiest filet mignon I’ve had. Not sure if it was dry aged but it wasn’t the ordinary thing.
I don’t get to drink first growth Bdx very often but I’ve had two very fine ones this year, both anniversary wines in a way. Both couples tonight were married in 1990 though our anniversaries were a few months back. Two months ago we helped another couple celebrate their 25th and I brought my lone bottle of Mouton, a 1988. I loved that wine - it may be slightly lean for a FG but it’s a very classy, aromatic old-style Bdx, very much in line with the vintage. We had decided to go out on just about 15 min. notice and I grabbed the Mouton in a sort of “what the heck?” moment that turned out to be a great call. This couple doesn’t collect a lot of wine but a few years ago had shared a 1984 Mouton with us, also a last bottle from a time when they were buying one each year.