TN: 1999 Horizontal

WINE TALK
1

An intrepid group descended on Troquet Saturday night to see how some wines from 1999 were progressing. Food and service was outstanding as always.

Boston 1999 Dinner August 1, 2009

Starters
1990 Deutz Cuvee William - Sherry, almonds and sweet pecan rolls on the nose. Crisp apples and limestone minerals on the palate. Stuffing is there for a great wine, but a little old and tired. Perhaps damaged along the way?

2004 Coche Dury Mersault – Nice flinty limestone, lemon, white pepper and oaky butter on the nose. Nose was a little over the top on oak, but none of that oak showed up on the palate. Nicely balanced between sweet viscous peach fruit and tight acidity.

All 1999 Reds Tasted Single Blind (Knew list, but not order)
#1 – Limestone, black fruit, plums – quite ripe nose. Black cherry and tannic fruit on the palate. Still quite young and tight. Nice, but a little one dimensional. Merryvale Profile

#2 - Sweet blackberry fruit, very dark rich earth with a hint of exotic spicy tobacco on the nose. Still a deep dark core of fruit and some noticeable tannins on the palate, but nothing out of balance –really nicely structured and seamless from start to finish. My #3 WOTN, Dalla Valle Cabernet

#3 – Menthol, dusty earth, black pepper and Asian spices on the nose. A lot of big bold elements on the palate- leather and earth, still quite young with some very pronounced tannins, but also just gobs of sweet fruit. Outstanding – my WOTN as well as the group’s. Shafer HSS

#4 – Definitely seemed old world – very structured and refined after tasting the Shafer. Some earth, brett, black pepper and spices. Still seemed muted on the nose. Very well constructed but still very young and tannic. Revisit in another 5 years. Dominus (I pegged it for the Pavie Decesse)

#5 – Chalky limestone and graphite on the nose. Little under ripe and tart on the palate. Kind of thin and watery at first, but with air continued to pick up complexity and intensity with some hints of chocolate and floral notes. Still just far too young? Was underwhelming in this line up. Cheval Blanc

#6 - Smoky ripe blue fruit, earth and chocolate on the nose. Nice classic structure on the palate with earth and blacker fruits showing through. Well integrated oak and tannins, both present but not overwhelming. Not quite as opulent and ripe as some of the newer vintages, but a very good drink. It may pick up some more secondary character with some bottle time, but it is in a very good place. Pavie

#7 Mint, blackberry and earth on the nose - still has quite a tannic bite to it and was pretty stubborn and unyielding even with some time in the glass. Some great potential here, but patience required. Pavie Decesse

#8 Clearly a departure from all the other wines of the evening. Big bold blackberry and blueberry fruit with gobs of chocolate on the nose. Quite intense on the palate with lots of earth and sweet plum fruit and a fantastically long finish. Well put together but ultimately a little one dimensional – my wife adored it, not my cuppa. Penfolds Grange.

2

I sure hope not, I have yet to crack one. [beg.gif]

Nice lineup, sounds like my kind of tasting.

3

Thanks for the notes. 99 might be a great vintage to compare Bordeaux and Napa. Good, not great vintages, IMO. Both are drinking very well now for most of the better wines.

4

Both the Dominus and Cheval Blanc I had almost 3yrs ago were very very disappointing but I loved the profile of the Pavie. The Grange was not your cup of…
soup
coffee
milk

can’t be tea [scratch.gif]

Sorry I couldn’t make the dinner but you know I was hoping you all had a great time!!!

5

Nice idea. One of our local Berserkers has had the idea to do an all '99 dinner. I need to get him going on that.

6

I’d like to take credit for this but Jud would never allow it so my chance to come off as a wine guru will have to wait for another opportunity. [tease.gif] A mutual friend(that Jud will attest knows more about wine than most) and I discussed the ‘99 vintage of bordeaux and Napa. It seems that both regions in 98’ and 99’ bought into the wine reduction theory; hence the wines were not the quality they might have been. Wine reduction is the opposite of oxidation and it seems many winemakers went overboard in depriving the wine of oxygen in both vintages making them flawed.

One other interesting note is that many of the 89’ rhones are cooked and he suggested anyone stay away from them. It seems that they were shipped here to the United States in very hot weather and among others every 89’ Chateau de Beaucastel he has tasted has been cooked. He further stated that novices will take the aroma’s of these wines as good when in fact the wine is actually cooked. So, I don’t get slammed, I am only the messenger [suicide.gif]