TN: Blind Pauillacs at Mortons in NYC

WINE TALK
1

Our city Bordeaux group got back to Bordeaux last night, with a Pauillac theme. I double-decanted my initial candidate- unmistakably corked- but a different bottle seemed fine, and I jumped on train. UN General Assembly and climate summit meant gridlock, but luckily (for me at least) we were at Morton’s, an easy walk from Grand Central.

First white was blind. Ripe/tropical fruit, balanced acids, a little soft on finish but tasty. My guess was a riper Sancerre like a Cotat. Nope. 2004 Fevre “Les Preuses” Chablis GC. B

1983 Trimbach “Cuvee Frederic Emile” Riesling Vendange Tardive
Minerally, petrol, citrus. Long and full, this was great, thanks Ramon! A-

First time back at Mortons in a while. Service was good, I enjoyed a chopped salad (though not very food friendly) and the shared porterhouse was good (though I think they wet age). Nice sides (fries, Lyonnais potatoes, broccoli, spinach creamed and not).
On to the Pauillacs. Ben had brought his special blind bags, and we each bagged our wines, and then they were randomly grabbed and numbered.

Pauillac #1 - Lean, not very giving, harder tannin. B/B- (got better in glass)

Pauillac #2 - Barnyard and earth over cassis fruit B+ (good but gets even better in glass.)

Pauillac #3 - Warm lush fruits, broad and long, earthy full. A-

Pauillac #4 Drier tannins, a peculiar medicinal note (someone thought corked but I didn’t get that). a bit hard. B-

Pauillac #5 Big tannins, but strong fruit as well, forest floor, good length. B+

Pauillac #6 Full, tannic, some heat on finish. B/B-

Pauillac #7 Tannic, structured, great fruit, this should be great in time. B+/A-

Pauillac #8 There’s a herby overlay to red fruit (Chris says Ludens Cherry Cough Drop). tannic. B/B+

We voted using our usual 3/2/1 method. Some people changed votes as they retasted before voting, I stuck with original notes.

Pauillac #1 - 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste (2 votes)

Pauillac #2 1999 Mouton-Rothschild (16 votes)

Pauillac #3 1996 Pichon Baron (15 votes)

Pauillac #4 1995 Lynch Bages (0 votes)

Pauillac #5 1986 Pichon Lalande (4 votes)

Pauillac #6 1986 Pichon Lalande (0 votes)

Pauillac #7 **1990 Grand Puy Lacoste (**11votes)

Pauillac #8 1995 Lynch Bages (0 votes)

Frank’s wine was the ‘99 Mouton, so he got free dinner
Amazing that we had 2 pairings out of 8 wines. Even wilder, my original corked bottle was the 96 Pichon Baron (replacement was 90 GPL) -and Frank had brought a backup- the 96 Pichon Baron. We could have conceivably only had 4 wines represented.
Fun night

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.

2

Frank in the house! Bowl em all over with that Mouton!

Sounds like a fun night. But go with the bone-in Filet Mignon at Mortons.

I recently had the 1996 Pichon Baron too and it was wonderful. A clear winner over the 1995 PB we opened the same night (both served double blind). I guess it’s good that the Mouton edged out the Baron, or there would have been an argument over the free dinner.

Thanks for the notes!

3

Quite shocking that a 99 Mouton can outperform the 86 PLL, 82 and 90 GPL.

4

I would have bet against the Mouton before dinner. We’ve done a few of these now and it is interesting to see that first growths trump the others. It will be interesting to see if the trend continues.

5

This is interesting and not surprising. Despite so many people yearning for the old style Bordeaux, most folks enjoy the generous ripe fruit as evident here. FWIW, the reason why Dale guesses sancerre is due to the 04 green.

6

the bottle of the 04 Fevre had been kept in the owner kitchen refrigerator since release. I also thought is was sancerre as it warmed and had more air it showed more like chardonnay.

7

Why oh why didn’t I buy the 1996 Pichon Baron at $35 in 2005?!? It was just sitting there at retail.

I’m also surprised by the showing of the 82 GPL, which was incredible in 2012.

8

$35 per would be an outrageous bargain for the '96 PB, Patrick.
As far as I can recall, it placed in the top 3 during a wide-ranging 1996 horizontal back in 2011, mostly with same folks from last night’s dinner.

I agree with everything in Dale’s notes from last night and the 1996 PB’s showing was not a surprise to me.

9

I checked, Ramon, and it was 2006, not 2005, when the 1996 PB was still selling for $35!

Not sure if you were in attendance, but Ian and Arv and others organized a big Pauillac tasting in 2006 in NYC. We were packed into Les Sans Culottes bistro in the scorching heat of a Manhattan summer, and the 1996 Pichon Baron was right up there that night with the 1995 Pichon Lalande and the 1995 GPL. After remarking on how good it was, Matt Richman directed me to a wine shop in NYC that had it in stock for T-H-I-R-T-Y F-I-V-E dollars. For some inexplicable reason, I passed (thinking I had enough wine).

You can read Dale’s excellent write-up of this event here:
http://forums.wineloverspage.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1907&p=13690&hilit=1975+haut+bages+liberal&sid=92df70c68b4feb800e8d61641f510a9f#p13690

10

No I wasn’t there. I wish I was with the great line-up and the friendly group.
That’s 3 data point, all very positive, about the '96 PB and from tasters that I know and respect. I certainly don’t feel bad about re-loading with a few bottles at the $60 - $70 range.

11

Patrick-

It was Sherry Lehmann. And it was $50. Both the 95 and 96 could be had at that price. I believe we cleaned them out.

That’s a wine I’ll be drinking into my old age.

12

Dale,

Thanks for the great summary of the night! I liked all the wines and there were certainly a few standouts that I think the group captured well, though I can’t believe I came in second [snort.gif] by one point…what would have happened if Frank and I would have tied…we both would have got free dinner or we both would have paid half???

I arrived a half hour late because of that horrible traffic, but it did allow me to blind guess the two whites [winner.gif], which you failed to mention [dance-clap.gif].

Fun night, can’t wait for the next one!!!

Cheers
Nanop

13

Great tasting. I need to get back to tasting blind.

14

Yes, uncorked bottles can be wonderful. Sadly, I’ve had a couple with bad TCA.