TN: Some High End Gems @ Christie's

WINE TALK
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OBJECTS, AND WINES, OF VERTU - Christie’s - New York City (10/20/2009#

I received an email from Christie’s last week with an invitation to a private wine tasting and viewing of silver objects by Vertu for an upcoming auction. Last night I arrived, on what turned out to be an incredibly pleasant Autumn evening, at the beautiful building in 20 Rockefeller Plaza that houses Christie’s US headquarters. The wines were presented front and center, surrounded by exquisite, and oh so costly, silver objects of art. Some delicious cheeses from Artisanal were the foil for what turned out to be a very splendid and generous tasting.

  • 1985 Château Rausan-Ségla - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    Dark brick-ish orange. Dusty aromas of green olives and graphite. Tart in mouth with some green notes of tobacco, lead pencil and red fruit. A sweet cocoa note emerges on the medium finish. Definitely benefited from more air time. B-

  • 1988 Château Mouton Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    Oh my God! What an incredible perfume of crushed flowers #freesia#, sweet roasted coffee and cigar box. Amazingly fresh and juicy black currants, roasted meat, cocoa and spice notes in the mouth. Long finish and silky tannnins. Gorgeous. A

  • 1983 Château Margaux - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
    Amazingly elegant nose of cassis, cigar, leather and perfumed cedar. In the mouth this wine is still youthful with chewy and tight tannins that are, at the same time, smooth and refined. Dark chocolate, currants and plums are at the forefront. Very masculine but a very refined wine with years of life still ahead. A+

  • 1989 Château Lafite Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    Elegant, smoky and floral aromas. In the mouth, this was a little light with faint cherry and red fruit notes. Later on, a light fragrant cedar note emerged. This was a little disappointing. B+

A whiff of a friends glass a half hour later actually offered up a much better impression, with elegant leather and earth notes with a deeper fruit complexity coming through. Definitely needed more air time. A-

  • 1990 Château Cheval Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
    Quite floral #lilacs, roses) on the nose with a minty aroma in the background. A sweet clove spice comes through as well. In the mouth, it’s quite rich and full-bodied with beautifully fresh acidity and chewy but smooth tannins. Long finish. A

  • 1963 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
    Light tawny color, a little cloudy. Huge, deep aromas of sweet molasses, brown sugar and orange peel. In the mouth, this is quite strong and there is quite a bit of heat. With air, citrus peel, clove, cinammon and fig notes come through. Medium sweet and long finish. The heat detracts a little. B

After the still wines, theres was an abundance of grower Champagne. I was able to taste/drink some Jacques Picard, Pehu Simon and Ayala. What an embarrasement of riches, what fun, what wines! Off I went into the crisp October air. Not a terrible way to cap off what had been, up to that moment, a perfectly plain Tuesday.
Posted from CellarTracker

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what ya bidding on?



:slight_smile:



Thanks for posting. [berserker.gif]

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awesome note on the margaux. maybe i will open it for my bday this year

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Lucky man Charlie “Fu” Brown. It was definitely the best of the bunch. [thumbs-up.gif]

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i got a great price on it. just one tho

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Great notes! Just picked up some of the '83 Margaux, so it’s nice hearing that it’s in a great place right now. Sounds like a cool event, Jorge.

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Clearly this invitation was received in error.

Jorge Posada must be pissed off.

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Niiiiice notes, Jorge.

So, if I understand you correctly, this was NOT an average Tuesday night tasting for you? [swoon.gif]

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Imagine how puzzled Posada must have been when he received the invite to “Barry’s Beer and Pretzel Fest” in Mt Vernon.

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More like “Juan’s House of Plantain’s MofongoBlast” in Washington Heights.

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Great notes, Jorge!

Re: '90 Cheval Blanc, around 4 years ago, I ordered a mixed case and-a-half of all Parker 100 pointers just to see what he was all about since my friends were all agog about them (I grew up drinking wine and only became aware of Parker in 1999 or 2000 from US wine boards).

Of that case and-a-half I got, the only wines I had drank (or remember having drank) before were the '90 Cheval Blanc and '82 Pichon Lalande, and, of those, the only one I re-ordered was the '90 Cheval Blanc.

Re: '83 Margaux, I bought a few in 2004. Because of your note, I re-checked the current prices - only to realize I paid too much for them. Que Lastima.

Re: '85 Rauzan Ségla - I’ve not had much luck with this maker’s vintages from the '80s, so I am not surprised you seemed underwhelmed by this. Even the much Parker-touted '86 was a big disappointment. I was thinking of getting some '89 last year from Cellaraiders but, when I asked Ben Wallace (owner of the shop) about it, he didn’t recommend it well so I passed on buying. One of my friends bought some anyway and 2 weeks ago, that friend told me he regretted buying some.

I do enjoy their '96 though and it is reasonably priced. The best I’ve had from this maker was their '55. It was ex-château, enjoyed a lot of it courtesy of Emmanuel Cruse (whose family owned the château - they sold it in '56 or '57) during a dinner at d’Issan (mid June 2007). The wine was so fresh and vibrant for its age - if tasted blind, I would never have guessed it was almost 52 years old already.

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Noel,

Lastima indeed on the prices for the 83 Margaux. Nonetheless, rejoice in the fact that you have some incredible wine in your possession.

Saludos!