Tonight we had a rather extravagant tasting where the main event was to compare - blind, of course - four nice Bordeaux from bottle and magnum.
We started off with three blind whites:
Tacama Salvaje Blanco de Blancos 2005 from Ica, Peru. It smelled of pears, was clean and perfectly acceptable and refreshing - but it was rather simple and forgettable. For 11€ there is so much more interesting fizz available that this, so it will remain, though technically well made, more a curiosity.
Jadot Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 1990 was at the same time a very classical white d'Or yet a very voluptious wine. Huge fruit but never in the stereotypical New World style, quite a bit of oak still, yet it had a very firm and steely foundation. I am not currently a big fan of white Burgundy, but I still appreciated this (but I would like it more once the fruit and oak fade).
Laville Haut-Brion 1990 smelled like a new world Chardonnay in comparison to the Jadot: buttered popcorn, very tropical and perfumed. Very sweet, much oak tannin, hot, harsh and bitterly oaky on the finish. I rather disliked this.
Then for the reds:
Château Beychevelle 1986 from the bottle was very sweet and open, quite sexy even - I at first thought it might have been the Cheval, but with air, the more stern left bank aromas came forward. Quite tannic, lots of tobacco-laced/savoury fruit, earthy. Long and refreshing aftertaste. Very nice.
Château Beychevelle 1986 from magnum was perhaps my favourite of the evening. Quite stern and obviously left bank from the moment it was poured, but did gain some sweeter strawberry scents with air. Tannic, reserved, aristrocratic, very classy and very classic. Lovely.
Château Margaux 1986 from bottle was spicy and dark toned in fruit, with a scent of wet clay and rye bread - from the scent it seemed that it is time to drink up. But the taste was still vibrant and well structured yet lacked the class of glass #2 (Beychevelle in magnum). It was a nice wine, but not something truly grand as were some others tonight.
Château Cheval Blanc 1986 from magnum was very sweet in fruit, more in the red spectrum of fruit, earthy and showing some earthy maturity. Lovely sweet fruit yet savoury, long and leafy but still sexy. Buxom.
Château Mouton-Rothschild 1986 from magnum was IMO corked, but some disagreed.
Château Cheval Blanc 1986 from bottle was even better to my taste than the magnum! This was more reserved and elegant, yet still had all the sexiness of the magnum. Softer than the medocs but with a healthy structure - no hurry with this one - and quite sweet fruit, spicy. Very nice.
Château Mouton-Rothschild 1986 from bottle was just stunning. Classic, cool aromas, slightly herbal but with healthy fruit, dark toned in fruit and very Pauillac. It is refreshingly tannic, quite high in acidity for Bordeaux - certainly nothing sexy about this wine. But it is extremely elegant and classy but though very pleasurable to drink now (for those of us who don't mind strong structure), it is coiled up like a spring. I don't often see eye to eye with Parker, but I was told in the tasting that he quite likes this wine. Based on other wines he rates highly, I must wonder why he likes this one?
Château Margaux 1986 from the magnum was a bit disappointing. It smelled very strongly of rye bread and seemed like it was going downhill - just like the bottle. It was a bit drying on the aftertaste.
My guesses:
#1 & (5) = Margaux because of the sweet perfume of #1 and by elimination 5 came the pair.
#2 & 7 = Moutons because they were so classy and magisterial.
#4 & 6 = Cheval (nice that I get something right on occasion!)
#3 & 8 = Beychevelle. I should have known from previous very strong examples of '86 that such relatively weak, aged smelling wines shouldn't have been Beychevelles. But I guess knowing that we had first growths here skewed my perceptions.
It is interesting to note also that only the Beychevelle magnum showed stronger than the bottle (of course with the corked Mouton, who knows). For both the Cheval and the Margaux the bottle seemed more lively and fresh!
We gladly had quite big pours of these wines, so with a wonderful dinner of lamb we finished these wines (yes, Bx and lamb really is a great match).
One of the participants then blinded us with a white: Vincent Dancer Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée 2004 which was quite oaky but not so much that it would cover all the Burgundian character. Vibrant, bright fruit, oak, nutty; quite weighty fruit yet with such acidity that it seems light on its feet. Long and refreshing aftertaste but the oak does intrude a bit. There is so much nice stuff going on, that I would like to try this in a decade (assuming that POX doesn't strike) to see if what I sense under the youthful oak really is there.
For dessert we had Château Guiraud 1986 which was an amiable Sauternes: seemingly quite old (reminded me very much of the d'Yquem 1928 we tried last year) and strongly orange-like and botrytised. Sweet but mature and "drying" a bit. I thought it was at a very enjoyable phase but was a bit surprised at how mature it seemed.
-Otto