WTN: Oldies

Notes from dinner with Denny who offered to bring all the wine. Venue was Ye Dang Korean BBQ restaurant, which I thought was a strange choice of cuisine to go with mostly French wine but they have BYO so no complaints here.

Francois Parent Chateau des Guettes Meursault 1998 - Deep yellow with a strange, Sauternes-like aroma. Very spicy. High acidity. Still quite lively with a strong minerality. Not bad.

Gobel-Schleyer Erben Cochener Goldbaumchen MSR QbA 1997 - Apple and grapefruit. Quite soft. Good sweetness to take on the Korean food. Weak finish but still, OK.

Carruades de Lafite 1997 - Tobacco. Quite tannic. Lacks fruit. No good.

Chateau Gloria 1993 - Very dark. Sweet fruit. Soft, but still has good structure. Pretty impressive for a 1993. Drink now.

Clos Triguedina Cahors 1975 - Dead. Sour. No fruit.

Anares Bodegas Olarra Reserva Rioja 1981 - Dead. Sour. Weak.

Beaulieu Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 - Very dark. Age and spices on the nose. Seems rather youthful, tannic. Good varietal character although the fruit seems to be drying up. Medium-bodied. A somewhat old-fashioned, Old World style. Good in its way although it does have too much acidity. Perhaps already past its best. This wine still retains its structure but is losing the fruit to flesh it out.

Rosenblum Carla's Vineyard Zinfandel 2002 - Sweet and still oaky but relatively subdued compared to when I first tried it maybe 3 years ago. Good balance and powerful enough for the Korean food. No longer chocolate milkshake thick. Very good.

Domaine de l'Arlot Beaune Greves 1er cru 1996 - Strawberry and cherry. Very light, Beaujolais-like. Surprisingly tannic. UInbalanced.

Jay, what do you know about the storage on these wines. While some are getting a little long in the tooth, I would have expected better showing on some as well.

Jay, what do you know about the storage on these wines. While some are getting a little long in the tooth, I would have expected better showing on some as well.

I know that Denny, the guy who brought them has good storage. The problem may be that he buys lots from clearance or estate sales etc. and, naturally he has to take the good with the bad and there's no way for him to know how the wines were stored before he got to them.

I'm curious as to which wines you think should have shown better.

Beaulieu Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 - Very dark. Age and spices on the nose. Seems rather youthful, tannic. Good varietal character although the fruit seems to be drying up. Medium-bodied. A somewhat old-fashioned, Old World style. Good in its way although it does have too much acidity. Perhaps already past its best. This wine still retains its structure but is losing the fruit to flesh it out.

Not sure if I have had this bottling but I still have some 87GdL in the cellar and I have other Cal Cabs from 91 (Etude, Insignia). Based upon those would not normally expect this to be on the way down.

I know that Denny, the guy who brought them has good storage. The problem may be that he buys lots from clearance or estate sales etc. and, naturally he has to take the good with the bad and there's no way for him to know how the wines were stored before he got to them.

I'm curious as to which wines you think should have shown better.

Jay, I would have expected the GDL to have been in better shape, much better.
I think that the Carruades de Lafite 1997 should still be drinking better than the bottle sampled. Even though 97 was less than stellar it should have been better than "no good" While I have never had the Anares Bodegas Olarra Reserva Rioja 1981, I would have expected it to be fully drinkable. Perhaps I am just projecting what I would have expected had the wines been in my cellar since they came to market. Thanks for the notes.