My regular tasting group's October tasting was a free-for-all Bordeaux theme. No attempts were made to come up with themes and such, but a few did manage to emerge (as always seems to be the case). All reds were served blind.
Starter sparklers:
N.V. Alfred Gratien Champagne Brut. This is rather crisp on the nose, with aromas of lime rind, ginger, chalk dust and metallic tin. It is fresh and vibrantly lively in the mouth, with a racy grapefruit twang and crisp minerality. It has a strong sense of drive, but still feels lush and creamy in texture. It finishes clean and refreshing—a nice opener.
N.V. Pierre Moncuit Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru. Powdered chalk, soft apples, biscuits and powdered ginger aromas are prevalent on the nose of this Blanc de Blancs. It is really soft and creamy and biscuity in the mouth, with soft apple, pear, limestone and meringue flavors. It is open-knit, gentle and languid, with a pillowy soft feel that caresses the mouth. I could go for more structure, frankly, but this is still welcoming and creamy in a good way.
Flight #1:
1986 Chateau Haut-Marbuzet St. Estephe. The color on wine #1 is bricking, with a bit of browning around the edges. The bouquet at first seems a bit tired, but it is complex and interesting and gets better with air--with soft aromatics of gardenias, old book leather, persimmon fruit, dried cranberries and moss that are gently pretty and mellow but a bit brittle at times. In the mouth, dried red fruits and flowers are mellow and pretty, but perhaps a bit shrunken in and narrow at this point. While some tannins do come in to dry out the finish, I would definitely suggest drinking up, as I don’t see this improving.
1986 Chateau Sociando-Mallet Haut Medoc. This is decidedly darker and more solidly colored than its flight-mate. It features a big perfumed nose of cedar, tomato leaf, fresh-cut green pepper, forest greenery, dark earth and black raspberry aromas that are cool, distinctive and classy despite some lingering sense of dense meatiness. There is good intensity of fruit, fine acidic drive and a well-balanced structure on the palate, which also shows off a nice creamy texture. It is darker-fruited for sure than the previous wine, with black and sour cherries, dried cranberries and mixed currants carrying all the way through to a finish showing well-integrated tannins and youthful enthusiasm. The wine is in an excellent place for current drinking but gives the sense it could go for a good while yet. People were really surprised that these two wines were from the same vintage, given how much fresher and more youthful this wine performed. This was my wine of the night.
Flight #2:
1989 Chateau Cos Labory St. Estephe. This bouquet of this wine is nicely complex and decidedly savory, with aromas of dried spices, leather, tea leaves, charred herbs, celery, incense, dried black cherries and a faint bell pepper note way down below. It is really engaging, pulling one back for additional sniffs. In the mouth, it is medium-bodied and cool-fruited, with a sense of focused delineation. It feels like a solidly-built and well-maintained car—nothing too overtly flashy but aging quite well and still performing at a high level. Flavors of cassis, herbs, and hints of mocha and milk chocolate are framed by some chalky-textured tannins that are still in evidence throughout. It is perhaps drying out a touch on the finish, but this wine is really nice and with good storage can probably improve a bit more with time in the cellar. This came in as my #3 wine of the night.
1989 Chateau Duhart-Milon Pauillac. I find the nose here to be interesting and layered, with notes of milk chocolate, tobacco leaf, scorched earth, tomato leaves and dirt, currants and mixed red berries. It is extremely creamy in texture on the palate, yet has plenty of lift and freshness running beneath that. It is medium-bodied and shows some restraint, with a gentle but persistent sense of structure. Mixed currants, tangy cherries, and spice flavors combine for a really pretty and balanced mouthful of wine. It could maybe find another gear with a bit more cellaring, but offers fine drinking now. My #2 wine of the night.
Flight #3
1990 Chateau Leoville Barton St. Julien. The nose has notes of tobacco leaf and white pepper up front and sweeter cocoa powder later on, but otherwise it is dominated by its green vegetable garden aromas right now. It has a real density to it in the mouth, with some depth and richness that are fairly tightly wound up for the time being. There is some cool yet juicy black currant fruit pulsing through but the whole thing is packed a bit too neatly at the moment—never really showing all it has to offer. For all that, it does show fine class and can be drunk now without too much in the way of tough tannins, but it is not at its best right now and promises to be better with more rest in the cellar, I would imagine.
1998 Chateau Monbousquet St. Emilion. This wine has a cool and refined bouquet of cool black leather, semi-sweet black fruits, cool greenery, chalk and soft mint. In the mouth, it has abundant body and a good deal of density of fruit and a good amount of overall weight on the palate. A pretty intense shot of black fruits and dark spices greet the taste buds, but there is also some classic structure here and a fine streak of juicy acidity to balance the load. There is a bit of chalky texture to contend with and the savory-tinged tannins do come on strong toward the back, but this is a cool-fruited, serious and classy effort that happens to also pump out the fruit in pretty big volume. My #4 wine of the night.
Flight #4.
2000 Chateau Barde Haut St. Emilion. I have a ton of difficulty getting past the nose here, where I am overcome by notes of nail polish remover, rich tomato paste, seemingly over-ripe crème de cassis and mocha paste. It is only a bit easier on my senses in the mouth, coming on strong with lots of body, intensity, richness and glycerin in what feels like a purposely open-knit package. There are some sweet flavors of mocha, cocoa powder, black fruits and also some hints of finer minerality. Also, there are grainy tannins and a chalky texture to contend with all the way through.
2000 Chateau Les Ormes de Pez St. Estephe. The bouquet of this young St. Estephe is initially cool and a bit serious with aromas of black currant, dark chocolate and forest greens, but with air it eventually opens up to sweeter notes of blue fruits, fudge and confectionary powder. It is on the soft side in the mouth, with an almost sensuous texture to go along with a lot of woodsy spices, blackberry and leafy flavors. The tannins are finely-grained but definitely present, especially toward the drying finish. That finish is crisp and dry, but long with flavors of bitter chocolate and wood. This is definitely on the young side and if I had to guess I would say it will be at its best in about 5-7 years. Right now, it is a an easy wine to drink and enjoy, but perhaps feeling a bit “small” compared to many of the other wines (and I am just fine with that).
Flight #5.
2000 Le Petit Cheval St. Emilion. The nose here is a bit unusual but inviting—offering aromas of spicy cedar, menthol, cocoa powder and richer notes of prune juice or something dark like that but perhaps juicier and fresher. It is very nice in the mouth, with a certain mouthwatering character to offset the sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee beans. It has a fleshy, pliant texture that makes it feel lithe and fresh and less weighty than it probably really is. The finish has a nice dusty clean earth feel to it that puts a nice cap on the whole thing. This is nice stuff that ought to get better and better for a while yet. My #5 wine of the tasting.
2001 Chateau Sociando-Mallet Haut Medoc. Ooph, this is brutal on the nose—with aromas dominated by jalepeno pepper, matchstick sulfur, campfire smoke and a huge green pepper streak. Not only that, it feels really disjointed, with the greenery dominant but occasionally allowing in notes of black currant and black beans. In the mouth, it feels leathery-textured and dry, with the jalapeno and green pepper flavors again seeming to be the front and center profile. It is cool and finely structured, but really difficult to drink right now. It needs to find a lot more finesse and frankly a better sense of focus before it can be deemed enjoyable. The track record tells me to be very patient with this producer, so I will withhold judgment for now.
2003 La Dame de Montrose St. Estephe. There are some interesting things going on aromatically with this wine—with savory scents of beef stock, rubber, toast and fresh ground pepper yielding to softer notes of violets and mysterious purple fruits underneath. It is decidedly youthful in the mouth, showing the most obvious tannin of any wine served this evening. Its vibrant purple fruit stains the teeth, and carries along notes of toasty spices and oak. It is big and round and fleshy, with a hint of alcoholic warmth rising up. It needs to shed some tannins, integrate its oak and find its focus, but there is very good stuffing here—give it at least 5 more years.
With dessert:
2003 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes. This Sauternes offers up a very nice bouquet of apricot, mango, pineapple and botrytis cream, to go along with notes of pistachio nut and pumpkin spices. In the mouth, it is fat and oily, viscous and round. It has full body, tons of youthful fruit intensity. Flavors of tropical fruits, brown spices, salt water taffy, and liquid caramel roll around languidly on the tongue. It gets sexier the longer it sits in the glass, with layers beginning to unfold. The one thing lacking is a whole lot of vibrant acidity to make it a bit fresher and more fully-realized. Otherwise, this is a very fine way to end an evening.
Group wines of the night were:
First: 1998 Monbousquet
Second: 1989 Cos Labory
Tied for third: 1986 Sociando Mallet, 1986 Haut Marbuzet
-Michael