Last Sunday, Linda and I invited 20 friends over to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary (which was actually May 20). Many of the wines were from our wedding year, and there were more '83s that we didn't get to open! I actually have quite a few 1983 ports, but they're too young to really enjoy, so we went with a '63 and a '70.
Here's a picture of the wines we tasted, along with my brief impressions of the wines. I have no sense of smell, and impaired taste (but at least I can still taste the wines to some extent), so no detailed notes, I'm afraid.
From left to right, the wines are:
NV Krug Grande Cuvée Brut Champagne x 3: Lovely. Krug is my favourite Champagne.
2000 Bouchard Père & Fils Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru Lovely deep gold colour. Very flavourful. Just what you'd expect from a Grand Cru white Burgundy.
2001 Labouré-Roi Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru: Lighter in colour than the Bouchard. Good and tasty, but not as good as the Bouchard (although Linda preferred this one).
1992 Sérafin Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru and 1991 Jaques Cacheux Echézaux Grand Cru: My wife is a Burgundy lover, so I had to open a couple of red Burgs. Unfortunately I don't have any '83s, but these were very tasty, and more or less equally good. They're both fully mature, but in no danger of going over the hill
1983 Château Lafite-Rothschild: Absolutely lovely, quite mature, soft. My favourite of the night.
1983 Château Latour: Still some tannins. Very good, but not quite up to the Lafite. Will still improve for a few years.
1983 Château Margaux: Tannic, not much fruit. Several thought it was corked.
1983 Château Léoville-Las-Cases: Very good, but not in the same league as the Lafite and Latour.
1989 Château Montrose: This was a gift from our best man on our 10th anniversary, to be opened on our 20th or 25th. On our 30th, it was good but still too young! If you have any, keep it for another 10-20 years.
1983 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve: We saw these grapes growing on our honeymoon, so we had to buy it when it was released. Very nice, mature California Cab. Held up very well as leftovers for the next couple of days.
1983 Bechtolsheimer Klosterberg Scheurebe Eiswein: Lovely and sweet
1963 Berry Brothers and Rudd "Berry's Own Selection" Vintage Port: According to Michael Broadbent, this is reputedly Taylor's. If so, it certainly wasn't their best barrels. It was quite good, but not up to the '63 Taylors I had a few years ago.
1970 Taylor's Vintage Port: Now that's the real deal. Lovely mature port, but still lots of life left.