by Jim Grow » Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:23 pm
At MoCool this past week-end I opened 2 nice Bordeaux; a 2000 Smith Haut Lafitte and 2000 Pavie Decesse. Both were showing at near peak with the Pavie a bit more complex and dense than the SHF. Wonderful complex wines with some sweaty saddle leather, tobacco and mellow red fruit. This is exactly why one should cellar nice wine. Also tasted a 1978 Lafaurie-Peyraguey from the Thur. nite before that was still intense if a slight bit oxidized, having been open and mostly consumed 24 hrs. earlier. The Pinot's all seemed a bit similar but the Cal. Pinot first opened by Jane, ???? was very spicey. At that point I couldn't tell one Pinot from another except hers. None of the other Pinots I tasted had any of the non-fruit earthy/mushroomy/woodsey intense notes I so love. I also tasted a NV Bollenger on Fri. nite that was exceptional and a Rudd ???? Cabernet Res. (IIRC) that was very special but there were many on that table that were mind-boggling. Tonight I opened a 2009 Ch. Bard-Haut Bordeaux that was finally starting to mellow out. Some herb and sour cherry flavors but needs another 5-10 years for the secondary flavors to kick in. MoCool is the perfect venue for a short course in GREAT wine. BTW my heart cath. went very well 3 days latter (unrelated to MoCool I think) so all is good.