WTN: 1996 Bdx at Quality Meats (plus Champagne & a Riesling

Tuesday Betsy made a shrimp curry (coconut miik/garlic/ginger, with scallion, chili, and lime garnishes).
2021 Emrich-Schonleber Halgans Riesling Trocken
This had the same electric acids as a recent 2020, but without the ripe fruit to balance the acidity comes off sharp and the wine a tad thin. Gets better with air. B

Wednesday met the city Bordeaux group at Quality Meats in midtown.
2008 Rare Champagne (they really are not emphasizing the Piper-Heidsieck)
Plush and rich, but some decent underlying acid, baked bread, apple, and white nectarine, B+

2021 Vincey “Grand Jardin” Champagne
Meyer lemon, brioche, and a little touch of warm nuts. Bright and fresh, likely lots of Chard, elegant mousse. B+/A-

2024 Calsac “Les Revenants” (2024 dg)
Served a little warm, but I liked this. Citrus, pear, fairly intense and unusual herbiness, Spicy too. B+

1996 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
Deep and long, grapefruit and fig with a coconut note that reminds of GR Rioja Blanc. Young and drinking well. A-

Salmon crudo, crabcake with macadamia romesco,

1996 Ch. Grand Puy Lacoste
Rich and earthy, black plum with lead pencil and saddle leather. Long. A-/B+

1996 Ch. Pontet Canet
Ready and willing, black plum and cherry, mostly resolved tannins, some truffle notes.B+/B

Meatballs with black garlic and gorgonzola, grilled bacon (with peanut butter?)

1996 Ch. Calon Segur
Sure, this had tannin, but I was surprised at how approachable it was. Cassis and pencil lead, good finish. B/B+

1996 Ch. Lynch Bages
Ripe, cassis with Christmas fruit cake. Some blocky tannins, not as long as the Calon Segur. B

A few dry aged steaks, excellent waffle fries, white asparagus

1996 Ch. Pichon Lalande
Elegant and classy, just a hint of chipotle pepper peeking around the cassis and blackberry fruit. Long. A-

1996 Ch. Pichon Baron
Black fruits, mocha, black pepper. Big but tannins aren’t intrusive, nice finish. B+/A-

1996 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou
Black and red currant, lots of tobacco and cigarbox, elegant. A-/B+

1996 Ch. Leoville Las Cases
Still pretty hard and tight, power underneath but to me a bit foursquare. B

Group voting (I’ve never seen so many people in quandary over votes, wines were tightly bunched, and I think each flight split the table)/

Ducru-Beaucaillou 13
Pichon Baron 11
Grand Puy Lacoste 8
Calon Segur 7
Pichon Lalande 4
Leoville Las Cases2
Lynch Bages 1

Fun night. I’d happily drink any of those wines.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was the only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

What a great lineup of wines, Dale. It's good to hear about that vintage 30 years on, too. From your rankings, I'd guess that your #1 was the Pichon-Lalande?

[David M. Bueker]

Yum!

From your rankings, I'd guess that your #1 was the Pichon-Lalande?

This is where my disclaimer of no consistency comes in. I no longer take a pad with me, I jot down things in Notes. Usually just keywords, and +s for how much I like. I write out when on computer. But at end, we do a WOTN vote (reds only), everyone gets 6 votes, no more than 3 per wine (classic is 3/2/1, but can do 2/2/2, 3/3, 3/1/1/1 etc). I voted 2/2/1/1, pretty sure it was 2 point for Pichon Lalande and Ducru, 1 for GPL and PBaron. But when I wrote up Lalande had lead. See, no consistency even in one tasting.

...everyone gets 6 votes, no more than 3 per wine...

Cumulative voting with constraints. Very nice!

Do you guys ever discuss how the WOTN results might look different under different voting rules? Always a fun class when I talk to students about the importance of rules/institutions and how there is no one "democratic" way to aggregate preferences via votes.

Thanks for the notes - have a half case of the Grand Puy I have been resisting trying - sounds like it may be time to check it out.

GPL was among the most approachable to me

[Jenise]

As usual I'm jealous. All those reds, the Chevalier, the white asparagus....!