TN: 1982 Right Bank at Riverpark

Our little group finished our trilogy of 1982 Bordeaux 30 year retrospectives with the Right Bank last night (following Medoc in March and mixed “cheapies” in May). I took the train down, then decided to walk to Riverpark in rain as cabs were scarce (which would have been ok, until my umbrella broke about 2/3s of way). I arrived a bit damp to find I was last (a first!). Luckily there was a nice glass of Loire to greet me.

2007 P. Cotat “Les Monts Damnes” Sancerre
Full, rich and long , with plenty of acidic backbone. Round rich fruit (although a sip later after sipping the Donnhoff was a citrus squirt!). I really enjoyed this. A-/B+

2003 Donnhoff “Niederhauser Hermannshohle” Spatlese
A bit cold when served. Quite sweet, but good acids for 2003, pineapple and other tropical fruits, some mineral, I wished I had thought to return to this during cheese. B+/B?

I enjoyed Riverpark’s food once again- some charcuterie and little empanadas to share, then I had quail followed by a lamb “Tbone” with ribs, succotash, and pasta (the ribs were salty even for me).

1982 Pavie
Nice bottle of this! Minerally, red fruited, a pleasant herby edge. Young and vigorous, shame they don’t make like this anymore. B+/A-

1982 Canon
(double-decanted about 1 PM) Mature but not tired, cedar and spice, picked up quite a bit with air. B+/A- by end.

1982 Clos Fourtet
I think this was a solid bottle that I’d have been happy with on my dinner table, but served next to this particular bottle of Magdelaine it came across as stolid and foursquare. Good dark fruits, espresso, leather. B

1982 Magdelaine
While this is an old favorite, this might be the best bottle I’ve ever had of this. Fullbodied, elegant, beautiful red fruits with cigarbox and leather notes, long and lovely. A/A-

1982 La Dominique
I’ve always liked this, and there was some good stuff here, but there was also some TCA. Lightly corked, but enough to take out of competition.

1982 Certan de May
(double-decanted about 1 PM) . The funkiest bottle of the tasting, but in a good way. Coffee, earth, herbs, funk dominate- there’s good fruit, but the other elements are on top. I think maybe most divisive of wines. I thought it kept getting better. A-/B+

1982 L’Evangile
(double-decanted about 1 PM) Lush, ripe and rich. Kirschy without being hot. Cedar, tobacco over excellent fruit. Great length. A-/A

1982 La Conseillante
Mocha, black cherries, opulent without being heavy. Pretty classic Pomerol. A-

I admit to being an unabashed fan of 1982s- ‘82 Gloria was wine that made me start down path to geekiness 20 years ago. So take my impressions with a grain of salt. But I will say that all of these seemed to have life ahead of them and improve with air- even when we did the cheapies (things like Rouget, Gloria, La Croix Pomerol) there were very few wines that were past it. I remember 10-15 years ago people claiming the ‘82s were peaking early.

Fun night, with a great group, and some great wines.

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

Yum!!

Re Pavie in particular, some people subscribe to the theory that, given 20-30 years, "modern" St.Émilion and Pomerol will converge in style with the more traditional wines which we love. I'm sceptical. I think that 1998 was the first vintage when Perse was fully in charge at Pavie and after 14 years we should be beginning to get an idea whether the theory is rubbish or not.
Has anyone here tried it or other "modern" right bankers of similar maturity?

Re Pavie in particular, some people subscribe to the theory that, given 20-30 years, "modern" St.Émilion and Pomerol will converge in style with the more traditional wines which we love. I'm sceptical. I think that 1998 was the first vintage when Perse was fully in charge at Pavie and after 14 years we should be beginning to get an idea whether the theory is rubbish or not.
Has anyone here tried it or other "modern" right bankers of similar maturity?

I've actually tried and liked the 98 Pavie recently- still showed modern/international, but not over the top. Blind:
Wine #4 - initial guesses are Cal Cab, but when we find out Bordeaux
(flightmate was guessed first) we start looking for fairly extracted
styles. Cassis, cocoa, black plum. I liked this better than I would
have predicted, Mark says by far his favorite of the Perse era. 1998
Chateau Pavie B+

Mark the host liked and bought on release, but said he thought the 98 was an outlier compared to 2000 and more recent vintages, where extraction rules. If you look at CT notes of 1998 vs 2000, you'll see much more of the "huge" "portlike" "liquer" commnets on the latter.

Actually, in 2008 another group I'm in also (single blind this time, all 1998 RB) Wine # 10- modern, lush, nice dark fruit, coffee. B+ (1998 Pavie). I also commented I'm not shocked that Pavie didn't stick out like a sore thumb, we did a 1998 horizontal and I thought it modern but not over the top then

I'll note I don't think the Monbousquet and Pavie Decesse are aging as well, they were all full tilt boogie by 1998. I thought the 1998 Pavie was modern like say Angelus without being extreme.