By: AJ McClellan
A brilliant list of wines each with a minimum market value of $500 to be included in the tasting, although some of the wines exceeded $2000 market value. Interestingly enough our wine of the night was more moderately priced than the wines it beat out, just going to show that there are great deals out there to be found for the savvy wine buyer.
1966 Latour - Dried crushed raspberries and red fruits with a very earthy tone of terrior. Long long finish with wet earth and damp soil. A very nice wine but past its prime.
1983 Lafite – I thought this wine was in the top three although it did not rank so with the majority. A very unusual nose of black peppermint tea was my first impression. The wine was very light but extremely complex. Crushed soil, black liquorish, black cherry, and pomegranate moving into a chamomile tea on the finish.
1982 Pichon Lalande – Wine of the Night. Crushed fruits with a earthy terrior, sandal wood, vegetable ash, slight green note, but the kind that comes from ripe stems and adds complexity. I could smell this wine forever… Blueberry bubblegum and red fruits on the palate. Amazingly complex. This wine takes me on an adventure through the French countryside pointing out every nook and cranny of its vineyard.
1986 Margaux - Earthy with black pepper and a slight hint of iron shavings. Smoked meats with graphite and some cedar. Nice mossy earthiness on the finish.
1997 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon – Leather, tobacco, healthy dose of allspice with some cloves and cedar thrown in. There was a sour cherry cough syrup note finished off by lavender.
1996 Margaux - Mint tobacco, barnyard funk, tobacco, black fruit, ripe on the nose and palate. Slight green note on the finish. Very lively, needs 10+ more years in the bottle.
1986 Lafite - Allspice and black tea with slight black liquorish. The wine was very faint, you could tell the bottle wanted to be very complex and outgoing but it simply wasn’t. Very muted on the nose and palate with almost no redeeming qualities.
1990 Beausejour Duffau – Black in the glass with dark brooding fruit on the nose. I opened this bottle 5 hours before the tasting and it could have used more time in the glass before we started. Very soft and broad on the palate showing espresso, soft tobacco, and well worn leather. Excellent mouth feel with a long complex finish.
1976 Petrus – Number two wine of the night. Black tar with leather, tobacco, and spice on the nose. The palate was full and complex showing great earth and forest floor. There were spicy notes of lavender and mixed chopped fruits. Long complex finish with an excellent mouth feel.
1997 Harlan – Number three wine of the night. Pure power… Big cherry cough syrup with black fruits, twizzlers, huge leather and big tobacco. The wine was big in the mouth with a heavy weight. Very complex with a great finish.
