Last Friday was going to be the “You She Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine” tasting of 85s and 95s. Instead we decided to do a killer Blind Bordeaux Tasting of mostly 1990 Bordeaux with a splash of 1998. We failed to muster enough folks with the “rigid” vintage guidelines so 5 great members settled in while I served them 5 excellent Bordeaux blind and they ranked them all to find a winner. As these things often go, I had my own favorites that do not exactly correlate with the group opinion but the wines literally started tasting similar-especially the first two 1990s. The “Official Score” for the wines was as follows (with 1 being the best):
#1 Chateau Figeac Premier Grand Cru Classe B Saint Emilion
#2 Chateau Pichon Baron 2nd Growth Pauillac
#3 Chateau Palmer 3rd Growth Margaux
#4 Chateau Haut Brion 1st Growth Pessac Leognan
#5 Chateau Pape Clement Cru Class Pessac Leognan
I had the Palmer as #1 and the Figeac as #3. Great Bordeaux!
Other great wines from the day included:
2002 Dom Ruinart Rose
2005 Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva
1996 Dalla Valle Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
2009 Jack Quinn Cab
2012 Evening Land Seven Springs Vineyard Pinot Noir
2012 Orin Swift Palermo Cab
2003 Leoville Barton
2004 Jones Family Cab
2000 Meo Camuzet Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru – This was breathtaking!!
2003 Chateau d’Yquem
2008 Mastroberardino Radici Taurasi