By: AJ McClellan
Friday was a great night at Graileys. A few members got together and decided to do an impromptu tasting with an arrangement of wonderful world-class bottles. The wines were dropped off earlier that day and I opened them a few hours before the tasting started. I served the wines blind for fun and the game turned out to be a little harder than everyone expected. Although we all knew what the wines were, it was still difficult to pick out which one was which… Even the DRC was confused with the La Turque by a few people…
2001 Solaia – The Solaia was drinking wonderfully well with a nose of dusty cherry and dry autumn leaves. There was a distinct Italian note to the wine on the palate an almost bitter finish of walnuts and dry dusty fruit.
1998 Grange – I was surprised on how well this bottle was drinking considering its youth. The nose was full of ripe black fruits and big eucalyptus with some telltale green notes on the back end. The palate was soft and velvety with big pepper and rich spice notes.
1997 Guigal La Turque – I always love the Guigal wines and I have had this bottle on several occasions, but the bottle that was opened on Friday was absolutely superior to any of the other 97 La Turques I have had. Now, it may just be that I opened the bottle three hours before serving it, but I tell you this bottle was amazing.
1996 Claude Dugat Charmes Chambertin GC – Wow, I wish I would have had more time with this wine in my glass. It was very strong right out of the gate showing a powerful dark berry nose with rich floral notes and a great forest floor funk. The palate was massive with bold tannins but the acidity cut the wine perfectly leading to a long finish of rocky minerality.
2002 DRC Richebourg – When I opened this bottle I was thinking that I would be greeted by a monster of a wine that would need another decade at least to be drinkable. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Richebourg was light as a feather, consisting of breathtaking finesse and ballerina like grace. The nose was full of elegant floral notes with bright black berry, Bing cherry, and fresh plum proudly on display up front. There was also a wonderful spice component that filled out the back of the nose with an exotic note and added another layer of complexity to this masterpiece. The palate was a dazzling array of bright approachable fruit with stunning earth and mineral notes and a surprisingly deft floral aspect that kept cropping up like an elusive whack a mole… In short this is one of the best wines I have had in a good long while.
1979 Pichon Lalande – Like a good friend, Pichon is always there when you need it, one of the most consistent Chateau’s I have ever had the pleasure to taste. The nose was full of good old world funk and classic Bordeaux earth, graphite, and forest floor. The palate was perfect for drinking with elegant tannins and plush earth. The fruit was dusty and dry but still strong on the mid-palate.
1992 Shafer Hillside Select – I was very impressed with this bottle, it is in a great drinking window right now. The nose showed chocolate, tobacco, black cherry, and cassis. The palate was soft with a powerful backing of fruit and tobacco with a dark chocolate finish. Quite tasty…
1994 Dominus – This bottle has set itself aside, in my mind, as one of the better California Cabernets out there. However, the bottle we had on Friday was not quite up to snuff. The fruit was almost gone and the earth had taken on a green mold note. The palate was not as clean as I would have liked and a little out of balance. That being said I would not kick the wine out of bed for eating crackers, it was still very drinkable and even bordering on delicious but the bar has been set so high for this bottle that anything less than excellence is a grave disappointment.