By: Ryan Tedder
Well life is good and the wine drinking at Graileys verges on the best in the world on any given day. We are blessed and lucky to have such wonderful clients and a generous owner. We rocked it Old School at Graileys last Friday and drank through some of the most fantastic Bordeaux ever made.
My wine of the night (and at the risk of sounding redundant) possibly the best old Bordeaux I have ever tasted was the 1961 Haut Brion. This wine was produced in the year the Kennedy was sworn in as predident after Eisenhower. The wine tasted vibrant and energetic on the palate with an entoxicating melange of camp fire smoke, old leather, dried herbs and tobacco, zesty black raspberry and cassis, and a good amount of spice. The tannins were refined and elegant lending a soft, grainy tug to the juicy claret. Quite a sensational wine with a never ending finish. Bravo Ho-Bryan!
This once in a lifetime bottle was joined by several other great bottles of Bordeaux. I thought it best to just list them chronologically because they were all of high merit and distinct in their own ways.
1975 Pichon Lalande was classic Pichon. Their was lovely herbal, green peppercorn, and tobacco note that complimented the pencil lead, currant and brett flavors in the wine. The wine was a touch long in the tooth but was hanging in like a champ. The gravelly minerality was pleasant and the wine finished with dried leaves, red licorice, dusty old books and cigar wrapper.
1982 Sociando Mallet from the Haut Medoc was burly and bold. The wine needed to be dacnted and it was loaded with vinous brambly and dried fruits, loads of pipe tobacco, anise, fennel, cassis and granite and potting soil notes. This wine lies just outside of the border for Saint Estephe and this wine tasted of a pedigreed St. Estephe. It was powerful and bold at 30 years!
1990 Franc Mayne from St. Emilion was showing very well with a spicy saturated purple, blue and black fruit attack that turned into fruitcake, dates and cocoa with air. The potting soil, wet leaves, violets and dired blueberry really started to show. It was lovely and elegant.
1990 Cos d’Estournel was a burly bohemoth as usual. This wine could use a good 3-4 hours beofre it is drunk to sufficiently unfold its tannins and create a long, pleasing palate impression. The distinct brooding darkness of the wine with dried flowers, black cherry, cassis and anise. The oak spice was integrated into the wine and it was just starting the open up when we finished it. Coffee, pepper, espresso and even beef was present on the long finish.
1994 Ducru Beaucaillou like several other 1994s recently is drinking great and is open and accessible staright out of the bottle. The wine was dense and saturated in a balanced and earthy wine. The fruit is lightly dried and in the black camp with anise, cassis and black licorice. Coffee bean, cedar and cigar box framed the finish on this great wine.
1998 Les Forts de Latour was opened and decanted a good 4 hours before it was consumed and boy it made all of the difference. The 1998s are drinking beautifull y right now with youthful power and ripe fruit notes. The toasty oak spice added a layer and the granite, pencil lead, cedar, tree bark and fresh leaves made this one of my favorite wines of the night. The second labels of first gorwths drank young are legit. Great juice!
2010 Pontet Canet was decidedly a young baby and should not have been opened but how else would we know if all the recent hype coming out of the Wine Spectator Taste Experience was true. All that I have heard is that 2010 Pontet Canet and 2005 Montrose were 2 of the best Bordeaux at the tasting. this wine was decanted for 3 hours and drank during that time. It is huge, ripe, layered and absolutely delicious! Chocolate, fudge, a bowl of ripe black and purple fruits and lip staining extract and tannin. Quite a tour de force worthy of its 100 Point Score. Quite fantastic.
Bordeaux is alive and well at Graileys…