By: AJ McClellan
“You Show Me Yours’, I’ll Show You Mine” has always been one of our favorite tastings here at Graileys. Ten behemoth wines come together in a coliseum comprised of a great wooden table scarred by use and ten mismatched chairs to be judged based on their skill on the nose and palate. Some rely on deftness and finesse, others on pure power and brute force. But in the end, only one can emerge victorious as the “Wine of the Night”…
1944 Latour – This was a very interesting bottle. I opened the wine right before service with fears that a wine with almost 70 years in the bottle would fall off quickly. Quite the opposite was true, the wine started off with a slight metallic note on the palate and very little on the nose. After almost two hours, I was astonished when I went back to the wine and found it flourishing with bright dried currants and raspberries followed by a wonderful earthy note and a very complex minerality. This wine was beautiful and I am amazed with how it has held up over the years.
1990 La Mission Haut Brion – This wine won the “Wine of the Night” award by an overwhelming amount. The nose was soft and earthy with notes of gravel and crushed black fruits. The palate was broad and complex with a long finish. A great bottle of wine that was well deserving of first place.
2001 Haut Brion – This wine won third place in the tasting. With 50% Merlot this was an interesting vintage of Haut Brion. I was very excited to taste the wine because of the unusual varietal composition. I was rewarded with a soft nose of blue fruit and stony minerality. Cinnamon covered cherries with a subtle earthiness that was just starting to come out of its shell. All in all, I think this wine will be a great bottle in the next decade or two.
1978 Jaboulet La Chapelle – This was really the wine of the night for me. The bottle was opened late so it did not show well during the tasting, but a few hours after, the wine exploded to show wild game, soft leather, smoke, tar, chewing tobacco, black ripe fruit, warm earth, and a heaping handful of schist and limestone. A wonderful bottle of wine, one of the best I have had this year.
1988 Lafite – This wine got second place in the tasting. I have been underwhelmed with Lafite in general as of late and while the 88 was good it still had some room to improve.
2003 Mouton – Everyone called this Cali Cab and for good reason. The wine was dark and bold with huge black and red fruits and big wood notes.
1997 Harlan – When I was looking at the lineup I thought this would for sure win the tasting. I have had this wine twice before and each time it has renewed my faith in cult Cali Cabs. This time however the wine did not show up. The Harlan was almost Port-ish with an out-of-balance palate.
1998 Guigal La Mouline – As always this wine was killer. Like biting the hindquarters of a wild boar…
2007 Scarecrow – The famed Scarecrow awarded 100 points by Robert Parker… This was my first time to try the Scarecrow and I must say that I was less than impressed. However, the member that brought the bottle said the 05 is drinking much better so there may still be hope once this wine gets a little more bottle age…
1990 Quintarelli Alzero – This was the wine I was most excited to try and the most unique in the tasting. The Alzero is a very rare bottling from Quintarelli made from mostly Cabernet Franc done in the appassimento method which is used for Amarone where they dry the grapes on straw mats to concentrate the sugars in the grapes. The wine would be a delight by itself, but with the company of the tasting, the wine stuck out like a sore thumb. Some of the participants panned the wine, others loved it, but we all agreed that it was difficult to judge in comparison to the other bottles.
Taking a victory sip from the trophy… Classic!!