| The following are the notes and pictures of the wines we had. They were served
in the order listed.
'94 Ygrec .. This dry semillion from the famed Ch. d'Yquem never fails to surprise. Of course, it helps if you're a Yquem addict. NOSE: Deep layers of citrusy, smokey honey that on smelling, makes you think you are about to taste a sweet sauterne. TASTE: Bone dry, chewy, smokey,apricot,honeyed bacon fat that makes this different from any other semillion based white I've had. Yquem without sugar '94 Dom. Ramonet - Bartard and Bienevenues Bartard Montrachet .. while admittedly these were very young, it was fun to compare the two. The vineyards are only 5ft apart. The "B-B" is aged in "rougher" Chatillonair barrels while the "B" is done in "finer" Troncais wood. The combined output of both vineyards is only around 5,000 bottles. Based on the tasting, we'll not be touching the remain bottles for another 5-10 years. NOSE: The "B-B" was open, a bit brassy in it's lemon,mint,vanilla bouquet while the "B" was much tighter and delicate at this stage. TASTE: The "B-B" exhibited the wonderful richness of a batard with a bit of rough acidity that will probably calm down in a few years. It had a great length and revealed lots of citrusy, vanilla butter layers. The "B" seemed to sit back and say .. "wait a while" .. it was delicate in the mouth and all seemed in good balance but it refused to flower. Candidly, this one should not have been opened this young. '71 Leroy - Pommard .. based on the notes from this one, our remaining bottle will be left for another 5-8 years. Decanted with no sediment to speak of. COLOR: Clean, clear lightish ruby with just a hint of bricking at the edge NOSE: bound up cherry and sweat sox, quite light, never opened much more. TASTE: clean, simple black cherry-raspberry with just a hint of the funky truffles backing that we love in red burgundies. Very fine tannins, all in great balance. With not much length, we wanted to "shake it up" a bit to get it open but it never did. I think this will be a great wine in another 5 years or so. '74 Krug Cab. - Lot F1 .. brought by a guest, this wine (kept in his "room cellar" .. a plain room in his house that stays around 68 deg) was a wonderful suprise. The grapes came from the F1 vineyard, better known now as Fay's vineyard of Stag Leap fame. It was purchased for $8.00 back then !! .. decanted down to less than 1/2" of wine left. COLOR: fully bricked at the outer edge but with a surprising amount of color still in the center NOSE: huge amounts of tobacco, leather laden fruit TASTE: Very fine, soft tannic bite, with leathery cassis and black fruit that surprised all of us with it's balance. This one still had a bit of age left in her but she was definitely well down that "old claret" path that would make her hard to distinguish from an old bordeaux. I found it quite similar to an older Ch. Talbot. On to the stars of the evening. I must admit that I was very nervous about opening these, not knowing what we'd find. Eric can attest to the fact that I had a hard time keeping my hands from shaking as I decanted them. Both wines were decanted just prior to serving and served at side by side. '47 Ch. Margaux .. The cork was in great shape. Decanted down to about 1.5" of wine left ( note .. I cheese cloth filtered the "dregs" from both of the wines later in the evening and they were still nicely alive the next day ) COLOR: Deep ruby center that tapered out to a light bricking. NOSE: After removing the cork, I sniffed the bottle and phew all I could smell was dank mouldy sulphur ( scared the heck out of me ). Upon pouring and swirling and smelling, I was so astounded, all I could say was god-damn!! Waves of flowery currant,cassis,and tobacco just seemed to flow out of the glass. Silken tannins balanced out rich, mild bodied flavors of leathery currant/cherries with a length that seemed to go on and on and evolve fully after swallowing. '47 Ch. Latour ... The cork in this one gave way about 2/3 down and I had to work the rest out. I should have used the Ah-So type opener for this one. Decanted down to about 1" of wine. COLOR: Clearer than the Margaux, appeared some what "thinner" with more bricking. NOSE: soft and refined it seemed much more closed in than the Margaux. Seemed to have a hint of roasted chestnuts. TASTE: The first word that came to mind was elegance. Nothing overly profound, just really a really classy balance of flavours and tannins. Much finer in the mouth than the explosive Margaux. All agreed that these two were two of the finest reds they'd ever had. One first tasting, the vote was for the Latour with it's superbly balanced flavors. However, most kept some of each in their glass for later and by the end of the evening, the vote had swung over to the wonderfully open and complex Margaux. '70 Vega Sicilia Unico .. thinking that this would be the "biggest" wine of the evening, it was the last red served ... wrong !! Even though I decanted this one 5 hours earlier (less than 1/2 of residue), it held true to the Vega tradition of I'll open when I'm ready. The remaining bottle of this will stay hidden in the cellar for at least another 10-15 years. COLOR: deep shimmering black ruby with no hint of bricking. NOSE: Tightly bound up notes of oak, plums and figs and truffles. TASTE: An almost chewy wine that had very little dimension to it. Just bunches and bunches of fruit,licorice and oak that had not reached their harmony yet. By itself, it would probably have been "ok" but in the company of the other wines, it came forth as an infant waiting to grow up. We headed onto dessert with the following wines to end the evening. '76 Felix Muller - Scharzhofberger Auslese .. brought by the same person that brought the Krug. Purchased for $6.50 back then. I don't have much experience with German wines but this was really great. NOSE: Tangerines and apples with a slight honey hint. TASTE: Sweet grapefruit, herbs and and even a touch of banana all blended nicely with a large splash acidity that balanced the sweetness perfectly. A sweet wine that actually had a refreshing, cleansing finish. Lots of age still left in this one. '47 Huet - Le Haut Lieu .. coming from some of the coldest cellars in europe, this Vouvray was declared The finest wine I've ever made by the winemaker. COLOR: A medium deep gold, actually much lighter than I thought it would be for a wine of this age. NOSE: Honeyed mangos and herbed-lime. TASTE: With my love of Yquem, I was really interested in tasting this wine. I found any comparison is unfair. This wine stands on it's own merits of glory with totally different nuances than a sauterne. All acidity and fruit were in great balance, resulting in none of the cloying sweetness that can come from lesser wines. A strong herbal component added to the honeyed fruit flavors to make it a very clean taste with lots of lingering thoughts of honey poured over grapefruit and kiwis. At 50 years of age, this wonder still appears to have another 10-15 years left in her. Pictures The following are shots of the evening ... after viewing the pictures .. use your browser's BACK key to return here.
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