LeDomduVin: Old Vintages

Showing posts with label Old Vintages. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Crescendo in strength... another night of great wines

Wines of the night - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

And here we go again, back into the apartment with the view overlooking at Hong Kong.... Beautiful, isn't it? Except for the weather this time, tainted by the usual and almost permanent grey of the blanket of clouds always hovering above the city. I let you admire the view... but i think that once again the best view of the night was the one on these 6 gems above... the wines of the night were a festival of greatness, climbing the ladder of strength and richness the closer we got to the last bottle.

Hong Kong from the dinner's apartment - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

These bottles were served with a traditional Chinese dinner, concocted by the house Chinese Chef. Do not ask me to translate the menu, none of them spoke really fluent English and i hard a hard time trying to understand what they were trying to describe. However, I took a few pictures that speak for themselves.

Lafite Rothschild 1961 - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

Lafite Rothschild 1961

Level was low
Cork quite damp but still solid
Restraint on the nose at opening
Still cherry, earth, spice, with slightly evolved notes after 30 minutes
The palate is light, slightly flat in my opinion compared to previously opened bottles and not as full as I remembered it, but still possessed enough acidity to keep bright. Not bright enough compared to previous bottle.

La Mission Haut-Brion 1982 - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

La Mission Haut Brion 1982
Literally a bomb after the Lafite,,so young and powerful. Too young in my opinion.
Beautiful nose, fresh notes, menthol, eucalyptus, smoke, earth, spice, touch peppery.
Beautiful, lush, round, coating in the pallet. Here again, touch spicy peppery, smoky, ripe figs, touch prunny.
Lovely balance and texture in the pallet, lingering until the amazing finish.

Le Pin 2000 - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

LePin 2000....
How to put it? An amazingly generous and friendly fat baby. Big, round, friendly, coating, full, explosing upfront, yet gradually expanding in every way on its way to the finish. Gaining in strength and fullness. Lots of dark fruit, wood, spice, earth,. What a wine! Yet after such an incredible beginning and mid-palate... I would have love the flavor in the finish to be a little more lingering and the finish itself longer. Strange, the first things that came to my mind, when i tasted it, were Californien style Merlot and Robert Parker... go figure... but it gave me this impression.

Petrus 1989 - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

Petrus 1989
Sous bois, spice, mushroom, smoky scorched earth, peppery. Very dark fruit. Almost hard. Great acidity in the pallet, lot of spicy, peppery, notes, super dark fruit and more earth. It is paysan wine (in a good way) really impressive and serious attitude. Too serious. Dark and strict. Powerful yet refine.

Beautiful, elegant, refine nose, figs, red and dark berries, some nuts, touch mineral, a smart nose. The palate follow even more beautiful and attractive

Guigal Cote-Rotie La Landonne 1986 - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1990 - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

Right after double decantation - 17.07.2016 | LeDomduVin ©

Monday, July 4, 2016

De Grandes Dames | Vins d'Anthologie

De Grandes Dames : Vins d'Anthologie

Wines of the night | LeDomduVin ©

About a few weeks ago, on June 21st, prior to the 1945 horizontale (read it here), I had another dinner where I had to prepare, condition, decant, taste and serve some amazing wines.

A selection to dream of (once again) for a Sommelier like me!

In the order of the picture above from left to right:

Haut-Brion 1986

La Mission Haut-Brion 1957

Ausone 1962

Anglus 1989

Mouton Rothschild 1970

L'Evangile 1989

Margaux 1982

Lafite Rothschild 1961

Latour 1959

Cos d'Estournel 1968

Cheval Blanc 1990

Yquem 1990

The dinner occurred at a famous Hong Kong Chinese restaurant, but I need to admit, the food was not up to par with the wines selected for that occasion.

So no point to talk about the food pairing, and let's go straight to the wines, shall we?

Here they are in the order they were served.

La Mission Haut-Brion 1957 | LeDomduVin ©

La Mission Haut-Brion 1957
It was amazing (no wonder the Haut Brion wines are my favorites) so smoky and earthy, balanced and harmonious and so flavourful... I could have stayed minutes just on the nose. Very much alive and kicking. Earthy nuances of underbrush, mushroom, game, figue, plum, spice and liquorice lingered in the lightly structured yet complex palate up until the finish. Loved it.

(DN-LDDV | 21.06.2016 | Average Retail Price 5,350 HKD | 620 Euros)

Haut-Brion 1986 | LeDomduVin ©

Haut-Brion 1986

It was succulent and so youthful, but no surprise there as HB is my favorite wine. Almost a shame to open it so early. Earthy, smoky, red and dark berries fruit aromas and flavors with asphalt and stony nuances, so characteristic to Haut-Brion emanated from the glass and coated the rich, structured and textured palate, up to the full and generous finish. Harmonious and balanced by great acidity, quite common to most 86 Bordeaux Left Bank i tasted in the last 20 years, this wine is promising a bright future and still quite a few years in the bottle. Beautiful.

(DN-LDDV | 21.06.2016 | Average Retail Price 3,640 HKD | 425 Euros)

Latour 1959 | LeDomduVin ©

Latour 1959

What a stunning wine! It had been quite a few months that I had not tried it and previous bottles were good, but this one was far much better than previously tasted and still so vibrant. Complex, long, rich, structured and textured, beautiful nose and stunning palate. Rich, generous, balanced, harmonious and solid enough to age quite a few more years in the bottle. Game, underbrush, mushroom, spice, wood and earth flavors mingled beautifully in the expanding palate and the lingering finish.

(DN-LDDV | 21.06.2016 | Average Retail Price 20,570 HKD | 2395 Euros)

Margaux 1982 | LeDomduVin ©

Margaux 1982

A beauty, smooth and delicate, fragile but still very much alive and racy. A ballerina as I like to call it. Floral, earthy nose leading to a velvety palate nuanced with dark berries, sous-bois and earthy tones balanced with great acidity and freshness tending to the gentle, silky finish. Margaux has always been feminine for me, and this 82 confirms it. A great example of what Margaux is all about, more especially in this classic Vintage. Great silhouette.

(DN-LDDV | 21.06.2016 | Average Retail Price 7,910 HKD | 915 Euros)

Lafite Rothschild 1961 | LeDomduVin ©

Lafite Rothschild 1961
It worried me to begin with as the level was low and the overall conditions acceptable but not great, confirmation came with the cork being totally damp and friable.. color was dull and tasted a bit flat... this bottle was not a good example, though the wine was not bad but has suffered due to the oxidation and eventual old seepage. To bad. I tasted some tremendous examples of Lafite 61 before, but this one is not one of them. The problem with these old vintages of top tear wines, which traveled all around the world and passed from the hands of a collector to another via Auction Houses, is that it is very difficult to define the quality of the wine inside and more especially the conditions in which it has been stored all these years prior being opened. Even with my knowledge and experience of inspecting countless amount of old bottles for more than 20 years, it is always a difficult task. Difficult to prevent bad bottles from time to time despite obvious signs to the eyes of a seasoned Sommelier like me boasting a certain expertise on the subject.

(DN-LDDV | 21.06.2016 | Average Retail Price 13,568 HKD | 1580 Euros)

Ausone 1962

What a nice surprise as I never tasted it before and was not sure what to expect, but it was well behaved, on the light side but still complex enough to be really enjoyable.

Angelus 1989
Good and youthful but still felt to impress somehow despite its complexity.

L'Évangile 1989
Pretty good, consistent and well structured, and thorough till the end.
Too young somehow and slightly restraint somehow but still very elegant.

Mouton Rothschild 1970
Much better than expected for a vintage that was not so great... but then again was not that up to the par for a wine pretending to 1st growth position a few vintages later...