Birth Year - Themed wine dinner
Tasted Sunday, January 21, 2018 by mye with 351 views
Introduction
10 friends came together to have some casual Chinese food..
But before the food, we tasted through the line up of 10 wines, with a theme of "Birth Year" wines representing each person in the group (with a few exceptions).
We had friends with birth years in 1979, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 90.
1987 was not represented as we couldn't find a good sample :(.
Most wines were opened for about 1 hour before we began.. and followed through the night. All wines were single blind (we know what wines we had, but all were bagged up).
Flight 1 (10 Notes)
Closing
All the wines showed well, with no flawed bottles. Given the age that's a win already. Always a fun time drinking birth year bottles!
There were quite a few amazing bottles. WOTN is hard to pick, but highlight for me was the 79 Haut Brion, the 90 Montrose, and the 81 Tignanello. I found the Chinons out of place.. they really need to be tasted on their own. The rest were solid tasty bottles, but just a little over shadowed. I'd be happy to take a Ducru, l'Evangile, or Guigal Hermitage any day!
1979 Château Haut-Brion
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Decanted for 45 mins, followed through 3+ hours.
I thought it was going to fall off after an hour, but instead it just got better with air. I recommend a 1 hr decant minimum, but check in to make sure.
Soft, mellow, plenty of fruit still there, but resolved tannins and just drinks so pretty. It's past the peak but hanging in.. no need to hold on anymore.. drink up. but enjoy! Really liked the bottle.
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1990 Château Montrose
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Decanted 3 hours before consumption, followed for 3 more.
Shows the intensity and power of the vintage and the wine. Wow!.
Still tightly coiled after 3 hours...amazing depth of fruit, and secondary earthy notes. But this thing can last for EVER. Not our favorite for this night but i can see the epic future.
Hold.. 5 years minimum.
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2010 Château Montrose
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Opened as a contrast to the 1990. Massive.. hard to approach.. I'm not sure how people are rating this at 96. Sure it's got immense potential but that's all i see now.
Hard hold for the foreseeable future..
Day 2 update: opened up with a bit more fruit, but still just a great young bordeaux. Tasty tho!
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1979 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
All 3 chinons seemed out of place in this line up.
I actually reversed the 79 and 90.. this one didn't see this old. Opened up with air (1 hour decant, followed for 3 more).
Orange/brown color, light weight, all of the greeness that is in the 2011 doesn't show up here.. not bad!
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1990 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
1 hour decant, followed for 3 hours. Tasting single blind i thought this was the 79.. seemed more aged and flat.. Floral nose, quite nice.. palate was a bit flat, again out of place in this line up.
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2011 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Opened as contrast to the two birth year entries. dark purple.. green/herbaceous. i'm not a fan, but some folks actually quite enjoyed this.
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1986 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
1 hour decant, 3 hour follow.
I see this as a solid workhorse.. just classic/reliably tasty.
Doesn't it stand out like a 90 montrose no. but it's just there, and it's just yummy. i can take this bottle for dinner any day!
Classic st julien nose, with a hint of smokiness. Yum!
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1988 Château L'Evangile
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
1 hour decant, followed for 3 hours.
Another 'workhorse' wine.. solid, tasty, just a really well made wine, with excellent depth. Overshadowed a little but man it's tasty.
Day 2 - intoxicating nose. WOW. just amazing.
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1981 Antinori Tignanello
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
This was the surprise of the lineup. 3/10 voted for this as the favorite.
Soft, red fruit. ruby red with some browning. Doesn't taste like a 37 year old wine at all.
Decanted 1 hour, and followed through 3 more. Initially really good.
As the night went on, the wine started to fall off. I'd say drink up asap if you have any and enjoy.
Short decant for sediment and start the journey.
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1985 E. Guigal Hermitage
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Complete wild card.. everyone can pick this out.
decanted 1 hour, followed through the night..
Individually it's tasty.. solid well made wine, with inviting earthiness. A hint of plum and red fruit. just so easy to drink.
A little out of place and overshadowed.. so half a bottle left untouched.
Day 2: wow. amazing.. completely held up, and just soft and easy to drink with all the complexity of a top tier bottle. Would also drink this all day.
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