Bodeaux Raritäten Probe Day 1 1864-1949

Haus der Harmonie, Bochum, Germany
Tasted Friday, January 11, 2008 by SimonK with 986 views

Introduction

On this first day of the Old Bordeaux the really old stuff was serverd. Let's call it the "Adventure Day"
The Tasting was organized by board member Uwe Bende whom I would like thank to thr fullest for this wonderful opportunity to learn about old Bordeaux, the great hospitality and unbelievable generosity especially when it came to countless "in between wines" and pirates.
The Tasting was held in the heart of the Ruhrgebiet at the house of Gesellschaft Harmonie, an old society club in Bochum, Germany
There were 10 participants who welcomed me very friendly as a novice wehn it comes to old wine and we had a lot of fun and i had a hard time several times not to spill the wine on the table when one of my sips was in unlucky sinc with one of the countless jokes.

Flight 1 - Appero (inofficial flight) (1 Note)

I was welcomed with a glass of this young but very fine wine. I dindnt wrote anything down so the TN is from the memory.

Flight 2 - The really old stuff (1st official Flight) (2 Notes)

In the first flight had the two wines from the 19th century. August Agniel was probably a teacher in south france who bought bordeaux by the barrel and bottled it himself.
It was bottled in old Pernod (?) bottles, corked with a very short cork and sealed with sealing wax.
The wines had almost lost in color but especially the 1864 was in good shape and had some fruit aromas left and developed well in the air. It was not the best Wine od the night but them most interesting for sure.

  • 1864 Auguste Agniel 86 Points

    France, Bordeaux

    Clear see through light rose-orange
    In the Nose medicinal, cough syrup, candy
    On th palate suprisingly fresh with citrus and some petrol, strawberry and red currant.
    Good medium finish

    A surprising good performance for this 143 Year old wine

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  • 1896 Auguste Agniel 83 Points

    France, Bordeaux

    Clear see through light orange
    In the Nose first chemical notes, glue, dissolver, later this goes away and candy and caramel comes through
    On the palate first extreme acidity and chemical. The first sip is almost undrinkable but is getting better with time, gets rounder and some slight red currant comes through

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Flight 3 - August Aginel Fillings from the early 20th Century (2nd official flight) (2 Notes)

Next we had the two Agniel Fillings from the Early 20th Century. The 1907 was in a worse shape than its older cousins but the 1926 didn't only show more color but but was - understandable - in a better shape
He was also in a interesting bottle with cyrillic letters in the bottle shape stating a Name and "Riga". So it was probably a Vodka bottle before the Cote de Castillion was filled in.

  • 1907 Auguste Agniel 84 Points

    France, Bordeaux

    Clear rose-orange
    In the nose first strong glue tones with slight red currant
    Very acidic but not unpleasant tastes like good cider vinegar or like a acidic version of "Apfelwein" a strong cider popular in the Frankfurt region.
    looses it finesse fast and becomes only acidic

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  • 1926 Auguste Agniel 87 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux

    Clear dark reddish orange
    Very light nose, some cassis
    On the palate slight swwetnes and sour red currant. Sherry notes

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Flight 4 - 3rd official Flight (1 Note)

On the last flight before we left for the First course of the dinner we did go back in time from the last wine and had a St. Emillion Sattelite from 1919. The bottel and the lable were in very good shape the wine unfortunately not it was pretty dead

  • 1919 F. Pignat

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Montagne-St. Émilion

    Good solid red with only a slight orange rim
    Wet paper, undergrowth and earthy notes and some madera plum on the nose
    earthy som tannins and acidity.
    Pretty dead

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Flight 5 - Appetizer(Inofficial Flight) (3 Notes)

We changed rooms for the first course of the dinner which consisted of Salmon Tatar. First we had - more out of academic curiosity - a 1967 Margaux Pavilion Blanc which was as nobody expected otherwise DOA. Both of the younger white wines were pretty fine but we couldn't grasp the high RMP Rating for the CdP. The very intersing German Chardonnay was thrown in spontaneously by Peter. Thank you!

Flight 6 - 4th official flight (2 Notes)

After the first coursewe started with two left bankers from 1928. The Mouton D'Armailhac was over the hill but the Brane-Cantenac was in much better shape but lost his qualities pretty quick

Flight 7 - 5th official flight (2 Notes)

This flight was clearly the most pleasurable of all the "official" flights. First the Clos Fourtet was the much better wine but the Lafite - that was missing the label but was clearly identifiable by the capsule which had chateau and vintage printed on it - was growing fast in the glass. Uwe and I had the rest from the carafe maybe an hour or so later and then it really showed it qualities. The Lafite would have probably enhanced by audouzing it. For the offical problem it was the WOTN for me.
All in all this flight was decadent experience, since the Lafite was the first BDX first growth for me. And even if at this age it wasn't showing all it probably had in the past and it wasn't the best wine I ever had by far, starting drinking premier crus with a 1934 Lafite is ... welll ... pretty decadent.

  • 1928 Clos Fourtet 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Brick colored, with orange rim
    In the nose first roasted chestnuts the slight strawberries
    Slighly sour Strawberries and Cherries on the Palate
    Gets better and better over time in the end very well rounded and pleasurable to drink

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  • 1934 Château Lafite Rothschild 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Dark ruby colored with only slight orange rim
    Unobtrusive nose at the beginning a bit moldy but after this has gone nice candided cherries and some mint
    Good acidity and a decent amount of tannin left.
    Cherry and cassis aromas is getting better over time.

    Some leftover from the carafe we split amongs a couple of tasters an hour later was even better.

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Flight 8 - Main Course (Inofficial Flight) (2 Notes)

Before the Main course Uwe served the first Pirate blind at did let us guess what it was. It was the best wine I had in my glass this night ad should stay my WOTN if you add the inoffical wines. We were able to narrow it down to a Burgundy and it when the cover was lifted it was a 1949 Nuits St. Georges. To the Main course (Filet Mignon) we had a 2001 Cotes du Luberon from the Magnum, which was good - especially as food companion - but overall still to young IMHO.

Flight 9 - 45ers (6th Official Flight) (2 Notes)

If the Cheval Blanc really was one could not be made sure 100% I didn't had an lable Anymore only a handwritten new one added by a previous owner. Also the cork was in a state that didn't allow us to read any of the brandings. But Uwe says the source for this wine is reliable so the chances are pretty good. The Wines where decent but given the "legendary" vintage rather disappointing

Flight 10 - 49ers (7th Official Flight) (2 Notes)

The last two "official" Red wines came from the Year 1949. The Grand Mayne had a very good colured but was madeiraisized and dead.The Croiz-Bages was looking much older but was well drinkable

Flight 11 - Pirates! (Inoffical Flight) (2 Notes)

Before we switched to the desserts and the dessert wines we had two interesting Pirates. Unfortunately the first one was corked, but what came out under the TCA was so promising, that I'm pretty sure, that this 62 Year old wine from Chile would probably have been the best wine of tonight if it wouldn't have been corked. The Comtesse on the other hand was a nice compensation,

  • 1946 Cap Corronell Sellecction Especial Flawed

    Chile

    This Chilean Pirate was unfortunately corked but still it was a wonderful wine.

    The color was Ruby to Brick

    The Nose was muted and only the typical TCA smell came through
    on the palate the TCA was also quite prominent but beside this, contrary to what I would have expected the Fruit was not dead.
    There was still strong hints of voluptuous Raspberry and Blackberries aromas, that told strongly what this wine could have been.

    It was so good that this was the first TCA stained wine I ever drank completel

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  • 1978 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 89 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    This Pauillac was colored dark ruby
    The great Nose was full of fruits with Cherries and Peppermint
    On the Palate the wine had earthy aromas and showed Blackberries and Plum with a medium to long finish

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Flight 12 - Sweet Stuff (8th official Flight) (1 Note)

While we had a very nice selection of cheeses as desert we had the official Dessert Wine unfortunately it was dead

Flight 13 - Dessert (Inofficial Flight) (2 Notes)

But the inofficial program was compensation for this. The "Cote Rions" (as far as I know a trading brand for Barsac Wines in the beginning 20th century) was truly delightful. Also the Kallstadter Saumagen Risling BA that again Peter brought up from nowhere was not far behind.

Flight 14 - Joyfull Wine guessing at Uwes house (Inofficial Flight) (7 Notes)

After we left the Location we went to Uwe's house where he summoned on obscure bottle after the other from his cellar, served it blind and we had to guess what it could be.
We had a LOT of fun! (I don't have formal notes on most of them)
After we grew tired of it (around 4 o'clock in the night) Uwe serverd delicious veal cheeks and pulled a 1985 La Mission Haut Brion from his cellar.
What a way to end a great evening!

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