Our Bordeaux group met at Bobby Vans steakhouse (midtown east location) Tue sday night for a 20 year look at the ‘96 Medocs ( I’m looki ng forward to the 30 year retrospective). Good porterhouse, good service, n ice table without excess noise.
Ulysse Collin “Les Roises” Champagne I think this was NV. Bigger styled, like a big Chard with bubbles, pears wi th a light nutty note, good finish. B+/B
Reds (in flights of twos)
1996 Ch. Lagrange More open (probably most open wine of the night)I was in the minority prefe rring the Lagrange in this flight. B+/B1996 Ch. Gruaud Larose Cassis, lots of funk. With time I thought there was a metallic edge to the finish. But most people liked this over Lagrange. B-
1996 Ch. Leoville Poyferre I liked this a lot, ripe cassis but classic notes of tobacco, cedar and lea ther. Young but fun to drink already. A-/B+1996 Ch. Leoville Barton Decanted right before dinner, this came out as a bit clunky/chunky. Wood ta nnin, somewhat muddied fruit. B-/C+
1996 Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou This did not seem corked or cooked. But didn’t remind me at all of the (several) bottles of this I’ve had in last few years (and loved ). No obvious flaws (other than a light sour/lactic note), but withdrawn an d a little dull. B-/C+1996 Ch. Leoville Las Cases Big, powerful young, some cigarbox but mostly big blackcurrant fruit. Nice texture. A-/B+
1996 Ch. Cos d'Estournel Structured, hard, probably good stuff underneath but hard to enjoy now. B?1996 Ch. Calon Segur (I need to go back to pen and paper. Phone auto corrected to Colon Sevareid ) Sturdy, restrained, needs time. B?
1996 Ch. Pichon Baron Burly but good. Muscular style, young. B+1996 Ch. Pichon Lalande Easily most elegant wine of the night. Young, perfumed, great mouthfeel. De licious now, long future. A-
1996 Ch. Lynch Bages By this point I wasn’t writing anything down, but I did like this, though young and primary. B+1996 Ch. Grand Puy Lacoste Also quite primary, though there was a nice Pauillac pencil lead note comin g out. B+
1996 Ch. Suduiraut This was a pleasant surprise to me, not much experience with ‘96 Sa uternes but not something I had high expectations for. Honied botrytis note s, orange rind/marmalade, good acids, good finish. B+Group Voting Pichon Lalande 22 pts LLC 15 pts Poyferre 12 pts GPL 2 pts PBaron 1 pt Calon Segur 1 pt Ducru 1 pt
I thought the wines were very good, but drank more like they were 10 than 2
- Fun night, good group
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a p arty where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivi ty, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.