Lunch at Gavroche in Vancouver with John Taverner before sending back across the water to England.
2001 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Blanc - this one stumped us. It seemed to show a little bit of grass and one taster thought gooseberry, so thoughts turned to sauvignon blanc, but no one was thinking chardonnay. A fair bit of acidity went well with the assemblage of tuna done several different ways.1995 Nichol Syrah - a BC wine to show the English some local talent. From a small microclimate that fairly reliably ripens this grape. The colour was showing some age and the nose was showing some good fruit but it was quite indeterminate as far as offering any varietal hints.
1990 Ch. De Cruzeau - I had pulled this from the cellar for John to offer to the others blind (he'd used up his available space on the 89 Latour he'd brought for the dinner). Surprisingly dark with a lovely mature Bordeaux nose and good ripeness and length. An excellent luncheon claret! Served with lamb sweetbreads on mushroom risotto.1983 Beringer Knight's Valley Cabernet - browning, with an old nose, this particular bottle (I'd hesitate to generalize) had lost fruit but it did show some decent up-front sweetness in the middle and a fair finish.
1985 Mondavi Cabernet - this has been an excellent wine - almost as good an much less expensive than the reserve in its youth. It had good colour, fairly dark, and a nose of jammy fruit with a little mint. Good acidity, stylish wine in good shape. My last bottle. These cabs were served with venison with a morels matched with pecans in an acorn squash mix that worked very well with the meat.1999 J. Lohr 'POM' (Paso Robles) - this wine, made by a producer that normally makes moderately priced but decent fare, was an attempt to replicate a Pomerol.
68% merlot, 16.4% cabernet and 15.6% cab franc. It was purple and had huge sweet fruit, but well balanced. It finished quite dry and did not show much tannin, a fact that came to our attention only once we'd gotten over the impact of all that fruit on palate. It should age well in the medium term and certainly went well with the cheese.We sent them home with some BC wines they'd never see in England so they can stump the Solihull Solipsist and Sipping Guild when they get back.