Most of our Bordeaux group and one charming out-of-towner got together at the midtown East Bobby Vans Tuesdy for a 30 year peek at the 1989 Left Banks.
2014 Mousse Special Club Rose de Saignee 100% Pinot Meunier. I don?t think I?ve ever had a rose Special Club before. This was light but complex, grapefruit and blood orange with orange zest. Delicate bead, fun and lively B+/A-1989 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc Ripe with plenty of vanillin oak, lots of wax, good but gets better with time and foods. B+?
The latter was great with my crab cake. The reds were served mostly in flights of 2. Bobby Vans did a nice job- I had perfectly cooked tomahawk, enjoyed spinach, hash browns, and fries
1989 Gruaud -Larose Higher acid, red fruit, bretty but more in a bandaid/vinyl way than the manure of old Cordier funk. I?ve liked better before, but been a while. C+/B-1989 Meyney Boy I?ve drunk a lot of this over the years, Sweet fleshy and fun, and the Cordier funk here is classic light barnyard. B+/B
1989 Leoville Las Cases Young but surprisingly approachable for LLC sweet fruit, good finish. A-/B+1989 Leoville Barton There?s a bit of greenness here that seems more like green oak than unripe fruit, others like more than me. B-
1989 Palmer Lush fruits but good acids, cedary, floral. Delightful. A-1989 Pichon Lalande Exotic, perfumed, elegant., A-
1989 Pichon Baron Still some hard tannin, good fruit, a bit stolid next to Pichon Lalande (last time we had together I think I preferred Baron). B1989 Lynch Bages Great bottle of this. Quite young, but the tannins are supple, tasty but long future. A-
1988 Yquem (375) Honey, orange marmalade, and Earl Grey. Good acids, big wine. B+/A-For group voting Palmer and Lynch Bages vied for first, while I think Pichon Lalande edged LLC for 3rd place (lost my scoresheet)
Fun night with the group, nice to meet Robin S and to see everyone else.
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 party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.