Jay Miller (not the WA one) organized a very fun and informative dinner at Compass on the Upper West Side last night. We compared several vintages of Pape Clement and Haut Bailly. As special guests we had Haut Bauilly's manager Veronique Sanders and owner Robert Wilmers, which made the evening even better. Thanks to Jay and Panos Kakaviatos for their work putting this together, and to everyone for their contributions and conversation.
While folks were gathering we tried a blind white, the 2006 Courier "Ryan's Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc. I brought this, as it was the one wine I had I could be pretty certain no one had tasted. Last time I served I had decanted for a couple of hours as winemaker suggested, this time just pop and pour (and I felt the wine a bit the worse for it). Some oxidative notes, lots of tropical (mango/papaya) fruit, shows just a tad hot. Big, not very SB typical, but interesting. I like, but not as much as previous time. B/B+
On to the main event: Flight One
1978 Haut Bailly Lighter bodied claret, red fruit, some cedar and earth. B1978 Pape Clement Lifted VA nose, sharp, a bit think on palate. B-/C+
1988 Haut Bailly Nice, spicy, some red fruit, still some tannins hanging on, could hold. B/B+1988 Pape Clement Brett-bomb. I think of myself as brett-tolerant, but I couldn't bring myself to taste this at first. Raw sewage. It does blow off enough after a while to taste, a darker fruited wine than others in flight, some cassis among the diapers. Others liked more than I did. C+ at the end (D before)
Flight Two
1989 Haut Bailly Balanced, lively, leather and tobacco over a solid fruit base. My WOTN (think I was alone in that). A-1989 Pape Clement Again a little VA lift, but not as much as the '78- this is interesting rather than intrusive. Some graphite and earth, good length, nice wine. B+/A-
1990 Haut Bailly Shows more "1990" than the Pape. Roasted plums, smoke, still some tannins. B+1990 Pape Clement I don't like this quite as much as a bottle this fall, but it's still nice. Blackcurrant, spice, cigarbox. A ready to go middleweight. B+
Flight Three
1998 Haut Bailly Intense minty/spicy nose, good acidity, good length. B+1998 Pape Clement Ripe but not overripe fruit (just a tad "animale"), mineral undertones, good concentration. Fruit is sweet but not jammy. B+/A-
2000 Haut Bailly Red plum and redcurrant, nice length, nice concentration. Not giving a lot (this and the '00 PC both had 1-2 hours in a decanter plus time in bottle). B/B+ for now, probably better than that with time.2000 Pape Clement This IS showing just a tad jammy. Lots of vanilla, but mostly just lurking. Tannic. Probably underrating at B.
Flight Four
2001 Haut Bailly Balanced, soft, and approachable. Don't think this will make old bones, but nice wine now. B+2001 Pape Clement Lush, extracted, showing lots of oak. Impressive, but not my style. Others liked more than I (I do own a couple, so wished I liked more- I'll hold and see what happens). I said it would have done well in NYT's CalCab tasting report. B
2002 Haut Bailly Showing more structure than fruit, this isn't very fun at the moment. Maybe with time. B/B-Flight Five
2004 Haut Bailly Sweet red fruit, a bit of oak, nice length. B2004 Pape Clement Very ripe, lots of vanilla/oak aromas, bordering hot. I didn't get the weird coconut thing I had gotten from previous tasting, but again not my style. B-
2005 Haut Bailly Ok, now this is ripe, sweet, big, and showing oak. I still like it , because there's an acidic backbone giving it some brightness. Put away, revisit in a decade or more. B+/A-Nice night, thanks everyone.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. 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