Our city Bordeaux group met at Bobby Van?s for a Ducru vertical last night. Good group, we started with a white and some bubbles
2012 Duplessis ?Les Clos? Chablis GC I believe my first Duplessis, I really enjoyed, tart green apple with citrus and oystershell, deep, good balance, long. A-/B+2002 Ellner Brut Champagne Rich honied style, rather fat, not really my style but enjoyed more by others. B-
I held onto some Chablis for my crabcakes, and we started on reds before steaks came out
1975 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou Sweet cassis but dominated by tertiary aromas of cigar smoke and leather, really classic, gets tobacco-y with air, fun bottle. A-1978 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou This seemed fine if a touch muted when double-decanted in afternoon, but seemed a little volatile and disjointed when first poured, but settled down a bit. Black fruit, cigarbox, not so long. B-
1994 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou Kind of weird nose- some called caramel, I thought cooked fruit (er, compote), a little volatile. Calmed down, some tough tannin still, B/B-1982 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou This wasn?t a great bottle of the ?82, but still had quite a bit of enjoyment. Plummy, soft tannin, mushrooms and earth. B+/A-
1995 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou Young but nice development, cassis and dark berry with smoked meat, earth, and cigarbox. Powerful but not overpowering. Delicious. A-1996 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou Person bringing this was sick so I grabbed one from home before sprinting to train.so not optimal service, but I don?t think that was issue. This is usually a great wine but this seemed disjointed, thin, and short for Ducru. Unsure where I sourced, but clearly not good bottle. C+,
1998 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou Surprise (on upside) of the night. Sweet black plum and cherry fruit, nice balance of tannin and acid, tobacco and a little vanilla on finish. B+2001 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou Cassis, anise, young but already delicious. A-/B+
We did our usual 3/2/1 voting
1995 17 pts 1975 10 pts 1982 5 pts 1998 5 pts 2001 5 ptsFun night
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.