Bored of Bordeaux? A Pauillac Themed Dinner
Lupa Trattoria, San Francisco, California
Tasted Monday, July 26, 2010 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 836 views
Introduction
L to R: Sang-Mo, Richard, Chris, Eric, Christianne and Keith
Keith, who was deprived of wine during a recent month-long trip to Nepal and neighboring countries, organized a few wine dinners with his buddies on his return to slake his wine thirst. For the one this week, he pointed out to us in the headline of his email that "We Never Drink Bordeaux Anymore!" It's basically true. We tend to schedule Burgundy, Rhone, Italian and Riesling themed events, roughly in that order, and Bordeaux tends to be an afterthought. Since I'm always up for variety, and am fond of older Bordeaux, even though I don't go out of my way to drink it much any more, I quickly said yes. Others did too, but when the day came, we were down to 6 people, out of 12 or more who had initially indicated interest. Even the guy who suggested the Pauillac theme bailed. (BTW, we normally have about a dozen on hand for any of our dinners, unless we purposely limit them to 10, or sometimes 8.) A few had last minute work conflicts, but we never get that many last minute cancellations for a Burg or Rhone themed dinner. Was it the Bordeaux effect? Are we bored of Bordeaux? I'm starting to think so. And the way our wines showed at this dinner isn't likely to inspire more Bordeaux gatherings in the near future, either.
When I was a baby wine geek in Southern California, it was one Bordeaux gathering after another. I had to collect a pretty substantial set of Bordeaux to be able to attend these dinners. Next most common in terms of themed events was Chateauneuf du Pape, and then Italian, but Bordeaux definitely dominated. Looking back, I think many of us were heavily influenced by Robert Parker's Bordeaux-centric view of the wine world, since he was the major critic we were reading, and the one whose scores and recommended wines were trumpeted by the wine retailers we frequented. Eventually I got turned on to Burgundy and Riesling too, and started to seek out fellow Burg and Riesling lovers, but most of the events I attended down there were still heavily Bordeaux dominated.
Speaking of Parker, I've written before that I think he and his fondness for oaky, fruit bomb concoctions has had a very negative impact on the making of Bordeaux, especially in the last 10 years or so, and I regularly find a lot of younger wines from the region to be too oaky and overly extracted for my taste. And I often find that the Bordeaux he rated most highly are ones I can barely drink, while I most enjoy the ones to which he gave only middling scores. Okay, so I think I've met my Parker bashing quota for this piece. ;-)
I only rarely eat a big steak or heavily beefy meal anymore, where I might want a Bordeaux, and am just as likely to enjoy a Rhone or a meritage-type blend from elsewhere (SuperTuscan, Vega Sicilia) on the rare occasions that I do eat something like that. I've still got a fair amount of Bordeaux sitting in my cellar that I just don't get to very often, and at current prices (and winemaking style), I'm not in the market for any more young Bordeaux.
I also think Jancis Robinson got it right when she wrote, "An engagement with bordeaux is a cerebral business. With burgundy it is an affair of the heart." That was certainly the case with our Bordeaux on this particular evening. I enjoyed some of them from an intellectual standpoint--it was interesting to compare the different vintages of Lynch-Bages, and I think Grand-Puy-Lacoste got it quite right in '95, and it was nice to taste that relatively unappreciated Chateau. The wines went well enough too with our excellent pasta and steak dishes. The joy that we get from drinking great Burgs, and the enthusiasm and delight we experience when downing lovely Rhones, however, were very noticeably missing from this dinner. The last time I got a real thrill from drinking Bordeaux was at our exceptional Cheval Blanc gathering in early April that I posted about here. And it was months before that--our end of the year gatherings for Jonathan Dinh's birthday to be exact--that I'd had another memorable Bordeaux. Which isn't to say that there aren't great Bordeaux to be enjoyed, but the price point, compared to other wines that give us great pleasure, has to be considered. We tend to have a much higher proportion of hits to misses when we do Burgundy and Rhones than we do with Bordeaux, and the very top Bordeaux with substantial maturity on them that give the most pleasure are increasingly pricey when compared to our usual favorites. So yes, I think I am bored with Bordeaux, and will be even more selective about the Bordeaux tastings I attend in the future (sorry K&L).
For more detail on the particular wines we tasted and how they showed, see below.
Flight 1 - Champagne starter (1 Note)
Sang-Mo asked if we were interested in starting with Krug. It sounded like a trick question to me. When would one not want to start with Krug? This was one he'd been hanging on to for at least five years, so it showed a little more maturity, in a good way, than your average Grande Cuvée.
Flight 2 - Marcassin Chard (1 Note)
Eric was kind enough to share a Marcassin Chard with us. I was surprised at how youthful and tight it still was, as most Marcassin Chards I've tasted have been on a faster evolutionary path. This was quite tasty and refined, but still needs more time.
Flight 3 - Lynch-Bages Flight (3 Notes)
1994 was the best of the bad years ('91-'94) in Bordeaux, so I wasn't expecting much from our first bottle, and I wasn't disappointed. Christianne reported to us that Jean-Charles Cazes (the current family member in charge of Lynch-Bages) told her, at the K&L Bordeaux Fete in January, when she sat next to him, that '94 is the vintage he's drinking now. They probably ended up with quite a few of them since they didn't sell well, and there's no reason to sit on them. It's a perfectly adequate drink with food, but nothing worth collecting. The '95 and '01 were much better. I really enjoyed the pencil lead on the nose of the '95, and it's in a good drinking window now.
Flight 4 - Grand-Puy-Lacoste and Pichon Lalande (3 Notes)
Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a very solid Bordeaux producer, and the '95 was my WOTN. The '96 might have been a flawed bottle--I was wondering if some low level of TCA, which wasn't detectable on the nose, was sapping the palate in some way. It just didn't perform as well as reviews would suggest.
The '90 Pichon-Lalande has been a controversial wine ever since Parker gave this wine from a great year, from one of Parker's usually favorite chateaux, an extremely low 79 points. I hadn't had the wine for years, but remembered enjoying it at verticals with representatives of the Chateau in L.A. This bottle was disappointing, however, and Parker seems to be right that it wasn't built to last. It wasn't a 79 pointer, but it certainly was one of the weaker wines of a not terribly exciting evening wine wise. Good thing the company was top notch, and the food very good.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 93 Points
France, Champagne
Light golden yellow color; marzipan, very autolytic, ginger, nutty nose; yeasty, nutty, tart citrus, baked lemon palate with refreshing acidity; medium-plus finish (bottle was at least 5 years old)
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