HDH Pre-Auction Tasting
Chicago Athletic Club
Tasted Saturday, September 17, 2005 by Burgundy Al with 594 views
Introduction
Amazing tasting. I wish I took notes on the other half of the wines. As I transfer these note over electronically in 2011, I realize how much more challenging and costly tasting like this are to organize just 6 years later.
1975 Château Palmer 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Wine tasting. Wonderful earthy character on nose. More fruit remains on palate - dark cherry and cassis. Excellent balance, with good spice on finish. At a good place today.
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1982 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Wine tasting. Lots of fruit and lots of secondary character as well, followed by good spice, but I just didn't find the tannic structure or acidity the would make this a more complete high end wine. Perhaps my expectations were too high here.
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1982 Château Latour Grand Vin 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Wine tasting. Black fruit just starting to show some secondary development. Really good tobacco and spice aromas. Palate really shows the same impressive fruit from the nose. Very elegant, balanced and long finish. Really impressive on every level.
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1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Wine tasting. Showing more advanced age than I expected. Mostly red fruit on nose, then red and black on palate. Some smoked meat herbs on palate. Good in every way, but not particularly deep or nuanced for me today. Also most likely not getting any better.
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1990 Château Cheval Blanc 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Wine tasting. Black fruit and floral aromatics with some of that alluring Cabernet Franc backward spice. Flavors of ripe fruit - plum, black cherry and kirsch. Huge wine from beginning to end with lots of spice throughout. Everything wonderfully in balance. Exactly as I remember from when tasted last year.
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1990 Château Lafite Rothschild 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Wine tasting. Very primary nose shows red and black cherry and plum with some hints of tobacco. Palate shows mostly the same fruit, perhaps less red cherry. Sensational structure with both tannins and acidity providing great emphasis on the finish. Hold to at least 2010, probably 2020 with real upside going forward.
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1985 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Château des Ducs 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
Wine tasting. I was concerned based on the brown(ish) color, but those concerns disappeared once I smelled this wine. Good floral aromas with some modestly big red fruit and plenty of spice. Red fruit and earth flavors are in perfect harmony with good spice as well on palate. At its peak.
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1993 Domaine A.-F. Gros Echezeaux 82 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Wine tasting. Although I am a big fan of 1993s, there are still a fair percentage that are just as tough as nails and I don't think the fruit will ever balance nicely with the tannins and acidity. That's our problem here. If I had any, I would hold to 2012 or 2015 and hope.
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1993 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
Wine tasting. Difficult to fairly assess in that this is one the least easily accessible wines today. Great nose shows black primary fruit and really charming floral traces in background. Layers and layers of black fruit unfold on the palate, some fairly well hidden behind lots of tannins today. This is an incredibly nuanced wine, just 10-20 years away from really showing its full potential. I will have to find some, fortunately I have now given myself 10-20 in which to find it.
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1999 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
Wine tasting. Massive wine with excellent fruit, just not in balance yet and very difficult to judge. I'd probably say this is an 89-90 point wine based on what I could assess today, but so much is hidden that can make it better or worse that I'd really want to put this in an 86-95 point range.
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1995 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Wine tasting. Ripe fruit on nose and palate, lots of peach and then some candied lemon peel. Somehow though, this wine seems a bit off center with almost raisin and fig-like sweetness that I liked but didn't find classic.
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1995 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard 91 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Wine tasting. Good peach and candied apple on nose with hints of oak. Rich fruit, not overly ripe with good spice and length. Drinking slightly little better than a bottle a few weeks back.
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1995 Kistler Chardonnay Dutton Ranch 83 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Wine tasting. Candied ripe fruit on nose showing lots of age. Still showing oak.
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1995 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins 94 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Wine tasting. First time I've had this wine. Aromas of ripe black fruit, lots of well worn leather, chocolate and an exotic array of herbs and spices. Dense black fruit with a real sense of residual sugar, but in a gorgeous way that worked perfectly with all the spices. Huge tannins and sense of briar patch on finish. Amazing wine, needs to 2010 or later.
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1991 Dominus Estate Napanook Vineyard 95 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Wine tasting. Mostly primary today showing blackberry, plum and cherry liqueur. Some secondary character starting to emerge on nose and palate. Really good fresh thyme and rosemary flavors in background. At its peak, this wine will most likely hold steady for close to another decade.
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1999 Araujo Estate Syrah Eisele Vineyard 93 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Wine tasting. Impressive fresh and powerful black fruit with great pepper and spice. Lots of fruit density on palate but not jammy or too hot. Persistent flavors all the way through. Quite impressive.
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1997 Château Tirecul La Gravière Monbazillac Cuvée Madame 94 Points
France, Southwest France, Dordogne, Monbazillac
Wine tasting. Slightly ripe fruit on nose - apricot, peach - with really candied, honey aspect to it. Palate is of balanced fruit, certainly very sweet but not cloying. Good power and consistency through to the wine's long finish.
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