Dinner at the White House

Another "chilled" Friday night dinner at Greg & Sayo's after a long week. I threatened a Grange 1993 and Greg retaliated with customary grace and power.

Yummy...... medium to low spiced and the power of the Mersault benefited from the counterpoint of the assertive food.

• 1996 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  Hay-gold colour. Honeyed, rich nose that is classic middle-aged Meursault.....powerful, buttery oak and lemon butter. Palate has a gorgeous buttery, lemony immediacy with a lot of weight but considerable balance and poise. Quite heady....this adds more weight with time in the decanter/glass and develops a very heavy, oaked and buttery character that is just a bit leaden for me. It definitely needed food to counterweight it.

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The meats were absolutely beautiful.......wow, and I'm not a meat person.

• 1989 Château Lynch-Bages 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for several hours. Dense, ruby-red colour that is just lightening at the edges. Nose is classic Pauillac cedar and cassis with a fantastic vanilla-driven oak tone at the back. Palate is immediately rounded, very rich cassis fruit, low acidity then a huge wave of resonance and reverberence on the back end. The previous bottle drank from the same case eight months ago had an unexpected Pomerol-like softness to it but this particular bottle was more the Californian end of Bordeaux (that rich fruit)......wonderful, but a bit lacking in complexity for me....a supercar that doesn't have that much roadfeel through the steering wheel. Actually, a glass kept for the end of the evening showed that there is a lot more tannic structure here than was apparent earlier, which bodes well for improving in its next decade. For me, it was significantly outclassed by the Grange 1993 that followed.

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• 1993 Penfolds Grange 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Decanted for 12 hours before serving...... worryingly crumbled cork and lean, thin acidic taste on opening, but that's not unusual for a Grange of this or older vintages. Deep black-red opaque colour just lightening to watery transparency at the extreme edge of the glass. Nose is uber-concentrated blackcurrant, warm eucalyptus tree and Koala bear shit....a superb shitty element.....new bicycle tyres....warm fresh-laid black ashphalt (that also made me remember red ashphalt driveways which were popular with our wealthier neighbours in my childhood). Yep, it's got that classic Grange complexity and mesmeric element and we haven't even tasted it yet. Palate is perfect-poised black and red ashphalt...red berries, Chinese small red dates.....with a drying red dates finish. Huuuge resonance and reverberance on the finish. Lovely....... for all of us, it significantly beat the preceding Ch. Lynch Bages 1989 in terms of complexity and sheer enjoyment. Actually, I was enjoying it too much to even think to compare it to older Granges.

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• 1996 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted rather hurriedly for an hour before serving with cheeses. Plush velvety red colour that has an unctuous visual texture....young and probably needed standing for a day and decanting for a lot longer. Nose is gosh!.......rich red currant fruits...some black fruit in the background....very deep and alluring across the whole spectrum of the nose......a tiny hint of white mushrooms secondary development at the back. Palate is lees evolved and still quite tight red and black plum fruit. High tannin and high acidity. Not balanced yet.... but will harmonise wonderfully in the future. Needs 5 more years before trying again but could easily develop into a 95-point wine for me. On the night, it suffered in comparison to longer-decanted Ch. Lynch Bages 1989 and Grange 1993.

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• 2004 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia

  Italy, Tuscany, Bolgheri, Bolgheri Sassicaia

  This was the proverbial bottle we opened too late in the evening to fully appreciate. Minimally decanted and drank over French fine cheeses. Colour is an opaque blood-red, ox-blood that is just brightening slightly at the edge of the glass. Nose of bright fresh-picked blackberries....... I didn't get beyond that point with my notes! I love the 2001 and this seems to have more power so it could become very good indeed. Definitely a step up from the 2004 Tignanello that I have drank and enjoyed several times.

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An evening where we should have probably left the final two wines in the cellar for another 5-10 years.......but the first three more than compensated :)