MI Wine Club Ultracollectible Dinner
Seattle, WA, USA
Tasted Saturday, February 28, 2004 by Eric with 1,541 views
Introduction
Tonight I had the good fortune to tag along to a pretty special dinner tasting of the Mercer Island Wine Club. Dubbed as an "Ultracollectible Dinner," it was a potluck with each couple bringing a signature dish and wine. James & Kimberly King were our gracious hosts and organizers. Also in attendance were Aaron Pott (the amazingly knowledgable winemaker for St. Clement) as well as Ron Lachini (the owner of Lachini Vineyards). It was a great night!
Flight 1 (7 Notes)
Below are notes for the main course wines and food.
Flight 2 (6 Notes)
A few other 'bonus wines' floated around over the course of the evening. Here are some brief observations on these.
1991 Château d'Yquem 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Light gold color. The nose shows creme brulee with some nail polish and a hint of apricot. This is the most delicious, honeyed nectar I have ever tasted. Open and delicious (unlike a 1990 which I tasted last June). This was an AMAZING pairing with sauteed foie gras on brioche and sauteed mango slices, so perhaps my score is a little carried away.
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1974 Mayacamas Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Mountain 92 Points
USA, California
This is a gorgeous, mature California Cab that is drinking beautifully. Very light color. This shows a hint of mint with a slightly medicinal overtone. This is very earthy and mushroomy with a slightly sweaty element. That said, this shows sweet, pure, black fruit on the palate. There is lots of life left in this wine, very soft and resolved with a lot of acidity on the finish. This was served with tuna loin stuffed with herbs & feta. James acquired this bottle directly from the winery after a lot of bargaining.
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1986 Château Cheval Blanc 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
This was far, far better than the last bottle I tasted at Patrick's. Very light in color with obvious bricking. This has soaring aromatics that I feel very high in my nasal cavity. The signature element of this wine is amazing spiciness with an almost Asian characteristic. What a nose!!! On the palate this only shows medium power with a really spicy and silky feel. Delicious wine. Served with grilled duck breast and a honey tangerine and plum reduction.
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1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 100 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
This was my bottle (a magnum), and I am now 4 for 4 with this wine. This wine consistently takes me to my "happy place." This shows a stunningly youthful nose of tobacco, minerals and black fruit. The cassis and purity on the attack is just mindblowing. This is clearly the most youthful of the four bottles of this I have tasted. This wine is utterly seamless, just so smooth and powerful from entry all the way through the 30 second finish. Served with a timbale of wild grains, sauteed leeks and grilled portabello mushroom.
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1982 Château Léoville Las Cases 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
The nose shows cedar, lead pencil and a hint of coffee (as suggested by Aaron). This is still very tight and not giving much right now, the most closed of three tastes I have had of this. That said, there is clearly so much lurking under the surface. For me this was a disappointing showing, as I have seen what this wine can do with 12+ hours of decanting. It needs time, lots more time. This was served with two dishes. Roasted quail over sauteed red cabbage (and apple?) along with greens in a vinaigrette. The latter was tasty, but the vinaigrette was utterly palate smashing and an insanely tough match with the wine. The second course was tri-tip beef in a wine reduction served atop potato gratin.
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1997 Harlan Estate 97 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
This was a controversial wine at the tasting, especially following the other mature wines. I found it to be both insanely impressive and enjoyable. The nose shows lots of volatile acidity, violet, raspberry, a simply soaring nose. The palate is just unreal, amazingly concentrated, pure, powerful, structured and long. The balance on this was amazing, but this is not a wine for the tannin averse. This has a stunning amount of structure, almost jaw crushing. I have never tasted so much power in a non-Australian dry red wine. Remarkable. We all wondered how it would age. Served with filet mignon in a cabernet and demi glace reduction.
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1963 Fonseca Porto Vintage 96 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
This was an unreal port. Spirit, coffee, lilac, and violet, oh my! This is amazingly smooth, complex and long. Hurt me! Served with molten chocolate cake, another ultimate match.
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