2001 Bordeaux plus Rhones, Burgs and More

Tasted Saturday, October 25, 2014 by MikeATL with 512 views

Introduction

A group of us gathered yesterday to celebrate a friend's 70th birthday. His favorite wines tend to be traditional European wines, and we did our best to satisfy his preferences.

Flight 1 - Starters (2 Notes)

We started with a couple of whites, neither of which showed as well as I would have liked.

Flight 2 - Bordeaux (5 Notes)

The birthday boy generously brought a horizontal of 2001 Bordeaux, the last three of which were served blind. A friend brought the Pichon-Lalande, which capped off the flight in style.

Flight 3 - Rhones (6 Notes)

The 1989s were an interesting contrast. While this was not a group of wines for the brett-averse, I and most of the rest of the group are pretty tolerant of it. The wines triggered a discussion of whether Beaucastel ruined their wines when they cleaned their cellars, a position to which I subscribe. The discussion then shifted to whether the difficulty in finding northern Rhones like we had in the good old days is the result of cellar hygiene, changes in winemaking practices, changes in climate, pandering to certain critics, or some combination of those factors. By this point, much of the group was fairly well lubricated, so no conclusions were reached, but it was entertaining.

1989 Beaucastel has long been a favorite of mine, and today's showing confirmed my position. The Gangloff was better and truer than I expected. I haven't had too many recent vintages, but this seems more in the style of the 1995 through 1998, after which I found a disturbing trend to an overly modern style. If this reflects a return to the original style, then I'll have to start seeking them out again.

Flight 4 - Burgundy (2 Notes)

Dujac is one of the birthday celebrant's favorite producers, and he's wise enough not to dismiss a village wine based on label snobbery, which was vindicated by the 2000. The Leclerc was pretty disappointing.

Flight 5 - Misfits (2 Notes)

Flight 6 - Champagne (3 Notes)

You can't celebrate without Champagne, and we had a few nice selections. I find it difficult to take good notes on Champagne under the best of circumstances, much less at the end of a long afternoon of excess, which explains the abbreviated notes.

Closing

We also had a 1996 Zind-Humbrecht Rangen de Thann Pinot Gris at the end of the tasting, which I enjoyed, but by that point my palate was too shot to say much more. The day ended perfectly, sitting on a deck overlooking a small lake on a perfect fall day, life doesn't get much better.

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