Bellevue, WA
Tasted Saturday, April 14, 2007 by Eric with 971 views
For the second year in a row, Michael Gordon hosted a small group to eat Lobel's steaks and enjoy first growth Bordeaux. (Read about last year.) This year we actually cooked the steaks to perfection (thanks Justin), but the wines got a lot younger as well. Still, a terrific time was had by all.
We started with a pair of blind wines which ended up being the Silex. The 2002 showed much more tipicity and frankly was a wine to curl up with for an evening to follow. The 2003 lacks a bit of acid. We also had a somewhat disappointing Corton-Charlemagne.
We started off with a flight of Latour. In retrospect, this was the most underwhelming flight. Brooding, reticent and not showing a ton was a pretty general comment. You had to work really hard to unlock these, and none could ever be considered hedonistic. But I guess that is what happens when you get into these 2-3 decades before their prime.
We served this next flight with gorgeously grilled Lobel strips. I generally don’t consider myself a huge fan of the Lafite style, finding it a bit intellectual and not always hedonistic or rewarding. The 1996 however could make a believer out of anyone. Darned compelling wine!
We finished out with a young flight of Haut Brion, probably my favorite first growth. These were gorgeous, complex, hedonistic wines, right up my alley!
Finally we finished up with a sweet wine to have with some chocolate torte. Nice match.
2002 Didier Dagueneau Silex 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
Floral, flinty notes on the nose. A razor of a palate.
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2003 Didier Dagueneau Silex 88 Points
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
Rich but much flabbier than the 2002.
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2004 Domaine Marius Delarche Corton-Charlemagne Reserve
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Lots of matchstick and ash notes. Some reasonable flesh on this, but it's very tight and I find the matchstick to be offputting.
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