Blind 1995 Bordeaux at Table, Donkey and Stick
Chicago, IL
Tasted Wednesday, April 26, 2017 by acyso with 438 views
Introduction
Matt planned out an amazing dinner to pair with the theme of blind 1995 Bordeaux, some of which he provided, and some of which we brought along. The biggest lesson learned is that the wines were much better with food, and that the vintage as a whole still doesn't strike me as quite ready to drink.
2006 Marc Hébrart Champagne Premier Cru Special Club 93 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru
From magnum. Outstanding. This shows so much pinot character throughout. Dense and potent, with amazing depth and extract. There's an absolutely enchanting aroma of red delicious apples on the nose. The palate is thick and richly textured, but not heavy. Fresh minerality and a touch of sweetness.
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2004 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
As with the great white Burgundies, I just love the reduction on the nose here. It's not too thick and in fact it seems to have integrated very nicely with the rest of the wine. Yes, the matchstick is definitely there, but it's also coupled with intense minerality. The oak is a bit prominent, but it isn't charred or out of place. Thickly textured, with a hint of coconut. An older Meursault, this has lost some verve of youth, but this is not an old wine at all.
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1995 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection 90 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. The nose on this showed quite a bit of oak, along with some of the attendant aromas: I picked up a lot of coffee on this one. Fairly ripe, with some clear French oak flavours on the palate as well. Of a more riper style, though not to the point that I'd say this was outside of Bordeaux; I guessed this was probably a more modernist producer from the left bank, since I didn't pick up any merlot or franc.
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1995 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. In comparison to the 95 Caymus SS, this was a much more demure, and dusty wine, which actually had me thinking St. Julien, but I hedged and simply concluded that this was left bank. This was also clearly a lot less ripe and oaky, so I had in mind one of the more classic producers. I suppose at the end of the day, this bottle showed exactly as one would stereotype the appellation and estate.
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1995 Château Calon-Ségur Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. Clearly a wine of good pedigree, with a lovely dose of pyrazines and darker fruit on the nose and palate. Unfortunately, this was all at happening at the same time as a light blanket of wet cardboard.
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1995 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. Clearly left bank of high caliber. The nose on this was perfumed, complex, and full of those classic aromas you're looking for in Bordeaux: black fruit, a bit of cedar, some leather, some dirt. The palate is a bit surprising given the nose, though, it's a bit less perfumed and explosive, and lies more on the red side of the spectrum. The acidic lift here is incredible, too. The sweeter red fruit here did give me some pause as to whether this could have been a classic Californian cabernet, but in the end, I settled with my gut instinct. As an addendum, this bottle was decanted four hours before the next one.
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1995 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. How strange it is to have two of the same wine, blind, side-by-side, when the lineup was randomly determined? It was later concluded that this bottle was decanted four hours later than the previous, which we used as an excuse to justify the very different showings. Especially after the tasting, retasting the two side-by-side, the differences seemed much less stark. There's probably some trick of psychology going on here as well. In any case, I found this bottle darker, with a more brown spice tone. The palate was much thinner than the previous bottle, and the acid and tannin didn't feel very much in balance with each other. However, it was still fairly clear to me that this was a cabernet-heavy left bank wine.
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1995 Château Léoville Barton 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. Charred oak on the nose, this came across as a bit flashy. Black fruit, and very dense, this wasn't a particularly nuanced wine. At the end of the day, I did feel as if this had enough earthiness that left bank was still a good guess.
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1995 Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. The nose on this was much better than the palate. Tons of graphite and pencil shavings, coupled with dark fruit. The acidity here is plentiful, but the palate isn't too there. It feels a little thin and the acids jut out a little bit too much. Still, a fairly easy left bank guess for me.
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1995 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 83 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. High-toned nose that almost has a bit of aldehyde to it. The palate is heavy and floppy, this is a shapeless blob of fruit that just falls with a dull thud. I guessed some sort of disastrous right bank wine. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when this was revealed. There's a possibility this wasn't a sound bottle, but it certainly didn't have obviously detectable flaws.
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1995 Château Lynch-Bages 85 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. Really not sure what went on here. Some at the table thought this was flawed, based on some sort of tinniness on the palate. I didn't know what this wine was, so I wasn't entirely comfortable calling it flawed either. But especially in hindsight, this was not a great showing. A somewhat high-toned nose, with a bit of dark fruit, and a palate that is mostly a bit of acid and fairly hollow. There are still a few earthy elements here though, but all in all, not a very good bottle of this wine.
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1995 Domaine Jean Grivot Clos Vougeot Flawed
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. My bottle, so I knew what I was looking for. It was lightly corked. Interestingly, no one picked it out as pinot, though most didn't get past the TCA.
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1994 Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon Réserve Spéciale 80 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. High-toned, with a good dose of Sharpie marker on the nose. Super ripe, and way too rich. Another of those "oak the terroir out of the wine" wines, but in all fairness, the oak isn't so bad that it singes the palate with its tannin. This was the first bottle (apart from the Grivot) where it was fairly obvious to say this probably wasn't Bordeaux, though from where? Ended up calling it as some international modernist bullshit (sorry, Peter!). Odd, since this was still from an era where the California wines were only just starting to push the octane levels.
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1995 Château Monbousquet 85 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Served blind in flights of 1995 Bordeaux. High-toned, this was very heavy, but definitely not as overdone as the 94 Arrowood RS. Sweet and very fruity, this seemed to have a real heavy ripeness to it. Nothing particularly outstanding, but mercifully the oak wasn't too bad either. I pinned this down as a middle-tiered Napa cabernet based on that riper fruit profile. Whoops.
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1995 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart 88 Points
France, Champagne
This was good, but not showing very well for a wine that ought to be fairly young. There was much more mushroom and sherry on the nose than I would have expected. In fact, if I had been served this blind, I would have thought 80s champagne. Nevertheless, there's still some life and fruit to balance the acidity in this, but I preferred the 2006 Hebrart Special Club.
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