White House Dinner

A family gathering....just 6 of us.

• 2002 J.M. Boillot Bâtard-Montrachet 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

  Light hay gold colour. Nose of fresh-struck match, lots of minerals, lemon juice. Palate is lifted, very lemony, superb depth and multi-dimensionality. Heady and very resonant indeed. Really enjoyable but not quite as mesmerising as when I last drank it 18 months ago. That said, it definitely has a long life ahead of it as it is still rather young.

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• 1988 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge 94 Points

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

  Opened and left to breath for an hour before drinking with roast lamb. Transparent deep jeweled ruby in colour. Nose is initially subdued: lurking dark damp forest floor, some sheep shit, a touch of acrid decomposing something - then it suddenlly lifts and you get beautiful strawberries. Palate is really linear and structured, chiselled lines. Lots of fruit. Incredibly heady, resonant and reverberant in a light but very powerful way. Brilliant. 94 easy. This was a Drouhuin Family "Collection Priveee" release from 2014.

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• 1983 Château Palmer 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  (From magnum, decanted for 2.5 hours). Still almost totally opaque, a lovely semi-evolved black/red colour.Nose is, wow....a really seductive melange of lead pencil, graphite and lots of deep black fruit lurking in the backgrouns - smells too young...but gorgeous. Palate is deep, very fruiy-driven black/red fruits. Deep red plum with more time in the glass. Immediately almost overwhelmingly heady...rich and bellyfilling, like a Lynch Bages 1990. Way more weight and youth than, say, a 1985 - almost unevolved. Belly-filling. Not life-changing but very good indeed. In magnum at least, this has years ahead of it to evolve and improve.

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• 1985 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Briefly decanted (should have been longer). A deep jewelled transparent black-red in colour. Nose is very linear and precise, deep black plum fruit and some hints of incense and spices. Palate is very linear and precise lead pencil, deep fruit and a growling depth. Not a 'wow' resonance on the finale but the length goes on forever. I have enjoyed this more in the fairly recent past when we had decanted it for several hours. Still a baby by 1985 standards.

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• 2000 Lur-Saluces "Y" 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

  Popped and poured (with hindsight it probably needed a 4-hour decant). Very light goden hay in colour. Nose is big fresh ripe peach and peach stones. Palate is surprisingly light...lots of fruit-stone dryness...very dry. A bit of honey emerges with time in the glass and later evolves into Crunchie Bar but not in an integrated way. Disappointing against what I anticipated...hard to find anything memorable in the wine. Hard to judge whether it is in a dull phase....or is just dull.

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• 2001 Château Suduiraut 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Burnished deep copper-gold colour. Nose of nougat, almonds and burnt almonds. Palate is rich, unctuous, burnt peach fruit, over-ripe bananas, over-ripe pears. Very rich and highly resonant and reverberant inside the head on the finish. Excellent.

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A super evening, as always.