A Mid-1980's Tasting of Twenty One Vintages of La Tâche (1945-1980)
Private residence, San Francisco
Tasted Sunday, February 10, 1985 by drwine2001 with 381 views
Introduction
Over the course of digging through old basement memorabilia (in August, 2018), I came across a treasure trove of old handwritten tasting notes. Most of these were not worth taking the time to enter into the database, but I wanted to memorialize this tasting since it gives an interesting historical snapshot of young and old La Tâche at one point in time, and I am more than 100% certain that I will never again have the opportunity to taste this sort of vertical of any DRC wines. I've tried to stick to my rudimentary notes at the time without embellishment or benefit of the retrospectoscope. Looking back, it appears that somehow, every major vintage of this wine from this period was represented, save for the 1949. Amazing to think back to the type of tastings you could put together back then before prices skyrocketed and availability of the older wines plunged. By my recollection, I'd guess that each of us paid around $200 apiece to split the entire cost of these wines! The total invested wouldn't even buy a single bottle of the current release some 30 years later. I wish I could say something about the provenance or preparation of the wines, but those details escape me. However, I don't think that there was any concern about the authenticity of the bottles back then; many of them were acquired on release by a fine, long gone San Francisco wine merchant called Crane & Kelly.
Flight 1 - 1971 to 1980 (7 Notes)
Flight 2 - 1961 to 1970 (7 Notes)
Flight 3 - 1945 to 1959 (7 Notes)
Closing
Needless to say, a once in a lifetime opportunity. That said, a roller coaster ride with a few wines representing the pinnacle of red wine, some turning out to be disappointing, and others from horrible, rightly forgotten vintages being abjectly miserable. Vintages like 1975 and 1963 probably should never have been released. The consensus great wines were 1945 and 1962, with 1959 close behind, and 1971 and 1978 in the next tier.
1980 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Moderately concentrated color with a splash of purple-youngest looking of first flight. Restrained, grapy aromatics, then some new oak and bacon, and finally a calm, finer fragrance at 90 minutes. Tannic and tight with average acidity and medium length at first. Then, it fleshes out and becomes really nice wine if not particularly memorable.
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1979 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Pale ruby center, surprising amount of browning at the edge. Forward, exotic, gamy scents. Odd-rich, warm, spicy red fruit, quite open, but little complexity, depth, or length. Acidic, short finish. Wholly unimpressive.
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1978 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Most concentrated looking in the flight, but still some maturity of color. Lovely sous bois fragrance, smoke, and some toastiness which really did not develop much over 90 minutes. Closed and tannic, but outstanding balance, sappiness of fruit, and concentration underneath. Coiled and brimming with potential.
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1976 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Pale, the lightest of the flight. Simple, rather sweet nose that did not change with air. Watery, simple, lacking fruit, tannic, and short. Disappointing to say the least.
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1975 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Feeble tawny appearance. Musty nose-all you can smell beyond this is some alcohol. Tart, sour, and unripe. Just awful in keeping with the reputation of the vintage.
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1972 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Good color, slightly deeper than the 1971 next to it. Restrained, poised, mature aromas. Light weight, slightly dry edge to the red fruit, noticeable acidity, faded tannins. Very, very good and completely resolved now.
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1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru
Clear, light, maturing color. Gorgeously ripe, spicy, red fruited aromas-the fruit is just singing and smells so fresh. More haunting secondary perfume appears later. Light, elegant, but luscious at the same time. Rich, naturally sweet fruit, beautifully balanced, fine acidity, and perfectly integrated tannins. Just got better and better in the glass. None of the young wines came close to this, and one senses it could still unfold and improve for another 15 to 20 years.
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