An incredible birthday dinner

Tasted Saturday, September 15, 2018 by CamWheeler with 595 views

Flight 1 (3 Notes)

  • 1986 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil 95 Points

    France, Champagne

    Golden coloured. Lemon, honeysuckle, wax, ginger, apricot and melon, along with earthy spices. Rounded fruit in a honey and wax style with superb acidity that lifts, cleanses and cuts across the palate, with great texture and flow. Lovely.

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  • 1989 Bollinger Champagne Vieilles Vignes Françaises 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    Darker gold colour. Ozone, musky perfume, slate, red currant and light herbal undertones. Rich on the palate with plenty of power and drive, really pushes through strongly. Like where there is now, it's not as piercing as the 1992 but is still excellent.

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  • 1992 Bollinger Champagne Vieilles Vignes Françaises 95 Points

    France, Champagne

    Deepening yellow-gold colour with a tinge of copper throughout. Vanilla bean, orange peel, red berries, lemon and cherry - quite bright and open. At first the intensity of the fruit stands out on the palate, and while it clearly has impressive driven power, it is with some air that it settles and it shows off a more fresh and lifted element that gives it extra dimension, balance and verve. Great length and while I think it is close to its peak, another 5-6 years wouldn't see it slow down.

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Flight 2 (1 Note)

  • 1995 Didier Dagueneau Asteroide 98 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé

    Incredible nose, with kaleidoscopic aromas that shift constantly - passionfruit, mango, Lennon, vanilla, mint, orange, lanolin and pineapple. Composed beautifully on the palate with remarkably fresh and deep fruit that has a sweet edge to it. Long, fine, delicate and simply showstopping.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 2012 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Blanc 90 Points

    France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits

    Grapefruit, rock melon, graphite, straw and fresh cotton. Medium weight, with the fruit having a restrained ripeness to it. Medium depth with good length and fine flow. Great to try.

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  • 1993 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne 96 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

    White pepper, smoke, lemon, vanilla, orange rind and apricots. Seamless on the palate, powerful fruit and structure but still shows compelling class and beautiful balance. Twinkles across the palate, with brilliant composure and incredible style.

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  • 2004 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne 95 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

    Golden yellow coloured. Intense nose with smoke, toast, sesame, lemon and oats. A thrill ride across all senses - exceptional concentration and incredible depth and energy. An experience to behold.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

  • 1992 Domaine Leroy Musigny 98 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru

    Needed time to unravel in the glass, teases with layers of delicate red florals, licorice, earthy, light herbs, strawberry and forest floor. Restrained and sensual on the palate, just dances across the palate, this is incredibly poised and drinking superbly at its peak. Excellent length, this is quite thrilling to taste, with different elements coming through each time. Stunning.

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  • 2011 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant 94 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

    Graphite, flint, redcurrant, some iron, smoke and cherry. Strongly structured, with crunch from the acidity and lovely red fruits. Great length and texture. Just starting on its journey.

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  • 2014 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin 95 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

    Blackcurrant, redcurrant, violets, black cherry, strawberry and spice. Typical Rousseau deliciousness and purity on the palate, fine tannins with superb fruit depth and excellent balance. A complete package.

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Flight 5 (4 Notes)

  • 1962 Penfolds Bin 60A 100 Points

    Australia, South Australia

    Recorked 2005. Super bright and layered nose of blackcurrant, licorice, spice, cherry, truffle, redcurrant and violets. The fruit intensity on the palate is incredible, while still maintaining the same brilliant structure I remember from 10 years ago. This is immortal, immense, totally complete and breathtaking wine.

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  • 1963 Mildara Cabernet Sauvignon 96 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

    Peppermint, spearmint, chocolate, meat and tar. Lovely resolved flavours with savoury flavour and still the presence of good red fruit flavour. Great flow and control, this is an excellent bottle of this wine and pretty much as good as you could hope for at this stage of its life.

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  • 1968 Penfolds Grange 90 Points

    Australia, South Australia

    Cliniced/recorked in 1998. Licorice, blackcurrant, vanilla, toast, beef stock and meat. Holding up really well, with good structure and fruit density still present. In excellent condition but just doesn't have the depth and wow factor of some other wines tonight.

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  • 1968 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único 92 Points

    Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

    Light nose with toast, cherry, red berries and some forest floor. More flavour intensity and interest in the palate, there is a step up in richness and presence that matches the reputation of this vintage more closely. Lovely balance and texture, flowing into a very good length finish. If the nose was a bit more expressive this would have been superb.

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Flight 6 (4 Notes)

  • 1959 Château Latour Grand Vin 99 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Delightful aromatics, it is open and exuberant with tobacco, dark florals, cherry and redcurrant, earth and leather. The palate steals the show, with superbly pure fruit, stunning detail and layers with compelling structure still in place. I was blown away by this wine in a flight of superstars.

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  • 1961 Château Latour Grand Vin 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Cherry liqueur, blackcurrant, string olive tapenade notes and blackcurrant. Structured and quite unyielding with firm tannins, but still certainly has the fruit power to stand up. Behind the stunning showing of the 1959 tonight but still excellent in its own right.

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  • 1945 Yalumba Four Crown Claret 90 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    Blind. Caramel, chocolate, briar and mint. Palate still shows some fruit sweetness, this is definitely old but it is still drinking well and is quite amazing for what was probably only really ever intended as an earlier drinking wine.

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  • 1982 Château Lafite Rothschild 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Blind. Oak, licorice, eucalypt, blackberry, graphite, pine and red berries. Doesn't have the overt sweetness they would make it Australian but it also is distinct from the older Bordeaux. Excellent structure. A little surprising when revealed but certainly hammers home the need for as much time as possible to be given to the 82s as this should be quite the stunner with time.

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Flight 7 (3 Notes)

  • 1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 98 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Licorice, cherry, blueberry, earth, spice and truffle. Hints at sweetness on the palate with incredible composure and balance - it continually shifts in the glass and is very hard to pin down from one moment to the next. Jaw dropping complexity and depth. An enigmatic wine that has magical elements at every turn.

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  • 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Black cherry, licorice, blackcurrant and blackberry. Dense and full but with excellent interest and depth. A lot of appeal, as all the elements work in harmony, but sandwiched between the 1978 La Chapelle and 1990 Chave, this didn't get its chance to star tonight.

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  • 1990 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 99 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Wow. Pepper, red berries, smoke, five spice, tobacco and red currant. Superb palate, this is the epitome of style and class. Compelling complexity and incredibly layered depth between the savoury and red fruit, with perfectly integrated structure. Still shows off stunning youth and verve as well, I can't imagine what this might be like in another 10 years.

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Flight 8 (4 Notes)

Flight 9 (2 Notes)

  • 1945 Château d'Yquem 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Mandarin, coconut, apricot, wax, pineapple and orange - great lifted aromatics. The length on this is incredible, with the sweetness stretched out by super acidity. Intense concentration and still excellent definition. Iconic story from the vintage and a superb wine to go along with it.

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  • 1947 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu 94 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

    A couple of shades lighter colour than the d'Yquem, with orange gold edges and a light tawny core. Plenty of caramel along with lemon, apple, vanilla, tea leaves and apricot. Has an ethereal lightness on the palate, the honeyed fruit is beautifully composed and controlled with the acid lifting its profile and stretching the length out wonderfully. Didn't show any signs of falling away in the glass over the last 45 minutes of the meal.

    I think the table was split in preference between it and the d'Yquem - I had the Huet just a smidge behind, with a touch less concentration and depth, but a superb wine either way.

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Flight 10 (1 Note)

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