Bordeaux on the Hudson Part Deux

Yet again the other tables at the great Peter Pratt's Lugeresque extravanganza fought for second place as the Bordeaux table continues to outpace the others. The Bordeuax table, #3 on your seating chart, but #1 in your heart. The poor California table #2 trying to pawn off the 1991 Mondavi as a great wine...or Keith Levenberg and Michel Abood jealously coveting the presence of our Wilfred van Gorp and trying to peel him away with promises of villages wines of the '80s. It's enough to make you cry. I have to be nice to Michel though as he had both cigars (thanks!) and a camera (doh!).

Seriously though, Mark Franks threw another wonderful event. The steaks were awesome and paired perfectly with our fantastic wines. Thanks to the wonderful human being that is Paul Jaouen for organizing the table, thanks to Bill Lawrence (as always) for his wonderful insight and to everyone for bringing such great BDX (including poor Mark Golodetz who sadly came down with food poisoning the night before the event-we certainly missed him). Looking forward to next year's event!

Yes, but only the best. Two very fine expressions of California Chardonnay, if that's your sort of thing.

• 2001 Kongsgaard Chardonnay

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  This was very nice expression of California Chardonnay. The nose was quite pure with typical notes of pear and white stone fruit with a dollop of oakiness still unintegrated. It was pretty full in the mouth with good if not great acidity and nice length. I would have picked this for a younger wine and wouldn't be surprised if it needs a bit more time.

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• 2002 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  I found this to be a very complete wine. Great purity and freshness on the nose with a complex mingling of pear and spices knocked down a little because of a soupçon of protruding oak. It had a very sensual mid-weight palate and a gentle lilting acidity carrying the fruit to the finish. Excellent effort.

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...and the wines were excellent. Ah, the beauty of mature Bordeaux. The GL, a generous gift of our sick friend Mark Golodetz, had a lot of fans at the table and was quite a well-made wine. My distaste for GL being well-documented, let's just say that there were plenty of people that would happily pick up the slack in drinking that wine. The LP was probably the favorite of the table, but I had a big spot in my heart for that La Conseillante. All in, a fantastic flight and probably the most consistent.

• 1982 Château Gruaud Larose

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  A very nice Gruaud Larose, if that's your thing. The nose started out with some tomato notes that I find common to GL and has really prevented me from embracing this producer. The nose is quite complex with charred wood, slightly stewed black fruit, leather and earth. It was pretty substantial in the mouth with some fine grippy tannins and tart acidity framing smoky cassis. It faded a bit in the end although not significantly. Overall, a very good wine that will have its fans, but it did nothing to make me love GL any more than past bottles.

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• 1982 Château La Conseillante

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  This is a wonderful wine for lovers of mature Bordeaux. A complex and evolving nose of earth, leather, gunflint and licorice. It also possesses a pretty herbal quality. The palate is gentle and the sweet cherry fruit rolls on a balancing acidity past the skeletons of resolved tannins. It just got better and better.

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• 1982 Château Léoville Poyferré

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Sorry, boys, the secret is out on this wine, which showed even better than the bottle we had last year. The nose is all delicate beauty and finesse with some light cherry fruit intermingled with cedar and eucalyptus. The real magic is on the palate though where one finds the marriage of power and elegance. The delicacy of the nose shifts as the fruit turns darker, more tarry and, ultimately, more savory. The ample fruit is wonderfully framed by great structural acidity and fine tannins. This bottle showed broader and more complex than the previous one and I'd recommend holding it for a while; this wine will last forever. A superb, effortless wine.

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The wine that stands out here is the '98 LMHB, so let me explain why it was in there in the first place. Rich Mavricos, Bill Lawrence and Paul (and the absent Mark Golodetz) had to suffer through a corked bottle that I brought to our LMHB vertical, so this was to make amends. The wines were so disparate that I don't think its fair to say there was a favorite.

• 1989 Château Palmer

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Here is another repeat performer from last year's lunch and, unlike the '82 LP, this was a much poorer showing. To quote Wilfred, there was nothing wrong with this wine, but nothing particularly right either. Nothing really stood out about this wine other than an edgy steeliness. The nose was reticent with some slight floral notes and graphite. The fruit was so delicate as to be an afterthought and so all you were left with were the structural shell. Still, it wasn't a bad wine, just perhaps a slightly off or under-decanted bottle, and I certainly wouldn't paic if I owned any. It just was outclassed today by some great wines.

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• 1985 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  A classic Claret in an old school Graves style. LMHB seems to have different faces which show from vintage to vintage, but always with a certain style and remarkably consistent. This version displayed the elegant side of LMHB. A wine of finesse with an intriguing nose of dark cherry fruit, herbs and earth. The fruit turns redder on the palate although delicacy remains from the nose and carries all the way through to the finish. A wine that stays within itself and maintains impeccable balance and charm. I wonder if they still make wines like this.

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• 1998 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  A young buck of a LMBH with lots of potential. A bit out of place with its older neighbors, it nonetheless showed tons of personality and was quite wide open and expressive. The fruit is really quiet primary, but is beginning to show some classic Graves elements as it jumps from the glass with opulent black fruit, tar, wet earth and charred wood. It is quite substantial in the mouth, although not heavy, with plush, luxurious black fruit buffeted by silky sweet tannins. The finish is pretty much fruit driven at this point with the ample fruit overwhelming the structure. Overall a bit simple today, but I'd say on revisiting in 5 to 10 years, one will find a profound LMHB.

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Well, with this posting let the gleeful cries of "corked!" eminate from Paul's mouth. Wilfred honestly and Paul spitefully believed the '90 Figeac to be corked, which would carry my streak of expensive corked bottles with Paul to 2. The Angelus' were stupendous and head and shoulders above the Figeac (which I think just tasted like Figeac). Its too bad Golodetz wasn't there to mediate.

• 1989 Château Angélus

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Every once in a while a wine just buckles your knees. While the sheer powerful joy of the nose on this wine is the attention grabber, it is the wonderful balance displayed that keeps you coming back. A complex intermingling of sweet black fruit, spices and smoke meet you on the way to the glass. In the mouth is shows wonderful weight and concentration with an undercurrent of acidity and strong tannic backbone that keep the fruit in focus. A nice reminder that power does not have to mean over-the-top. The best is yet to come for this wine.

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• 1990 Château Angélus

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Not much to not like about this wine. A three dimensional wine with the alluring richness of its vintage. A compelling and exotically fragrant nose of dark fruit, spice, chocolate and smoke. Soft and sexy smooth from start to finish it has a decent structure that frames rather than dominates the fruit. Don't be mistaken, this is a fruit story and the story is long and complex as the fruit spreads out over the palate. A bit more acidity would have brought this pretty close to perfect.

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• 1990 Château Figeac

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Again this wine shows controversially. There were numerous cried of corked, but I think that people are thrown off by the Cabernet Franc dominated dustiness on the nose. As it is, I find a delicate perfume with dry cherries, herbs galore and leather. The palate is similarly gentle with a refreshingly high level of acidity. This is a counterpoint to the open and generous wines of the Right Bank in 1990. A wine in a minor key that clearly didn't appeal to many at the table.

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These wines suffered for being the last flight in terms of attention, but not in terms of quality. Clearly, the 1985 was the better wine today and Wilfred got a nice workout pouring from his magnum for the refugees from other tables.

• 1985 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  This is a wine they probably don't make any more. It had a quietness to it that I don't usually associate with LLC reflecting the finesse-driven 1985 vintage. The nose seduces rather than wows with concentrated cassis, anise and graphite. Silky in the mouth, I loved the striking acidity which carried the remarkably fresh and vivid fruit along through the finish. A classic.

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• 1989 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Not without some charm, this wine is years away from being ready. A wine of similar weight to the '85 LLC, it lacks that wines calm presence. There is a quiet anger lurking underneath the placid exterior. Still, it is a wine of distinction with pure compact cassis at its core and a nice fleshy mouthfeel all of which is somewhat obscured at the moment by its own impressive architecture. The wine today has an unrelenting steeliness and I don't think it wants to be that wine. I'd expect that some time down the road those tannins will integrate and the fruity core will explode and we will have a truly compelling wine.

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We finished the night with a 1977 vintage Dow, but I have no formal notes other than "spicy." It was quite good. There were also some generous pours from the Burgundy table (especially that wonderful '01 Rousseau) and Bob Fyke's delicious 1994 Solera. Some good stuff over at the California table, but nothing rocked my world. Peace.