"You only turn 40 once tasting"

At home
Tasted Saturday, September 19, 2020 by sirpat00 with 250 views

Introduction

How better to celebrate the year you turn 40 than with having a second child? The answer of course is: With a big 1980 vintage tasting. To this end I procured a number of wines including 4 Bordeaux First Growths, Napa legends, champagne, other old world wines (Brunello, Burgundy, Rioja, CdP) and a sweet treat (Yquem) - in total 15 bottles. Wine of the night was Haut-Brion, but Yquem, Opus One and Pichon Lalande were not far behind. Lowlights vs my expectations were Heitz Martha's Vineyard (painful, financially), Insignia, Clos des Papes.

All red wines were double decanted prior to serving blind to a group of 8. To round off the event we popped a couple of mags in the end (Sanctus Sanctorum, Artadi El Pison).

In general I was positively surprised especially by the Bordeaux First Growths which all performed. The failure rate was also much lower than I feared with only 1 corked and 3 dead (or nearly dead).

My personal ranking was as follows:

Haut-Brion (96)
Opus One (95)
Yquem (95)
Pichon Lalande (95)
Lafite Rothschild (93)
Mouton Rothschild (93)
Dom Perignon (92)
Tondonia Gran Reserva (91)
Cappellano Barolo (90)
La Rioja Alta Metropol Extra (89)
Heitz Martha's Vineyard (87)
Phelps Insignia (84)
Bouchard Meursault 1er cru Sous le Dos dÂne (84)
Clos des Papes (80)
Col d'Orcia Brunello (corked)

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

  • 2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne 94 Points

    France, Champagne

    From the Luminous bottle. Great and dense bubble structure with a good amount of freshness, but came across a little restrained. Otherwise full of mineral notes, a bit of toast and brioche and a fruit of freshly pressed lemon juice with just a hint of tropical banana. Worth storing longer, but no doubt very promising – even though lacking the linear precision of the Roederer Cristal 2008.

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  • 1980 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 92 Points

    France, Champagne

    This kicked off a 1980 vintage horizontal that I hosted for no bigger reason than this being my birth year and me not wanting to throw a party. Caramel, slightly nutty and even a bit of chocolate. Just enough bubbles left to spot the sparkling wine. But the sweet angle this had to it was great and the palate showed super harmonious. For the aged Champagne lovers in the group this was outstanding, for most however well past the peak with half the group scoring <90.

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Flight 2 (1 Note)

  • 1980 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d'Âne 84 Points

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

    Ex-Chateau bottle released this year with a fresh cork and wax seal and repackaged into a pretty wooden box with a hefty price tag. A bit of burned sugar as the only feature worth flagging, otherwise too oxidized as the amber color already foreshadowed. Same on the palate where all that was left was acidity. I'm writing much more here than this deserves. First bottle I had a short while back came across somewhat more alive, but far from great as well.

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Flight 3 (1 Note)

Flight 4 (2 Notes)

  • 1980 Château Mouton Rothschild 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Double-decanted. Cigar box, earth, mushrooms and mostly dark berry fruit (cherry), but also some red currant. Light but still with backbone and structure on the palate with some tangible tannin still left. This provided for a nice and round feel. I paired this against the Lafite 1980 in the flight and consensus (6 out of 8 votes) was that Mouton was in better shape. I was in the minority camp. But clearly given the horrible critics review over the first 3 decades of this wine the big surprise here is was nonetheless that the 1980 Mouton was not just drinkable, but actually pretty good!

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  • 1980 Château Lafite Rothschild 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Double-decanted. A slightly perfumed nose with drops of sweetness, a lighter, red cherry type of fruit profile complemented by mint candy. Also cigar box. Great flavour intensity overall. Pretty lightly structured palate. Paired against Mouton 1980 in the flight the consensus (6 of 8 votes) was clearly in favour of Mouton, but in my view the aromatic breadth was just simply more impressive with Lafite – even if Mouton had a firmer palate. After the flight we poured about 1/3 of the bottle in a decanter to see if we could tickle more out of this, but in my view no material improvement. Overall, not quite on the same level as the last bottle a month ago, but not far behind.

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Flight 5 (2 Notes)

  • 1980 Château Haut-Brion 96 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Double-decanted. The surprise of the tasting and also WOTN – even more so if you could see what the cork looked like! Impressive precision showing delicate fruit, forest floor and menthol. Round, soft and harmonious palate. This put both 1980 Mouton and Lafite to shame in comparison.

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  • 1980 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Double-decanted. Slightly leathery, but other than that still fruity and fresh with some sweet candy-type notes that proved highly enjoyable. Round, sweet and incredibly pleasant on the palate as well and a stronger, more muscular and resilient Paulliac than Mouton and Lafite.

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Flight 6 (2 Notes)

  • 1980 Joseph Phelps Insignia 84 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Double-decanted. Bottle and cork were in good shape. Unfortunately nose tending towards beef juice already. A bit of fruit left on the palate, but pretty much end of life here.

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  • 1980 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard 87 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

    Double-decanted. From magnum. Mostly green and herbal with a bit of fruit, but far away from what I hoped. You could feel the similarities to the 1978 I had recently, also from magnum, but the 1980 came across less integrated, less harmonious with a more narrow flavour profile.

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Flight 7 (1 Note)

  • 1980 Opus One 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Double-decanted. Beautiful, intense nose, some green and herbal notes and lots of fruit. Incredibly round and fresh on the palate where you'll find plenty of black and red currant fruit. Vibrantly fresh acidity. Tannin present but soft and very well integrated. No longer at the same extreme pleasure level as 2012 (my favorite to date), but utterly impressive performance 40 years down the road with some in the gang of 8 tasting this blind suspecting this could be a 20 years younger pirate in the line-up.

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Flight 8 (2 Notes)

Flight 9 (2 Notes)

Flight 10 (1 Note)

  • 1980 Château d'Yquem 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Ex-Chateau library release (2019), hence impeccable condition. Nice, golden colour. Archetypal nose of quince, apricot, candid fruit and saffron with tons of saffron also on the palate where you'll also find a great, fresh acidic structure and a pleasantly sweet flavours. Not as layered as the best from this estate, but nonetheless great and (still) in a great spot.

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