Tony's 60th Birthday Celebration

A few 1961s for the 1961 birthday boy, plus a few other great wines to round out the evening. Great wine, great food, lots of laughs with new and old friends.

• 2012 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Champagne Special Club Grands Terroirs de Chardonnay 90 Points

  France, Champagne

  Ripe apple, some lemon, lots of mineral textures. Long finish ends very brightly, with the wine well balanced throughout. I typically think of Gimmonet as a Chardonnay producer, but I somehow felt this had a rounded Pinot Noir influence, but maybe that is the ripe 2012 vintage coming through.

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• 1969 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Lots of honeycomb and apple pie with both sweet and savory spice. Very impressive depth with enough bright energy to keep it fresh. Nearly effervescent. A great bottle that had been stored since shortly after release.

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• 1996 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut 95 Points

  France, Champagne

  Lots of ripe apple with faint pear and berry notes and a hint of toasted rye bread. Vibrant, racing acidity with powerful character from start-to-finish. Ending so complete, and so very long. A great bottle of this sometimes tired/ disappointing wine.

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• 1996 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 96 Points

  France, Champagne

  Lean and ultra bright apple and pear everywhere. Exceptional length and attention-grabbing textures. Some lemon and lemon peel coming through on long, explosive finish.

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• 1996 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  A great Champagne, just overwhelmed tonight by Krug 1996 and Salon 1996. While this showed the most complex array of fruit (apple, quince, pear, mango, berry, lemon - really some of everything - and spice with earth hints, it is less powerful or long vs the other two brilliant 1996 bottles that were nearly showstoppers tonight.

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• 2013 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

  Ripe and nearly tropical with the faint background sweetness of the best 2013s, this shows so much peach and apple with both sweet and savory spice and a minerally edge in its long-ish finish. This should age gracefully.

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• 2010 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

  Also faintly sweet-spice driven like the 2013, but with a more savory fruit profile. Elegant and layered, showing some signs of maturity, but still nicely fresh (compared to a very advanced bottle I tasted last year). Good weight and well layered. Alongside, the 2013, I preferred the younger vintage, which I found more concentrated, while others liked this 2010 more than I did tonight.

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• 1986 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet 98 Points

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

  Glorious in almost every way. Ripe and yet tart with green apple, baked apple, honeycomb but also Meyer lemon. Intense Grand Cru density with structure just in the near background, providing plenty of support without ever seeking center stage for itself. Great length, even if not a particular powerhouse. At its absolute best when re-tasted at the end of the evening, at which point it had been open for 4+ hours. This was the wine I was most excited to try tonight and it turned out to be my Wine of the Night. I wish more white Burgundy could be made like this today.

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• 2007 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Flawed

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

  Drinkable but much too advanced, while clearly showing great substance.

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• 2013 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet 93 Points

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

  Popped-and-poured as a replacement Bienvenues. Plenty of ripe apple, baked apple with some slight tropical character. Slightly sweet spice, good richness throughout and a faint mint note. Very good weight and concentration. Very good now.

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• 1966 Maison Leroy Corton 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  Last bottle from a case purchased almost 20 years ago. This was one of the less perfect bottles, with a slightly plastic note on the nose in between floral, mature red & black cherry, black truffle, and cooked mushroom notes. Similar flavors but without that odd note, coming across as beautifully mature, layered, well spiced, and so elegant. Still plenty of structure, this improved noticeably when enjoyed with food.

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• 1964 Maison Leroy Echezeaux 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Asian five spice, red berry and cherry and plenty of earth on both nose and palate. Slightly austere finish, but very good length. Very Vosne. I liked this a lot, but others enjoyed it much more.

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• 1961 Bouchard Père et Fils Musigny 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru

  Dense and meaty with lots of concentration. black and red cherry come across as enticing and mature to start, more powerful and hefty on its very long finish. I was surprised at how great this wine showed tonight, but I should never be surprised by great Musigny from a great vintage.

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• 1947 Bouchard Père et Fils Bonnes Mares 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  What a treat. Very good color and condition. A hint+ of madeira did not bother me, given still assertive and bold black and red cherry, with fruit managing to mostly hold its own with the overt earth notes. A firm, minerally, crunchy finish with very good+ length added further complexity. I enjoyed this more than did most others, partly because the madeira hints didn't deter me, and partly out of shock for how interesting it remained.

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• 1961 Château Pavie 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  1961 Bordeaux Flight. Mature black plum and cherry with savory and sweet spice. Good weight, still vibrant and interesting enough, this remained interesting for at least one hour. but alas, it got lost alongside its flight-mates. Better vs another bottle I tasted five years ago.

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• 1961 Château Cheval Blanc 97 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  1961 Bordeaux flight. Opened an hour before serving. Great color and fill. Cassis, currant and red cherry with sweet spice and roasted meat. Certainly very ripe, but so much background structure to keep this vibrant and powerful. More nuanced character kept slowly emerging, included sautéed porcini and black truffle, making this better and better with more air.

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• 1961 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  1961 Bordeaux flight. Opened an hour before serving. Also great color and fill. Cigarbox with earth and so much black cherry. Good weight, great depth and balance. I preferred this over the Cheval Blanc when first poured, and while this remained beautiful for its 30 minutes in glass, the Cheval Blanc kept improving and unfolding.

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• 1978 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano 96 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Opened several hours in advance. Alluring start is beautifully perfumed with so much red cherry, licorice, cherry candy and subtle meatiness. This tails off slightly at the finish, but just so much here. A great bottle.

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• 1961 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino Speciale 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Also opened several hours in advance, but unlike the Giacosa 1978 Barbaresco Santo Stefano, this seemed like it needed more time and/ or more air. Firm start that was not particularly friendly, we managed to gradually coax pleasure from the glass. Red cherry, cloves, anise, dried herbs and floral hints emerged by the 30-minute mark, but this remained backward, while also powerful, regal and hinting at its vast potential. I know my note doesn't sound like the wine thrilled me, but we all enjoyed it, but all knew there is more to come.

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