A Taste of History: The Leacock Family Madeiras (revisited)
The J.P. Morgan Mansion, NYC
Tasted Saturday, October 17, 2009 by mdefreitas with 1,014 views
Introduction
This was my second chance to visit the Leacock “family wines” that were acquired by the Rare Wine Company at a Christies fine wine auction on December 11, 2008. The first tasting was held in June 2009 at the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco; the venue for this tasting was the J. P. Morgan mansion in New York City.
Although the wines at this event were almost identical to the wines featured in San Francisco (with the exception of the 1808 Leacock Solera substituted for the 1881 Leacock Terrantez), this New York tasting proved superior for me in several ways. First was the venue, the J.P Morgan mansion, sheathed in gilded-age ornamentation. Second was the formal, hour-long slide show presentation by The Rare Wine Company’s Mannie Berk on both the business and epicurean life of J.P Morgan -- it was especially fascinating to view pages from Morgan’s personal cellar books. Finally, the wines themselves seemed to show slightly better this time around (perhaps due to improved decanting methods?).
The decanting regimen was slightly different at this tasting. There was a shortage of decanters for the San Francisco event -- due to the consecutive back-to-back tastings that had to be accommodated. There was no such restriction here; every wine rested peacefully in a decanter for a full week, as opposed to the SF treatment of alternating one day in decanter and one day in bottle for a week. There was less agitation of the wine; Mannie Berk mentioned that many "old-time" connoisseurs disliked disturbing Madeira as they found it "bruised" the wine.
I didn’t take much notice of the wine colors, other than noting that the first 9 wines exhibited a consistent medium tawny tint, with a slight translucent greenish tinge on the edges. The last five wines showed deeper mahogany tones.
Flight 1 - CHAPTER 1: The Dry (3 Notes)
This flight consisted of wines deemed to be Sercial or Sercial-like.
Flight 2 - CHAPTER 2: The Off Dry (3 Notes)
This flight consisted of wines deemed to have an off-dry, Verdelho-like character.
Flight 3 - CHAPTER 3: The Odd Couple (2 Notes)
A couple of unusual private family wines, believed to have been laid down for John Milburne Leacock's sons.
Flight 4 - CHAPTER 4: Now We're Talking (3 Notes)
A big step up in overall quality.
Flight 5 - CHAPTER 5: The Big Guns (3 Notes)
Some of the rarest wines of the tasting, including a Bastardo that was previously unkown to have existed.
NV Leacock Madeira "A" (undated) 93 Points
Portugal, Madeira
The nose on this wine was captivating -- perfumed with pressed dried flowers, cognac, sandalwood and sweet old wine cellar scents. This had a pleasing austerity about it on the palate, with rapier-like acids; slightly spirity on the finish. Although this is assumed to be a minimally distilled arguradente from wine lees, this did not possess nearly the severe fire of a brandy… a lovely cross between a cognac and Sercial-like Madeira.
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1825 Leacock Madeira Seco 91 Points
Portugal, Madeira
A bit closed in on the nose. Dry, but with nice “sap” in the mid palate. Interesting flavors of honey and burnt sugar. A powdery, chalky, almost “crushed bones” note in the finish. Fine “cling” in the mouth. This continued to improve in the glass. Good length and although very dry, not as severe a Sercial.
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1890 Leacock Madeira Sercial 90 Points
Portugal, Madeira
Kaleidoscopic nose, gorgeous complexity. Full of nut skin, olives and herbal scents. The finish felt a slight bit dull or flat, but this was delicious and unique -- given the exotic herbal notes. This showed much better than my previous tasting of this wine; I suspect the improved decanting methods helped here.
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