Community Tasting Note

Saturday, June 4, 2022 - I was still looking for more trouble after the ‘00 Latour, and having not had a Pavie, this was the next most interesting wine by the glass for me (and after the 80E, what was another 40)? On the nose and palate, blackberries, red and black currants, raspberries, tobacco, ground spice, dark chocolate and cedar. Dark magenta-maroon, very full bodied and thick legs. Powerfully tannic and electric acidity, no heat. VG+ complexity with insane intensity and persistence. This was a bit of the id to the Latour superego, with lots more angularity in the way the better French and Italian merlot-based blends often have that CA doesn’t. There is big fruit to go with the big structure, but not quite in balance, certainly not in the way the Latour was (as an aside, with this, like the Verite Muse, another merlot-based blend, I significantly overestimated the CS component). I’ve often pled relative ignorance on BDX on these digital pages, but even within that, Right Bank tends to fall well behind Left. While I’d be far less likely to pop this now than the ‘00 Latour (and would likewise hold it longer), I’m certain it will be the best Right Banker I’ve had, edging the far readier ‘09 LaViolette (that said, I have high hopes for my ‘16 Figeac at home, and the hope of a generous, tipsy friend cracking some uber vintage Cheval Blanc springs eternal, and of course, moving across this land mass, bestill my heart, a Masseto). Coravined 3 days earlier. Same caveats as the Latour as not being able to observe over time or with food, but hey, you take your great pours where you find them, right? 96-97+

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9 comments have been posted

Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

6/4/2022 9:45:00 AM - Awesome! Nicely done. Must try some top Pomerols to see how these do in your quest!
Comment posted by sfwinelover1:

6/4/2022 9:55:00 AM - Thinking of you, cs, mjp and my other more knowledgeable BDX friends during my tasting!
Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

6/4/2022 10:17:00 AM - Love it!
Comment posted by csimm:

6/22/2022 10:26:00 AM - Lite and MJP are the BDX braintrusts!
Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

7/27/2022 10:03:00 AM - Where are you coravinning these great wines? Is there some secret restaurant in SF?
Comment posted by sfwinelover1:

7/27/2022 10:20:00 AM - BJ: As I mentioned in the TN for the Latour, this wine shop is in downtown BDX—apropos per your CT handle—alas, not quickly accessible from Foster City. My CT friend cyclist has told me that Oakville Grocery (the original, rather than the Healdsburg, version) often has amazing coravin pours; he once had a Screagle there for something like $250 for the pour!). I’m not aware of anything equivalent in SF, but my best CT resource for all things wine in SF is another CT friend, csimm. If there’s a place where you can find a coravin pour of a Latour, Pavie, Screagle (or even a Colgin, Abreu, etc.) in the 7x7, he’ll know. He’s very gracious about sharing his wine knowledge. Cheers!
Comment posted by csimm:

7/27/2022 12:01:00 PM - Unfortunately I don't know of anywhere around the Bay Area coravin-ing Pavie or Latour. Oakville Grocery has been known to offer samples of some of Napa's finest. Gary's in Saint Helena would/does that kind of thing here and there, but I don't know about how on the regular they do. Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in SF used to do more international higher-end stuff, but you have to catch them on the right day. Or you could just go to AZ and check out one of Lite's fancy BDX wine dinners at Anhelo! :)
Comment posted by sfwinelover1:

7/27/2022 2:54:00 PM - Great intel; thanks, cs. Fwiw, I’ve been to the Ferry Building WM a handful of times over the years and not seen anything like a Pavie open. This jogged my memory, though, in that K&L in SF used to occasionally do high end international stuff, but alas, all bets are off in the Covid era.

My story under the ‘00 Latour, which was when I tasted the Pavie had a Part II I didn’t write up (silly me: wanting to enjoy the food, wine and friends in BDX rather than spending all night writing TNs). I took my friend and client Edwin back the next night, and the same Latour was part of a 4 wine tasting set with a ‘16 Fourtet (like the ‘10 Pavie, immensely promising, but very much working through issues; well captured in cs’s TN), a ‘10 SHL (really good, but I prefer the ‘09 at this point), and a ‘15 Domaine Chevalier (very modern, drinking well young, great qpr). I can do a decent impression of a knowledgeable wine drinker on CT when it comes to Italy, CA and maybe the Rhône, but the above notwithstanding, when it comes to other regions, very much including BDX, I get over my skis pretty quickly.
Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

7/27/2022 2:56:00 PM - I like wine