1978s + others at Riverpark

Tasted Monday, August 4, 2014 by coremill with 578 views

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

  • 1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut 92 Points

    France, Champagne

    Toasty baked yellow apple, some supporting touches of caramel and baking spice, touch oxidative but not over done. Shows good richness but still has nice citrusy acidity underneath and while not a super mineral champagne there's a kiss of chalk on the back end and excellent length. Certainly very good if not OMG level.

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  • 2007 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc 88 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Kind of an odd ball. Quite volatile/shoe polishy, a bit oxidative and almondy, ripe tree fruits. With air the oxidation blows off a bit and it picks up a nice minty quality. Oily texture with good acidity but not especially concentrated. Underwhelming. Given the pedigree here my hunch would have been that there was something not quite right about this bottle but I was assured by those at the table with more experience with Chave blanc that this bottle was representative.

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Flight 2 (2 Notes)

  • 1978 Domaine Louis Remy Chambertin 86 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

    Ripe fleshy dark fruit, earthy and mushroomy, relatively anonymous old burg with only a hint of iron to suggest even Gevrey, let alone Chambertin. The tannins are bit rustic and the wine is short and tart. Drinkable but nothing special, a disappointment considering the vineyard and vintage.

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  • 1978 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo 87 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Kind of get lost in the shuffle. Not actually all that different from the Chambertin, but a little more interesting. Dark fruit, truffly and earthy, some tannins that are mostly relaxed, lots of acid, elegant.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 1978 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain

    Explosive, sweet ripe black fruit on the nose, blackberries and plums. The fruit is sweet and fresh and leaps from the glass, and in the mouth the fruit is rich and lush and concentrated. But for a wine of this caliber, it's a bit one-note -- there's nothing like the complexity of the LMHB next to it -- and the tannins are just a touch rough around the edges and unrefined. I preferred the LMHB.

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  • 1985 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow 87 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain

    Others thought this was corked. There certainly was something to that, as there's a dirty/funky edge here. But the funk always stayed in the background and didn't get any worse with air, which is unlike TCA in my experience. There's some still very primary cassis fruit framed by nice herbal/olivey/cedary notes, although the green here is nowhere near as prominent as the LMHB. But the structure is still out in force, as the tannins are drying and the acidity is extremely high, so high that as this is otherwise phenolically ripe I wonder if it was acidified. Better with steak, which cuts the structure some. I would say this still needs more time to resolve the structure, but does it have enough concentration to last long enough for that? Compared to, say the 85 Dunn HM (also a tannic, mountain cab), which also needs years and years more time, this is a lightweight.

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  • 1978 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    There's plenty of red fruit in there somewhere, but what you notice right away is all the other stuff: green peppercorn, scorched earth, smoke, cigar, BBQ, a hint of caramel and walnut. Not a big wine, on a smaller frame than the Diamond Creek, but there's still plenty of smokey red fruit in the midpalate and the comparison with the Diamond Creek makes it seem lighter than it actually is. Really excellent with beef, which cuts the acid and allows the fruit to show more. Lovely.

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Flight 4 (2 Notes)

  • 1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 96 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Ok, now this is the real deal. Thse nose is lovely, with wonderfully fresh meaty red and black fruit and lots of pepper and earth, but does nothing to prepare you for the palate. Incredibly concentrated and intense meaty fruit, somehow it's both rich and dense and lush while being airy and light at the same time. Completely different flavor profile, but the only one I've had that resembles this texturally is 1982 Pichon Lalande, which is similarly a knockout. True vinous magic here.

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  • 1991 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 90 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    First experience with a Guigal La La. Plenty of ripe, concentrated black fruit with a distinctly glossy texture but not much complexity. Noticeable if unobtrusive oak on the nose but this is still carrying unintegrated oak tannin 23 years out that clenches down and dries out the midpalate. The haterz say Guigal's wines are overoaked; sometimes the haterz are right. This no doubt suffered being poured next to the 78 La Chapelle but I wasn't especially impressed.

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Flight 5 (1 Note)

  • 1995 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Beerenauslese 90 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Superripe apricots, spice, honey, lots of sugar, lots of acid, significant botrytis. It's dense and sweet but well-balanced, but it's a bit tannic and there's a touch of bitterness from the botrytis, and it's not especially complex by Mosel riesling standards. Delicious no doubt, but I liked it less than others did.

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