Sunday Wine Lunch: Mature Burgs, Bordeaux, Rhone
Quattro Restaurant, Four Seasons Palo Alto, California
Tasted Sunday, April 18, 2010 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 948 views
Introduction
Is there anything better than a leisurely wine lunch, lingering over great wine, with good friends and good food? I think not. This past Sunday Jonathan inspired us to pull out the good stuff and hang out at Quattro, where they always take care of us. The light was beautiful, we virtually had the restaurant to ourselves, the service was great, and our wines were awesome.
This luncheon was all about maturity, the beautiful affect that age can have on fine wine, and virtually all of these showed very well. My WOTD was the '82 Chave Hermitage, also the first time I've had this wine, followed by the '90 Barbe Rac (always a crowd pleaser), the '89 Zind-Humbrecht Hengst Gewurtz VT and the '89 La Chapelle (which went through a lot of changes before it finally showed its delightful true nature). I'm continuing to play these wines over in my mind, 36 hours later, and reflecting on the way that the finest of wines, produced years ago, can still speak to and move us decades later. As one getting close to the age of our Palmer on this afternoon, I am very appreciative that there are some ennobling changes and refinements that only serious aging can produce.
Flight 1 - Champagne starter (1 Note)
We're guessing that this older label Krug Grande Cuvee is from the '80s, or possibly earlier. It was beautiful.
Flight 2 - Burgundy Flight (2 Notes)
Two delicious Burgs to start. I was very impressed with the Maume Mazis; the Lafarge showed its usual concentration and purity. We could have lingered here for awhile, but there were more goodies on the table.
Flight 3 - Mature Cali Cab tweener (1 Note)
My buddy from L.A., Syd Greenberg, long a member of the Saturday wine lunch group, was an owner of Spring Mountain when this wine was produced. The cigar box and cassis in this wine made an excellent bridge from our mature Burgs to our Bordeaux.
Flight 4 - Mature Bordeaux Flight (3 Notes)
The Calon-Segur, from a wonderful year (and one that included more Merlot in the blend than usual, according to James Seely's Great Bordeaux Wines) took first place in this flight, but the 1950 Palmer, still powerful and with years to go yet, was also impressive. The Right Bank Calon was the weakest of the entire day.
Flight 5 - Hermitage (2 Notes)
This was the first time I've tasted the '82 Chave Hermitage, and it was absolutely gorgeous. This was a very hot year in the Northern Rhone, and Chave reportedly had to take the unusual step of adding yeast, as the indigenous yeast he typically relies on were getting tired. Our '89 La Chapelle was a shape-shifter, at first smelling and tasting much more like a Chateauneuf du Pape--all Grenache cherry and berry--rather than a Syrah-based Hermitage. After substantial time in the glass, however, it showed its true colors, and I upgraded the score accordingly.
Flight 6 - Chateauneuf du Pape tweener (1 Note)
I've been a fan of this bottling of Barbe Rac for a few years now, and it's always a delight to taste it again.
Flight 7 - Sweet finish (1 Note)
A gorgeous, mature VT Gewurtz to complete our more than satisfying lunch. How appropriate for Jonathan Dinh's visit that it was this 21-year-old Gewurtz, full of exotic Asian fruit aromas and flavors.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 94 Points
France, Champagne
Light medium golden color; a little reduction initially, apple, straw, peach, honey nose; mature, tart apple, tart peach, mineral, tangy citrus palate with great acidity; medium-plus finish
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No