Wines before the dawn of points

Chez Dave
Tasted Sunday, October 17, 2010 by Faryan with 616 views

Flight 1 (1 Note)

  • 1995 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Clos du Bourg 91 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

    The wine was covered with half an inch of black mold on the top, yet it was intact and clean on the important side. It opens with piercing acidity, stone and a bit of metallic astringency. However, as the bottle came to temperature and got some more air, it really began to flesh out. Notes of lilacs, creamy applies and some Spanish Pear. The best drops were the last. A perfect way to open one’s palate. I’d recommend splash decanting the wine for an hr for service.

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Flight 2 (3 Notes)

  • 1969 Château Margaux

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    The bottle was splotched and abused, with the capsule corroded with a film of decaying metal and mold. As we placed the ah-so into the bottle, the cork began to crumble like paper mache. While about ¼ of an inch or so at the bottom was somewhat solid, the rest of it was veritable dead. We had to submerge the cork in the bottle and filter through cheese cloth. The wine itself was singing right on the initial pour. It has that beautiful pitch and tonality that I simply adore in older Bordeaux. Where else does one find these elements in a wine?

    As the wine fleshed out a bit in glass, it had wonderful notes of sweet tobacco, sous bois and balsamico. While it lacks the hallmark floral intensity of great Ch. Margaux, it is still a lovely nose, albeit perhaps not first growth. On the palate, lovely sweet but dark cherry with tobacco and just faint hints of tobacco. It finishes lithe on the palate as elegant as a lovely aged actress. Throughout the evening, it began to dissipate, but immense pleasure was already extracted from the experience. Spoofilated, this was not. Superlative, it does not try to be. A perfect dinner wine, nonetheless. Hard to assign it points and no need to in my book!

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  • 1975 Château Pavie

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

    Popped and poured. The cork was simply pristine and quite high quality. The wine opens muted and reticent, with light notes of menthol, cherry, sous bois and loam. With more air, the wine fleshes out and grows rich, but never loses its delicacy and nimble agility. This is a lovely wine that is nothing like the Perse blockbusters; it has no trace of glycerin or coffee/mocha. The resemblance can be seen to the Perse wines but it feels more like the older Uncle who worked as a youth and appreciates a day’s worth of struggle, while the 00, 03 and 05 are more like spoiled brats who vacation in Geneve. No doubt, the modern Pavies are far more endowed and well kempt, but the old veteran has a charming tale or two to tell you when the snobs have their backs turned!

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  • 1975 Château Gloria

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    From magnum. This is Dave’s most sentimental producer and this particular wine showed quite nicely, only picking up steam as the night progressed. It outclassed a similar bottle I opened earlier in the year out of 750; fresher, more robust, less advanced and more depth. While on the nose, it lacks the precision and elegance of the former wines, it still has gusto. It is like a dancer who never went to Julliard, but still knows how to step. Over time, some of the diffuse sous bois notes began to add depth and richness, with cherry, dark cocoa and saddle developing. In the end, it was the most powerful of the three reds. A corked 375 which I took back also showed favorably later on in the evening.

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Flight 3 (2 Notes)

  • 1977 Fonseca Porto Vintage

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    While I’m generally not a port lover (I find the alcohol to be like a flamethrower to my nostrils sometimes), this port was quite refined and suave, with interesting notes of mocha, toffee and chocolate covered berries. This port was like the interesting European gentleman who still has some tattoos that poke out of his sleeves, but clearly has grown beyond the days of such recklessness.

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  • 1975 Château Filhot

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Served along a smattering of cheeses (including a lovely bleu) which was not a very botrytis driven Sauternes; notes of apricot, marcona almonds and sweet honey. Quite delectable.

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