Old World vs New World -- St. Julien vs Napa Cab

13 wine-loving Austinites got together to enjoy a night of fine wine and food. The result was a linup of stunning wines on an educational and fun night. Some of the overarching topics were the ageability of CA Cabs and the approachability of the Bordeaux. All in all, one could say that the good, older Cabs were outright stunning and could easily compete with the Bordeaux from the same vintages. My tasting notes below are very brief and not very detailed as taking notes was difficult while eating and talking....

Line-up:

1975 Heitz "Martha's Vineyard" -- Stunning wine with amazing complexity. Although the fruit was markedly faded, this was one of the most complex wines of the night. The nose is out of this world.

1975 Chateau Leoville Las Cases -- Another stunner. One would never guess that this wine is almost 30 years old. Smokey nose of pencil lead, dark plum, leather and tobacco. Outstanding mouthfeel. Has another 10+ years of life left.

1991 La Jota Anniversary -- My WOTN. This wine has a gorgeous nose, plenty of fruit left, but a ton of complexity. To me, this wine seemed to be at the peak. Certainly not past it. I think it could be cellared for another while though. The general flavor profile was of black fruit with layers of tobacco leaf, coffee, and saddle leather.

1991 Vinecliff -- Green peppercorn, and dijon mustard notes. Very bordeaux-like nose. Later in the evening, this wine was identified as having quite a bit of Brett. Wasn't very noticeable in the earlier part of the evening.

1992 Silver Oak Napa -- Dill, Dill, Dill. Toss in some Pickles and earthy mushroom flavors. Certainly a good wine, I just can't make myself think it's great.

1992 Dunn Howell Mountain -- Yowser. This is still a pretty big beast. Lovely bouquet though. Delivers from start to finish...a 2 minute finish. Just a lovely wine. Wish I had some of those. Needless to say, this wine has plenty of life left.

1995 Ducru Beaucalliou -- Liked this one a lot. Certainly should be a fantastic ager. I found this wine to bear all the signs of a good aging Bordeaux. Big dark fruit, loads of tannins and
acidity, and not disjointed at all.

1995 Langoa Barton -- Very nice wine and quite approachable especially compared to the Ducru we were sipping right alongside it. Kind of a feminine winemaking style that manifests in a super-elegant smotth wine that delivers a very food friendly experience.

1997 Spottswoode -- Good juice. I had never tried any Spottswoode, but have to say that although good, not great in my opinion. I am a very olphactory-centric person, so the fact that this wine had a muted nose put a serious damper on this wine for me. It seemed uber-smooth and accessible, but I'm not sure if this one had signs of being shut down.

1997 Chateau Gruaud Larose -- I've had the 1997 many times and it is one of my favorite Bordeaux to drink right now. Certainly, this wine stood out to me as the nose of the wine is big and has a minimally musty quality to it, that I like. On the palate, this wine also delievered an interesting experience that positively set it apart from other Bordeaux in the lineup.

1996 Leoville Barton -- Weirdly untannic. I would have expected more acidity and tannins given the vintage and producer. All in all though, I thought this wine was outstanding and loved it.

1999 Leoville Barton -- Monster. Nowhere near ready to drink. This wine is massive and throws its weight around.

1999 Pine Ridge -- Didn't like this one at all. Tasted highly alcoholic with quite a bit of heat on the finish. That's the one thing I really can't stand when it comes to wine. The fruit is ceratinly appealing though, but residual suger levels on this wine are through the roof.

2000 Gamble Nelson -- What can I say. I brought thw bottle since I like this wine a lot and it seemed as though other tasters did as well. One of the tasters came up with a very nice description oif the wine and I would do him injustice by either quoting or writing my own inferior remarks. Rather, if he wants to chime in, that would be more appropriate.

2000 Beychevelle -- Very nice. Probably my favorite of the really young wines on the table. Although the wine could have a tiny bit of a green streak, I thought it was fun. dark fruit, nicely balanced, definitely NOT shut down right now. Good buy in my opinion.

2000 Gundlach Bundschu -- Too alcoholic and once again, that dreaded heat on the finish. However I think this wine has potential, and with competition less stiff than this night, it would have been probably a very good experience.

2000 Gloria -- Nose seemed bretty to me and the mouthfell didn't have the smotth silkiness and fruit I was looking for in a 2000. Could be closed, but my guess is that this wine is just not in the same league with the other wines tasted last night.

To top off the tasting, the owner of Mirabelle dropped in for a quick chat and opened another two bottles of wine for us to taste. One was a 2000 Niebaum Coppola Rubicon and the other a 1999 Spotswoode. To be fair, I liked the Rubicon better, but my taste buds were already shot as we'd tasted a boatload of wines.

All in all, this was a fantastic evening and Mirabelle did an oustanding job with the preparation of the room, the food, and the service. Our next tasting will be on December 8th and I can hardly wait.

SP