'89 & '90, not '82. Austria, Alsace, Bordeaux, CDP, Germany, Loire.
Suba.
Tasted Thursday, December 13, 2007 by BradKNYC with 955 views
Introduction
Thursday, December 13th. That was going to be 1982 Bordeaux day. I somehow managed to get the stars aligned so that ten very busy folks could actually assemble together at the same time, in the same place, each totting a bottle of '82 Bordeaux. The chef at Suba, thanks to a connection with one of our attendees, was going to prepare a wonderful meal around our wines. But, it was not to be. Mother Nature would rear her ugly head and fill our non-Manhattan participant's hearts with dread and so late in the afternoon, with the forecast calling for heavy snowfall in the tri-state area, I postponed the much anticipated horizontal.
Strangely enough, the last time I had been to Suba, some two years ago, there was also a snowstorm. In fact, one of my fonder vinas memories is driving Steve Plotnicki back to his Upper East Side lair from the restaurant that night. The streets were deserted and unplowed and that being the case, I felt it was my obligation to get Steve home as quickly as possible, using every lane available to me at my discretion. The looks and screeches of sheer terror Steve emitted all the way home will provide me with warm fuzzy feelings for years to come. But, I digress.
Suba. Hadn't been there in awhile and thanks to a connection with one of the participants, they were allowing us to bring wine in and were going to cook something special for us. Those in the group from Manhattan, being of sturdy stock and having vast mass transit options available to us, decided we should go anyway and give the restaurant some business because they were being so generous to us and we imagined that given the dire forecast, which ended up being not much more than rain in Manhattan, there might be quite a lot of cancellations. So, I proposed an '89 or '90 from anywhere theme and with that, Joe Dougherty, Sasha Katsman, Manuel Camblor, Victor Lederer, Dan Sullivan, Bill Lawrence and I went into the night.
1990 Nikolaihof Riesling Vinothek
Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
I've been fortunate enough to have had this wine four times now and I consider it one of the best Austrian Rieslings I've had. It was supposed to be released as a special millennium wine, but when the millennium came, it was deemed not ready yet, so it ended up spending thirteen years in neutral fuder before being bottled and released. It starts of a bit stinky. Sasha describes it as the interior of a mechanic shop. I get sage and gingery yellow fruit with a good dose of diesel. This bottle is showing a bit more advanced than previous bottles, but is still quite young. Like all the great wines of the world, what separates this from the pack is the impeccable balance and mouthfeel. It conveys depth and weight effortlessly and elegantly. Initially, the wine was dominated by herbal and yellow fruit flavors with plenty of stoniness and a hint of sweetness. With air it took on anise flavors and aromas and picked up a distinct waxiness. A smidge off from some previous showings, but a helluva way to get the evening started. Low A.
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1990 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile Vendanges Tardives
France, Alsace
Like the Vinothek, this starts off with petrol dominating the aromatics before lime and citrus emerged. On the palate it's a powerhouse and seemingly tanninc. There is a touch of sweetness, but while Trimbach typically makes a drier style of VT than most, the iron backbone of acidity is making it seem like there's less sugar than there is. The sweetness did grow with air, though. Still painfully young with citrus, citrus pith and mineral standing out most prominently. It's a better wine than the Vinothek, but at this stage it's also much more muscular and a bit of a bruiser and it would certainly benefit from further aging. Outstanding. A+/A.
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1989 Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Auslese
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Dan calls this a roller coaster wine and he's absolutely right. It's a thrilling ride that takes you up and down and all around the flavor chart. There's intense passion fruit, orange citrus and stone fruits before it moves briefly into the pine and mothball realm and then careens down into the red fruit, autumn leaves and mineral finish. It's lightly sweet, but the youthful and slightly petillant acidity balances the wine nicely. Man, is this a fun wine. Wheee! Solid A-.
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1989 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Auslese
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
A lot more reticent than the Karthäuserhof, but it shows beautiful purity and precision. There's a little bit of friendly sweetness and red fruit, mineral and peach character before a knife fight erupts in your mouth. Boy, is there some cruelly pleasurable acidic structure in here! It's not '96 cruel, as that acidity moves into S & M levels, but what's here will cut you. Cut you good. A/A-.
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1990 Château de Fieuzal
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
My last bottle of one of the first bottles of Bordeaux I purchased when I was first getting into wine. It's never failed to deliver and tonight was no different. It's just what I look for in Graves, black earth with a touch of iron, tobacco and black currants. Time has mellowed it nicely and it's drinking very well now. A-.
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1989 Château de Fieuzal
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
The '89 offered a very interesting contrast and showed identical differences as the '90 vs '89 Domaine de Chevalier did. Whereas the '90 showed black fruit, the '89 shows red fruit in a higher acid, leaner package. Surprisingly, it doesn't show its earthiness as well as the '90 and what it does show is browner, not the more classic black that I usually identify with Graves. The wine picks up an herb note on the finish. Nice, but not as suave or as generous as the '90. Solid B+.
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1990 Domaine de Chevalier
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Sports a beautiful nose. Like the Fieuzal, there's plenty of black Graves earthy delight with black fruit and cedar. Similar flavor profile as on the nose, it has a great personality, is higher acid and has more tannin structure than the '90 Fieuzal. With air the wine took on some lovely violet notes. A-.
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1989 Domaine de Chevalier
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Like the '89 Fieuzal, it shows a red fruit, more of a red plum character, is less earthy and higher acid than its '90 brother. Still painfully young. Interestingly, the '90 opened up in the glass with air, whereas the '89 closed up. It's in a lighter, more elegant style than I prefer, but I do think DDC is a Bordeaux for Burgundy lovers. One thing that was apparent with the two DDC wines is that they were dynamic, ever changing wines. B+.
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1990 Château Pape Clément
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
This wine has been in a beautiful spot for several years now. In some ways it's like the '90 Fieuzal as it shares a similar flavor and aroma profile, but it's always seemed like its older brother. The Fieuzal still has some rusticity and rambunctiousness, while the Pape Clément's black fruit is a touch richer and more polished. The earth and herb also makes you think more. Drinking well now, but there's no rush. Solid A-.
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1990 Château Magdelaine
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Wow, what a gorgeously decadent wine. Bill describes it as a Snickers bar and that's a pretty good description as it was chock full of chocolate, roasted peanuts and nougat with a surprising intense minerality on the nose and palate. I wouldn't have expected such a strong mineral presence given those other characteristics. The fruit started off black in profile, but with air the wine took on a much more perfumed character and developed lovely cherry notes. That said, the air also made the wine tighter and it clearly had the most formidable structure of any of the '90's that night. Wonderful stuff that could really benefit from further aging. A/A-.
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1990 Château Filhot
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
This came off as a straight forward, workman-like Sauternes. Darker than the '90 Huet Moelleux it was paired with, with botrytis, pineapple and butterscotch flavors and aromas. This did have a certain pureness about it and was not overdone by oak, but while good, there really was no personality or vibrancy to it. A-/B+.
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1990 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
In my book, a Sauternes always loses when it's served alongside a Loire or German sweetie as they just can't compete in the acid department and I also generally prefer no oak to oak. As a result, they always come off as too fat and ponderous. Tonight it was great to see Bill have this epiphany moment. One could literally see the light bulb go off over his head and was great to see another friend get bit by the Chenin bug. Earth dominated with acacia, honey and yellow fruits with a touch of shoe polish and apricot. With air the wine seemed to get younger as the apricot gave way to pure quince flavors and the acid backbone grew even more prominent, but never bullied. It really was a somewhat surprising showing as I find the 1ere trie versions both from Huet and Foreau to show a much more advanced color and flavor profile dominated more by apricot, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given the much greater sugar levels in 1eres. Just a joy to drink, but it should be that way for decades to come. Low A.
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