IWFS Bordeaux 2nd Growth BYO

An excellent dinner. Great food by Kevin Cherkas, especially a brilliant beef dish, along with a series of really nice wines contributed by our table. All wines were served in blind pairs, so it was quite a serendipitous thing that we ended up with such nice pairings.

• NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Cuvée de Réserve 91 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  Very enjoyable bottle, if not exactly the most profound of Champganes. Nice nose. Some yeast, gentle mineral scents, apples and kumquat, lime. All rather subtle, but nicely attractive. The palate was fresh, light, almost floaty with lots of minerally notes laced thrrough white fruit and light lime accents. It came across almost a little light-bodied on the attack and mid-palate, but there was some substance towards the finish, where white meaty notes and lovely appley fruit lingered away in mouth. Nice stuff.

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• 1996 Duval-Leroy Champagne Grand Cru Femme de Champagne 93 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  I just love this, and it is really beginning to come around. Poured from a 500ml, as enjoyable as the Pierre Peters BdB was, this was clearly a notch up in every department. Lovely nose as usual. A spectrum of deep aromas from earthy, spicey accents to yeasty, brioche notes, red apples and floral scents and then a saline, almost Chablis like minerality. Mmm - lovely stuff. The palate, while a bit on the bright side when first released, now showed a perfect balanced between fresh acid and fleshy fruit, all laced with a brilliant minerality. On the mid-palate and towards the back-end, there was a mouthfull of apples, wet stone and flowers tracing their way into a lovely finish where some white meat, yeast and a even little cherry note came out. Yum - perfect with our caviar appetiser too. As well as it drank though, and it was certainly more open than most bottles I had tried previously, there is still a very primary feel to the fruit - this really deserves a whole lot more cellaring.

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• 1989 Château Léoville Poyferré 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Third time with a bottle of this wine, but I could not recognise it blind - it was certainly very good and drinking beautifully, but was somehow not quite as complete as the previous two bottles I had. While this showed some of the ripeness of its vintage, I felt it lacked a bit of the depth and substantial feel of the other bottles. Nevertheless, much enjoyed. It had a beautiful nose, full of flowers, graphite, almost pencil lead-like, sweet cherries, dried earth and some spicey cigar notes. Gorgeously expressive stuff that kept evolving in the glass. With some time, it seemed to show increasingly stemmy, green peppery scents, and then again the green marks faded and some florals showed up. I would have been happy to sniff this all night. The palate was no slouch either. Fresh, open, light to mid-weight, not quite as together as the nose, but also very pretty, with floral notes laid over a mid-palate of sweet cherries, ripe mulberries and cassis. Fine tannins still made their presence felt along with a bit of oak at the back-end, which seemed a bit short and hollow at first, but it opened up and rounds off to leave a satisfyingly yummy finish with just a touch of toasted roastiness. Nice stuff, and something that should definitely be drank now. I have a feeling this bottle had faded a little from the peaks of the previous two darnk in 2009.

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• 1986 Château Léoville Poyferré Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Borderline flaw I think. Still drinkable, but there were traces of TCA at the edges, so I will refrain from scoring this. Little wet cardboard seemed to drift in and out of the bouquet, alongside funky earth scents, some graphite and hints of glycerol upon a background of dark fruit and meat. Some stuff going on, but what the TCA-like flecks, everything was rather uted and quite unexpressive. Same thing on the palate. The mouthfeel seemed to stand out more than the flavour on the wine, with fine dusty tannins, slightly mouth-puckering on the attack, plenty of fresh acidity, a semblance of substance and concentration, but again rather muted flavours of cassis and grape skins moving into a slightly disjointed finish with a touch of vine stems. Not great - pity.

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• 1990 Château Gruaud Larose 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Excellent. A whole lot more masculine than the pair of rather pretty Poyferres in the last flight, but no less attractive for that. The nose here showed wet soil, leather, tobacco and cigar box mingling with deep meaty scents and sweet dark fruit along with very Gruaud Larose angelica root accents, boiled herbs and wet leaf - all deep, dark and earthy. With time, lots of cigar and pencil lead notes swirled out together with a distinct whiff of black tea. Very complex stuff. The palate was quite wonderful too. Beautiful freshness and melting tannins framed a strong mouthfull of ripe cassis and blackberries on the glorious attack, before the wine unfolded into mulberry leaf and tobacco notes. Just slightly weaker on the midpalate, but there was a long fresh finish with more tobacco and black tea flavours sprinkled with a twist of herbs that just seemed to go on and on on a bed of firm, but well-formed tannins. Powerful stuff. Not exactly elegant, but it certainly had no lack of breed and class. I really liked this, and I think it has the capacity to age well for many years to come.

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• 1964 Château Montrose 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Still pretty good. By some distance the oldest wine of the night, but it drank so young that most of us were at least a decade off with our guesses. The nose showed bacon, smoked meat and sweet black fruits all mixed together in a melange of lovely umami tones. The fruits had gone down a bit on the palate, leaving behind a little layer of sweetness and some metally minerally, but it was still very fresh and lively, with a touch of fine tannins that coated the mouth likely, helping to carry the wine into a decently lengthed finish where more umami savouriness, a whiff of tobacco and hints of cassis lingered. Still enjoyable, but a bit lacking in depth by this point. An interesting wine.

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• 1996 Château Cos d'Estournel 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Wow - this is really coming into its own. It just edged the 1990 Gruaud on the previous flight, perhaps because of its amazingly ability to pair with the tremendous cut of beef that we had. Nevertheless though, it was a wonderful wine by any measure. It had an absolutely lovely nose, rather more opened than the last bottle. After about an hour in the decanter, it showed deep, deep scents of cigar, tobacco, damp earth, dark dark fruit, and a hint of Chinese root herbs. Darkly intriguing stuff. The palate was almost surprising clean and fresh after that, but the same depth picked up on the nose was certainly there, with beautiful dark fruit mingling with spice box and tobacco notes - all showing lovely concentation wed to a first class (or should I say first growth ) sense of definition and focus. The long finish displayed a mouthfull of dark fruit, graphite, spice and cigar notes. Marvellous stuff and again showing wonderful depth paired with gorgeous freshness. This is really coming into its own and should be a world beating wine in another 5-6 years or so.

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• 1996 Château Léoville Barton 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Good, but oh so young - in fact, the wine seems to have hardly moved from the last bottle I had two years ago. Tight on the nose. Some sweet plums, mulberries, dark cherries and loamy earth sprinkled with slightly wilted flowers and peppery spice. Quite pretty, but needs time to really open up and express itself. The palate had an unsual elegance for a Barton, with a firm but very nicely fine background and lovely fresh clean feel to its black fruit and gentle floral flavours. Good long finish too, but everthing still seemed tight and primary though. Everything seems to be in place, but this needs a lot of time yet. For the moment, the 1996 Cos d'Estournel on the same flight was way ahead in the opinion stakes.

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• 1986 Château Gruaud Larose 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  A really nice wine. One could pick up the family resemblance with the excellent 1990 Gruaud Larose in the earlier flight almost immediately. Angelica root, Chinese herbs, hints of spice, and lots of earthy scents swirled around dark fruit and tobacco notes on the nose. The palate had a nice clean feel on the attack, with pure dark fruit flavours riding alongside hints of bramble and earth. Still young and energetic, and there was a little layer of fine tannins towards the long, full and very yummy finish which filled the mouth with savoury spice, meat and earth notes. Very impressive and richly enjoyable - glad to have a bottle of this in storage, it should really hit its stride in a couple of years' time.

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• 1986 Château Léoville Barton 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Another Barton that seems to have hardly moved over the past couple of years. Good, but boy this was super young. The nose was nice, but smelt like a wine at least a decade younger, with root herb scents alongside blackberries and blackcurrants, plums and then mocha and dark chocolate hints. The palate still had a clear layer of powdery tannins sprinkled amidst more ripe cassis and plum flavours. There was great depth and concentration and some sweetness leading into a long, well-detailed finish. Plenty of quality, but still super primary and super young. This will go on for years and years yet before hitting peak.

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• 1982 Château Montrose 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Very good, but not quite as mindblowing as you would expect a wine of its pedigree to be - this paled in comparison to one or two of the other wines from less heralded vintages on the day. Nevertheless, good stuff. I liked the nose here, lots of expressive herbs and spices, earth, cassis and leather, rather characteristic St Estephe and very attractive. The palate showed the ripeness and solid balance of its vintage, with rich flavours of earth and cassis showing both beautiful depth and lovely definition and focus. Only thing is that it still seemed a bit primary, almost straightforward, especially towards the linear, one-dimensional finish, which closed out with more ripe cassis wed to a slightly toasty note. Amazingly young for a wine pushing its 30th year, and this certainly has the structure, balance and fruit to age for many years to come. At the moment, objectively very good, but not the most enjoyable of wines.

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• 1990 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A gorgeous wine. Amidst a very strong line-up of 2nd Growths, this was quite clearly my wine of the night. The nose was really expressive and very Pauillac, with angelica root and herbs, wed to whiffs of tobacco and lots of lovely plush dark fruit, with cassis and mulberries at the fore. The palate was still marked with a layer of very fine, almost powdery tannins, but it was the tremendous depth of dark plums and plush cassis fruit seasoned with little flecks of spice and tobacco that resounded most with me. Not quite as fresh as some of the other wines on show given the vinatge, but it was certainly well balanced, and what acidity there was was so nicely integrated into the rest of wine that it came across as a wonderfully complete whole with not a hair out of place all the way into a long, wonderful finish with cigar smoke wreathing around the mouth. Powerful stuff in a very classy package. This was a a tremendous Pichon-Baron. At 21 years' of age, this was barely out of its adolescence and will probably need at least another decade to really show its chops. Solid, solid stuff.

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• 1992 Dominus Estate Napanook Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Pretty good stuff. I thought this was a new world at first, but could not be really sure until a few sips later. The nose was showed toasty, roasty nuts and ripe, sweet cassis, a twist of licorice, herbs and mint. It could well have been a modern right-bank. It was on the palate where the new world-ness came out more. Obviously higher alcohol than the Bordeaux wines, with sweet plums and ripe blackcurrants, meat and earth in a rather viscous package. I must say that in spite of the richness, the wine was actually every bit as balanced as any of the other wines on show. It closed up with an impressively long finish with earth, spice and more roasty caramel and nut flavours. Solid stuff, drinking very nicely now.

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