Group de Degustation Diner, L'Anniversaire de Daniel, '1970s in France & Elsewhere'

A year has gone around very quickly and it was again Daniel's turn to provide the theme and the wines for the monthly Group de Degustation dinner, which I was kindly invited back to. It also happened to be his birthday.

All the wines were presented double-blind (except the final bottle) and comme d'habitude the theme was not announced until near the end...so there were nearly no clues. The food was carefully composed to match the wines and was beautifully executed by Chef Aurelien of Chez Patrick at Home Dining, despite the challenges of limited kitchen facilities on the night.

After suffering "exam nerves" trying too hard to identify the wines last year (and actually being semi-privy to the theme this year) I decided to kick back this time and just enjoy the sensation of "drinking in the dark" and enjoying the wines for what each one gave on the night.

• NV Penet-Chardonnet Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Diane Claire 88 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  Drank double-blind. Light gold colour but the nose suggests a much older wine...a slight corkiness and touch of oxidation. On the palate it is very nutty and with distict elements of Oloroso sherry, although not at all unpleasantly. Very dry finish...again remniscent of Oloroso. Apparently, this is mostly from the 1999 vintage with some older reserves added. The maker's hallmark is very low or no dosage, which in retrospect explained the wine's character. I think this would be better with food, as I also thought when I have drank it non-blind in the past.

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The signature home-made Chez Patrick foie gras terrine matched the mature Sauternes perfectly...with the fennel marmelade adding a novel twist and a nice counterpoint to the Seville orange marmelade element of the wine.

• 1976 Château Suduiraut 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Drank double-blind. Colour is a burnt caramel deep gold with a perfectly clear and thick meniscus. Nose is immediately unmistakable Sauternes.....quite heady and obviously old...burnt bananas, boiled seville oranges, good levels of botyrtis, warm toast and fresh ripe bananas too. Palate is silky-smooth and rounded with a mid-palate of charred cognac barrels and a very attractive burnt creme brulee back end that turns into very serious resonance. Lots of sugary weight but just sufficient acidity to balance it out. This got more and more sugary over the course of the evening but never became cloying. I really liked this.

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Wow......this dish stopped me in my tracks: light, deft but with a pure meaty richness of the sauce that went brilliantly with the older character of the wines. It closely rivalled a mind-blowing similar dish I ate in Tokyo a while ago and which sits in my pantheon of "best ever" food experiences.....bravo!

• 1979 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Beautour Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Drank double blind (not finished). Totally transparent and light brick red with hints of separation. A lovely but very fleeting nose....dried rose petals and blackcurrant pastilles...then gone. Palate is dry, dusty old clothes from a dead relative's closet...and slightly maderized but still having a heady, light resonance that shows it was once a very good wine. Just now way too far past its peak to enjoy. Next!

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• 1979 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Drank double-blind. Lovely clear and bright translucent light blood-red colour. Nose is....gosh!...fully mature but very complete Bordeaux....still some youthful box-wood on the nose (which is weird because it's clearly not young), very nice black and red berry fruits and also a lovely stinky element of stables floor strewn with fresh hay. Palate is quite fresh acidic attack, medium weight, a bit dilute on the mid palate but then lots of red fruit and dry tannic attack on the back end. Quite tart and acidic but not overly so and the box-wood is also there again on the back of the palate. Not much length but it does carry a subtle resonance. Old but in some ways still young....I like it a lot.

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A bit tame and bland after the intensity of the previous dish but serendipitously it needed a bland dish to backdrop the wines, which were quite fragile.

• 1979 Château Latour Grand Vin 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Drank double-blind. Semi-transparent ruby red colour. Nose has the same brett as the previous wine but not as pronounced....a very classic Bordeaux nose and very agreeable. Palate is full, initially very rich but slightly tart and dry late season blackberries but then mellowed out into sweeter blackcurrant pastilles...very nice and rounded on the finish but a tad austere and linear (probably not a great year but clearly a top-league Bordeaux)...I love the pastilles. Very little length and it died fast in the glass, which led me to think it was probably a 1991 or 1993. Not quite as good as the previous wine (which turned out to be the Comtesse de Lalande from the same year).

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• 1979 Château Figeac 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Drank double-blind. Bright lively transparent red colour with a distinctly watery meniscus....1970s? Nose is stinky barnyard, acetone, nail varnish remover, lots of high piano notes followed by raw hung beef then black and red currant fruit. Palate is really lovely......light, classic Boardaux with a lively acidic and fresh attack. A feminine wine with surprising power and so easy to really enjoy. Coffee and burnt rubber came through on the back end. Moderate length but very good resonance inside the head on the finale. Excellent.

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This is one of the dishes I will most remember from 2011.....incredibly simple, fresh, succulent, barely-cooked farmed New Zealand Venison topped with finely chopped truffle-like black trumpet mushrooms. Wet and almost like undercooked liver...but mouthwateringly beautiful....the black trumpet muchroom is rich, sharp and incredible in counterpoint to the bloody meat. So simple and yet so delicious and, again, not overpowering the "Dowager Dutchess" nature of most of the wines. I forgot to eat the "Pudding" part of the dish because the unadorned dish was so mesmerising. I love food that reduces you to this kind of silence........everyone else liked it too because it stopped me speaking bad French for a while.

• 1979 Château Margaux 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Drank double-blind. Slightly cloudy opaque blood-orange red that has lightened at the edges but looked a lot younger than the two previous wines (that turned out to be from the same vintage: Contesse de Lalande and Ch. Latour). Nose is very inviting blackberries, fairly ripe fruit, quite a lot of vanilla pod, more sunshine than any of the previous 5 reds. Palate is sharp and angular in a precise, machine-ground way and immediately followed by a great rush of unctuous black and red ripe fruit. This had me guessing Ch Montelena 1978 because of the sunshine and the richness of the fruit...but who cares about guessing games, it's just gorgeous. A touch austere but very complete and right in the peak of its drinking window, I'd say. This just got better and better with extended time in the glass...lots of leather and cigar box emerging. Good but not great length and again moderate but very pleasing resonance. My clear WOTN.

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• 1975 Château Gruaud Larose 82 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Drank double-blind. Lots of sediment evident immediately in the glass almost suggesting separation. Cloudy and so was semi-opaque (but probably should be transparent) blood red and a pronounced watery meniscus. Nose is lightly bretty in an enjoyable way, spices, red turkish delight from a sandalwood box and some fresh sawn box-wood as well. Palate is a disappointment......sharp, acidic, tannic very hollow indeed in the middle and with a very short, sharp resonance on the finish. Very metallic on the finish. This had me thinking of Burgundy or a poorly-kept bottle of 20+ year old Musar....surprised when it was revealed as a Gruaud Larose (in the old Cordier long-necked bottle), which normally ages very well. Not much joy here tonight.

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Again, well chosen so as not to overpower our "Dowager Dutchess" wines and the fresh home-baked baguette was good enough to just eat on its own with the wine, like a water biscuit.

• 1978 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 86 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  Drank double-blind. Light watery meniscus but still looks a lot younger than most of the preceding wines because of its opaque blood-red core and ruby-red, purplish general colour. Nose is slight brett in an attractive way, light in weight but deep and graphite and with quite a lot more fruit than a French wine? Who cares......it's very nice on the nose. Palate is old, partly maderized but still retaining a young core of cassis fruit and oak. Some sweetness. No length but some resonance inside the head on the finale. Clearly not a pristine bottle but definitely a bottle of something very good. When revealed I was not far off..... we drank a much better bottle of this wine a year ago at the last Group de Degustation dinner I attended.

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• 1970 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve 70 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Drank double-blind. Old-looking because of the pronounced watery meniscus but hard to be sure because there was still a distinctly purplish tinge to the semi-opaque blood-red colour. Nose is oddly light and hollow, which is a surprise after what the colour would suggest. Palate is odd and disjointed......I don't want to drink this.

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• 1976 Château Margaux Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Drank double-blind. Heavy sediment and cork powder. Colour is mahogany red-brown and looks like a very old port. Nose is very bretty but immediately and distinctly recognizable as a Ch. Margaux........mahogany wood, old bees wax furniture polish, tinned prunes with that thick liquor. Sadly the palate is totally shot.....flat, stale prune juice. I guessed 1979 Ch. Margaux.

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I have to confess that the mind-boggling youth of the Fonseca and the lovely maturity of the Graham blotted out my memory of the cake.....but the "Bon Annivairsere" singing was quite good, at least by this stage of the evening.

• 1977 Fonseca Porto Vintage

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Drank double-blind. Bright, light, totally transparent young purple-tinged colour. Nose is petrol and petroleum jelly ("Vaseline" in the UK), very high toned notes but just from the fruit and the alcohol.....no noticeable oak or tannin on the nose. Palate is...port..to my surprise, lovely but very young....well, probably old but it tastes like it's not even a third of the way through its life. Hmmm, but it's all fruit and no oak, so it can't be port...whatever, it is way too alcoholic and young. Lots of sour cherry as you keep it in your mouth. Heady and alcoholic. I would have scored this as 84 and guessed it was some very unusual very local concoction....so I was flummoxed when it was revealed as 1977 Fonseca. Clearly it needs many hours of decanting if it is to be enjoyed this early in its life. I much preferred the Graham's 1977 that followed because it was entering its fully-fledged drinking window. However, the Fonseca will ultimately triumph (probably in around 2020).

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• 1977 Graham Porto Vintage 94 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Served non-blind. Much older-looking than the Fonseca 1977 that preceded it. Nose is more complete and matured/characterful. Palate is rich, unctuous, nutty, raisins, christmas cake....stollen cake...kirsch.....totally complete and utterly more-ish. Good but not great or silence-creating resonance, which was its only noticable shortcoming. I think that this had only minimal decanting but it was still a fantastic finish to a really superb evening.......thank you Daniel.

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Great theme Daniel......the 1970s have a reputation as the decade where Bordeaux "lost it" with many disappointing vintages and some individual Chateaux even worse. The group conclusion was "some good wines but drink, don't hold.....except the Port!"

Thanks to Daniel especially and to everyone else for their great hospitality...and, again, to the Chez Patrick at Home Dining team.