Milton's Birthday Dinner

I was privileged to be invited to a little dinner to celebrate Milton's birthday. We had a great time, with good food, great (blind) wines and wonderful company. The theme was French, and true to Milton's character, we ended up with a line-up of absolutely lovely wines that were all quietly impressive in their own way. Of course, the celebration would not have been complete without the pair of 1961 Bordeaux kindly popped by Pete.

• 2000 Dom Pérignon Champagne 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Excellent. This bottle was back on form after the rather forgettable one we had towards the end of last year. In fact, it was probably the best of the six or seven bottles that I have had so far. It had a beautiful nose, rather telltale Dom Perignon, with ripe apples and strawberries alongside more developed aromas of honey and toffee, some caramelly hints, then beautiful earthy accents with white meat nuances, shades of smoky mineral and a nutty, yeasty back-note. Very nice. The palate was perhaps a little less developed, slightly younger tasting than the nose would suggest, but it was very delicious - with a typically subtle gentle mousse carrying nicely fleshy white fruit and appley flavours laced with the tiniest waft of strawberry. It was fruity up-front, but past the midpalate, this was more marked by streaks of earthy, stony minerally streak with a little drift of lemon and flower blossoms floating alongside into a wonderful finish with tons of length on it. This was very fine indeed. The 2000 DPs have really come a long way from their rather unconvincing youth. If they continue to develop along these lines, they should make quite wonderful Champagnes in 5 or 6 years' time.

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• 2000 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Cuvée Creation 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  A brilliant Champagne. While not everyone on the table agreed, I preferred this ever so slightly to the excellent 2000 Dom Perignon that was served alongside. I thought this had a beautiful nose, with lots of lovely toffee and dried coconut notes, some topical pineapple hints - almost pineapple-tart aromas with little pastry notes along with some sweet, dried pineapple scents - and then red apples and some floral perfume and, finally, more savoury notes of white meat and touch of earth. A very expressive, complex nose for a Champagne this young. The palate was beautiful too. Here, a very vigorous bead and some mouthwatering acidity gave it a great sense of liveliness and energy as it zipped through the attack with lovely pure flavours of pears and apples touched with a little lemon and more pineapple notes on the midpalate. It was all wonderfullly integrated - bright and fresh, with a great sense of focus and precision, yet coming across as one nicely rounded whole. Lovely length on the back-palate too, where little pinpricks of minerality and a hint of spice tailing away in a long, detailed finish. A lovely wine. While it was delicious on the day, and will probably remain so from this point on throughout the rest of its life, it still clearly has its best days ahead of it. This was the last vintage where Vilmart made a Cuvée Creation I believe - a bit of a waste given how good this bottle was.

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• 1999 Domaine Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  This was excellent - one of the most interesting expressions of Meursault I had for some time. It had an intriguing nose. Super-complex and really lovely, with a shifting kaleidescope of saline mineral and smoky gunflint, savoury kumquat and browning apple notes, then salted almonds, deep earthy notes, a touch of exotic spice. With time, a nice honeyed tone floated to the top - so much going on. It was very hard to pin down, but really compelling. After that rich exoticness of the nose, the palate surprised by being super dry, with bright citrussy lemon, lime and kumquat notes shaded with just a shadow of honeysuckle. There was a lot of weight on the midpalate, this was certainly a big wine, but it bore it very lightly, almost effortlessly. With time and air, some fig and honey nuances started coming out, along with gently mouthwatering acidity that lifted the wine at the edges. Past the midpalate, there was a tremendous rush of minerality, all stony and flinty as it stretched away in a beautifully detailed finish. This was a genuinely exciting Genevrières that was a real pleasure to drink. At a nice place now as well, I would not wait much longer on this if I had any in my cellar.

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• 1997 Domaine Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Poruzots 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  While a good wine in its own right, this paled significantly in comparison with the wonderful 1999 Genevrieres that was served alongside. This was more of a classic Meursault. It was a bit funky on the nose at first, with a slightly dirty, earthy accent, and a greener vine stemmy lilt to somewhat deeper notes of honey, apples and pears, with a little hint of orange blossoms and stony minerality at the sides. Certainly complex, but I found it rather less attractive than the previous wine. Thankfully, the palate was quite a bit stronger than the nose. It opened with sweeter honeyed, caramelly notes on the attack, giving way to ripe red apples and fleshy white fruit on the midpalate. There was a spine of clear juicy, acidity and and dry extract that ran the entirety of the wine into a long finish with a lovely, open feel to it, Here, pure white fruit flavours were touched with some spice and a little line of stony, almost bittersweet minerality pulling away with some length. A good wine, quite ready for drinking now.

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• 2001 Domaine François Lamarche Grands-Echezeaux 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Lamarche really did very well in 2001. While this bottle was far from ready, even after sitting in the decanter for an hour-and-a-half, it clearly had some wonderful underlying material. There was lovely nose here. A bit tight, but it had a nice perfume, with sweet wood spice and dark floral aromas nestling amidst deeper black cherry and blackberry scents and with a little earthy nuance at the end. This was almost unusually perfumed and lacy for a Grand-Echezeaux, but it was certainly a very nice bouquet. If anything, the palate was even tighter than the nose. What was clear though was a very precise, defined feel to the wine. Like many of the best wines from the vintage, it had a beautiful sense of focus and finesse to its otherwise large-scaled, broad-shouldered flavours of black cherries, berries and spice, with nice Grand Cru depth wed to lovely, fresh 2001 acidity. Some fine tannins then led the wine into a long, slightly woody, spicy finish where a twist of orange peel set it. With time, some very nice, savoury notes of earth and meat started emerging amidst the spice. This was way too young, so that it seemed to lack a touch of complexity, but it was nevertheless a really nice drink. Rather bit of a pity though - this is one wine that was really built to last. It deserves a good four to five years more in the cellar before broaching again.

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• 1994 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Wow - this must be amongst the best 1994 left-banks that I have had thus far. Blinded, a couple of us guessed La Mission, but no one quite pinned down the year. I was quite blown away by the quality that La Mission got out of a less than stellar vintage when I last tried this three years or so back - but this bottle was even better than I remembered. It had an absolutely entrancing nose - there were some funky, poopy notes hanging around at first, but these quickly blew off to show classic Graves aromas of tobacco and wet earth, dried flowers and minty, cedar wood notes floating alongside a lovely, almost high-toned waft cassis fruit surrounded by fragrant violet scents. A beautiful bouquet. The palate was at just about a perfect place for drinking. More than anything, it was marked by a wonderful elegance and energy - all fresh and lively, with a lovely, clear purity to its cassis flavours and blackberry notes fringed with smoky tobacco hints and some savoury earth and meat at the edges. While not the richest of most opulent La Mission, this really had a beautiful lushness for a 1994, with a wholeness and generosity to the fruit that has only been matched by a Latour amongst the 1994 left-banks that I have tried. Very yummy. To cap it all, some fine, almost velvety tannins cosseted the back-palate as the wine unfolded in a smoky finish touched with anise, cinnamon and other wood-spices. A very classy drop, absolutely brilliant for drinking now.

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• 1985 Château Figeac 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  This was very good stuff, quite ready to go from the time it was popped and poured. In typical Figeac fashion, it showed very much like a left-bank, even more so than the uber-elegant 1994 La Mission that came before it I think! To be fair though, while half the table were guessing communes from the Medoc, someone actually pinned this down as a Figeac. I can see why on reflection. It had a typically assertive, complex and rather compelling Figeac nose, with deep aromas of plums and cassis, and a rather unusual touch of dried-strawberries, alongside stewed tea leaves, wet soil, capsicum, and some ginseng-like herbal accents. The palate, on the other hand, somehow did not seem quite as rich and thick as the nose put on. Perhaps because was it was so beautifully balanced. There was certainly the rich depth of the vintage on it, but there was also a lovely ring of purity to its sappy flavours of cherries and cassis which made it such a joy to drink. Past the midpalate, a generous sprinkling of spice and a huge waft of tobacco drove the wine towards a pure, sappy finish full of sweet cherries and berries and licks of smoky spice, all still girded with fine but firm tannins. While neither the most complex or well-structured of Figeacs, it was certainly one of the yummiest I have had. At a very nice place now, I would have no hesitation cracking these open if I had any.

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• 1961 Château Calon-Ségur 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  I think it is fair to say that we all enjoyed this bottle tremendously. However, while half the table loved this to bits, the other half rather preferred the 1961 Grand-Puy-Lacoste that was served alongside. I was definitely in the later camp - while the GPL was quite at peak, this seems to have started its decline. It had a very intriguing, rather funky nose, with lots of wet leaf, earth and undergrowth nuances, with more than a hint of wilted flowers, boiled herbs and Pu-Er tea to it. It was only after one got pass the earthier notes that sweeter scents of dried cherries and raspberries started coming to the fore. Very interesting stuff. The palate had a slightly cloudy look to it, and the attack had resolved into a soft, melting, almost cottony mouth-feel, with very little tannins structure left. What it did have though was a lovely sense of energetic freshness and still delicious flavours of red cherries and berries surrounded with a great waft of cigar smoke and bits of spice. With time and some air, it began to open up quite beautifully, with notes of tea leaves and dried flowers emerging alongside haw-berry flavours as the wine began to flesh out more on the midpalate. Unlike the attack, the midpalate and the finish still had a little touch of fine tannins propping them up as the wine drifted away in a final barnyardy linger. Very nice I thought. Just beginning to weaken, but still with plenty of substance in it. This wine, and the GPL that followed, was a testament to just how strong the 1961 was.

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• 1961 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  This was a very special wine. Quite clearly the wine of the night for me amidst a very strong line-up. The nose was quite glorious here, with still surprisingly strong cassis scent at the centre of it all, alongside complex little motes of wet earth and meat, sweet spice and winter-melon tea, with little tertiary touches of stems and roots, all combining in a glorious left-bank nose. While the nose on the 1961 Calon-Segur that we had alongside was perhaps more intriguing, I thought that this certainly smelt a lot better! The palate too was astoundingly good. One could hardly tell that this was a wine pass its 50th year. Fresh and lively, still supported by lovely fine tannins, this had lovely depth to its delicious flavours of sweet cassis and pure black cherries. It was so youthful that one would easily have guessed this to be something decades younger if not for the fact that it had resolved into a wonderfully integrated whole, with tremendous complexity drawn from tertiary notes of herbs and tobacco and wet leaves and tea and spice, all weaving in and out of the dark Cabernet fruit that filled that mouth all the way into the wine's perfectly poised and wonderfully balanced finish with its soft, velvety tannins. Wow. This was quite a profound - a great wine from a great vintage that seems to have reach its drinking-plateau. A wonderful experience.

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