Friday night Bordeaux
Cafe Bernard, Chicago IL
Tasted Friday, July 24, 2009 by KeithAkers with 699 views
Introduction
Matt was back in town so a few of us met up in lincoln park to have some bordeaux with age on it. We all went to check out Cafe Bernard as for some of us it would be our first time, and for a couple others, it would have been their first time in a long time, so it looked like it'd be a good place to check out
Flight 1 (9 Notes)
Closing
A absolutely great night. Everything showed real well and the Lalande and Lagrange were absolute stunners. The food went extremely well and they had a real nice laid back atmosphere with a great corkage price. I'll be sure to head back there some time
2002 Château Pape Clément Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
nose: extremely intriguing nose filled with minerals and smokey tones along with some petrol tones, clementines, meyer lemons, nutty tones and a good helping of citrus'. Excellent depth with a real youthful sense on the nose
taste: really good and polished feel with medium+ acidity. Well defined and balanced tones of clementines, meyer lemons, smokey tones, and a whole lot of minerals with some crushed rocks added in for good measure
overall: one of the most interesting Bordeaux Blanc's that I've had. I took a smell of what little was left at the end of teh evening and the nose was almost pure petrol, but it was far from off putting. A good amount of depth with really good acidity, this may be in an in between stage currently and the color was excellent light straw yellow. This is a wine that I would love to really spend some time with to get at its full story because it was very interesting
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1985 Château Canon 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
nose: very pretty, and wide open nose with well balanced tones of roasted herbs, dark red cherries, violets, red florals, and some nice tones of red currants. Very elegant with beautiful depth and brings about a very demure quality to it that is quite enjoyable
taste: extremely pretty medium feel with nice fine grained tannins and tones of red florals, violets, anise seed, red currants, roasted herbs and dark red cherries. Very floral on the attack and finish that is very elegant
overall: a wonderfully mature right bank wine. Opened this and bottle aired it for about 90 minutes before vacu-vining it and taking it to the resturant. Was open from the start and stayed that way throughout the dinner. A very elegant wine that evoked thoughts of a 50s cool hollywood blonde. It can certainly go longer, but this seems to be as good as it will get and is quite enjoyable right now and should be for another decade
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1986 Château Canon 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
nose: fairly brooding nose and has a brutish quality to it with tones of dark red cherries, anise, black currants, and tones of dark herbs. Good depth, but rather tight and doesn't give up too much for a while
taste: a bit taught on the palate with a real nice silky medium feel and good tannins that remind you that this is a 86. Well balanced tones of dark red cherries, dark florals, black currants, and dark roasted herbs balance out well together. The tones are more alive on the palate then they were on the nose
overall: still quite young. Very well balanced with good acidity, this certainly reflects the vintage and it certainly can be drunk now, but needs a good decant to let it get going
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1990 Château Lagrange (St. Julien) 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
nose: very lush and pretty that shows off the st julien elegance, and also shows off the wonderful balance of 90 with tones of sweet cassis, dark red cherries, pencil lead, cedar and real good tones of dark berries. Very elegant with great depth with the ripeness that comes with 90s
taste: absolutely lovely medium/full feel on the palate with good tannins. Very elegant with great depth and polished tones of kirsch liqueur, cedar, dark berries, pencil lead, sweet cassis, on top of a great dark red cherry base
overall: a better bottle then what was had on new years. Didn't come off as evolved as the New Year's bottle. This was chock full of class and elegance that made it extremely enjoyable and a real delight to drink. This paired perfectly with a rack of lamb and everything about it was open for business
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1989 Château Cos d'Estournel 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
nose: rich and dense nose with tones of black cherry liqueur, cassis, dark red cherries, black currants and real nice tones of cedar. Good depth with a well evolved nose that still has a primal nature to it
taste: really good medium/full feel with dense tones of cedar, black cherry liqueur, dark cherries, and a nice amount of cassis. Good tannins with excellent balance but doesn't really bring it to the next level
overall: a very enjoyable Cos. While it is very ready right now with some good air, it still has a way to go as the nose is relatively evolved but the palate still has a youthful feel to it. The tannins are still quite present but are in a supporting role right now. An outstanding wine that has a ways to go, but not sure that it will get all that much better
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1990 Château Cos d'Estournel 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
nose: very silky with a good amount of depth and balance that is very elegant on the nose with great tones of leather, cedar, kirsch, dark red cherries, and dark berry tones. A really pretty and elegant nose
taste: extremely polished with great depth and elegant tones of black currants, dark berries, leather, kirsch, and dark red cherries. Very full bodied on the palate with a real good with excellent pure tones that have a seamless quality to them
overall: Drinking very well and shows off the qualities that I love from 90. Very seamless with great polish and elegance. While it was extremely good, it didn't seem to kick it into third gear and have that next level quality to it that the laLande and Lagrange did
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1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
nose: very tight at first, but as it unwound what emerged was an absolutely beautiful and silky nose that was purely layered with nuanced tones of perfumes, cassis, red cherries, herbs, bits of purple florals, and hints of bell peppers. Extremely graceful that required my full attention and allowed me to just get lost in the nose and the moment
taste: so plush and velvety on the palate that is almost like satin with a very layered medium/full feel that just flows. Tones of red cherries, mixed berries, cassis, purple florals, herbs, and a touch of bell pepper all intermingle splendidly and makes you close your eyes and relish it
overall: all I could think of was Ravel's bolero while drinking this. This wine was just so beautiful and layered that brought out an intelectual and emotional side of me. This was just pure lalande as it had a very pretty feminine touch. Not delicate at all, but still feminine, this came across as a wine that has a soft side to it, but knows what it wants to do and makes you come to it
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1983 Château Guiraud 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
nose: beautifully balanced nose filled with great tones of honey, warm caramel, all sorts of creamed pears and apricots along with tasty notes of white fruits. Great depth and has a sense of maturity to it more in the sense of refinement that comes through
taste: very delicious and silky feel with great tones of apricots, a good amount of white fruits, drops of honey, and caramel. Really good acidity on it is still present with good depth
overall: the color was great for a 26 yr old sauternes, especially since it was in half bottle. A good lighter blood orange color, this took a little bit to open up, and when it did it was greatly balanced a lovely
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2001 Château Rieussec 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
nose: quite the contrast to the 83 guiraud as this is so youthful on the nose with all sorts of white fruits just jumping out of the glass along with pure tones of white peaches, apricots, and lovely tones of peach blossoms. An insanely deep nose that is extremely well layered
taste: a absolutely wonderful and lighter feel. Good medium acidity that starts to show up a bit more as the wine warmed up(it was hiding a bit when it was fairly chilled). Beautiful and layered tones of coconuts, peach blossoms, apricots, white peaches and a good helping of white fruits and a touch of white florals
overall: very young, but with an amazing amount of potential. Quite young, but not cloying and certainly approachable, but one can only imagine what this will be like as it ages, and it should age for a good while. Certainly provided a great contrast to the older sauternes
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