LAP4W #1
Los Angeles
Tasted April 19, 2014 by puppetclause with 98 views
Introduction
A Few CTers bombarded my house for a first LA offline. I think we did it proud. We didn't take notes, but the enjoyment was felt by all. I'll give a simple yes or no on each flight, because honestly, that's all it really takes. Plus I'm too drunk to remember all the beautiful details.
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
- Shannon Alder
Flight 1 - 1974 Robert Mondavi Cabernet (0 notes)
This was a real treat. Got better after an hour or so open, and sung a beautiful tune for another two. Lovely old Cab that could have gone a few more years, deep roasted fruit medly, wrapped in earth and cellar floor, sequeing into a slightly flinty medicinal elixir. Perfect start to a great night. YES.
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go"
-T.S. Elliot.
Flight 2 - Chateau de la Tour Clos Vougeot 1966 (0 notes)
Wow. Just holy $#*% wow. This had a great fill, and lived up to all expectations and then some. Beautiful spring flowers, a medly of complex yet subtle dried cherries, and haunting subtle tremors of taste. A flutter of bacon fat, don't ask me how. This was a beautiful girl belting her lungs out for us the hour or two we kept her alive. Could have gone a few hours more, but when you're in love, well.... YES!
"Even the handsomest men do not have the same momentary effect on the world as a truly beautiful woman does."
-Jonathan Carroll
Flight 3 - 1985 Montrachet (white) (0 notes)
The bottle escaped my house at some point, so no picture, but beautiful, everything I ever want from a white burg, majestic, delicate, wears her age and makes no apologies. Paired majestically with a truffle mousse served in egg shell with a mushroom 'fricassee.'
“We must conquer life by living it to the full, and then we can go to meet death with a certain prestige.”
― Aleister Crowley
Flight 4 - 1966 Lafite (0 notes)
A tretcherous fill gave way to a compromised cork. Thick, oxidized sadness poured out of her and into our souls. If we had guns, 21 of them may not have given her enough justice.
“It's always funny until someone gets hurt.
Then it's just hilarious.”
― Bill Hicks
Flight 5 - Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2001 (0 notes)
A great wine from a great year, layers of creamy milk chocolate, dried berries, wild earthy spice. This gave as good as it took, and it took a few glasses at least. Yes!
"El arte es una mentira que nos acerca a la verdad."
-Picasso
Flight 6 - 1966 Chateau Haut-Brion (0 notes)
On the first swirl, sniff and sip, I would have pegged this from no earlier than 2008. MAYBE 2007. Wow, this was just so young, so tight, so nuanced, so surreal. Layers of sublte coffee, rose petals, barnyard, but a bit of tough earth, meat char. We gave it hours. It whispered on our tongues and then get louder. And more beautiful. Like the floorboards under the Teatro Colon. Built to resonate harmonies.
"I'm not here for your amusement. You're here for mine."
-Johnny Rotten
Flight 7 - 1945 Gabriel Corrol Richebourg (0 notes)
From a 375. A sherry backbone wraped in a kaleidoscope of sublte, haunting flavors. The color of this almost 70 year old Pinot was electric orange (almost). An exercise in what could have been, or rather what should have been opened 20 years prior. Maybe 30. But still so much to be learned from this, like a time machine on the fritz. You get a fuzzy idea of how great 1945 was (it was awesome, fyi).
“Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can.”
- Nicholas Sparks
Flight 8 - 1961 Oddero Barolo (0 notes)
From a bottle that traveled just a few days before our offline, and showed magnificently. Sun kissed waves of leather, polished decadence, chewey sex. This had it all. Everything from intricate wilted berries to chalky dried mushrooms, tar and roses. Youthful beyond its years and taunt and focused beyond expectations. Taught us all that 5 more years and those 66s might have been damn near perfect. This was. Yes.
“There are in life a few moments so beautiful, that even words are a sort of profanity.”
- Diana Palmer
Flight 9 - '06 Guado al Tasso, '06 Castello di Brolio, '06 Vigneto Manchiara Brunello (0 notes)
Yes. Too faded to remember clearly, but these were each worthy of an extended note from a far more meticulous chronicler than I. Yes. Youthful, vibrant, and paired excellently with the medley of italian courses that seemed to keep arriving. Triple yes.
"I've run out of quotes, so this is one of my own."
- Jeff
Flight 10 - Domaine Chevillon Nuits Saint George Les Chaignots 1er Cru (0 notes)
Sung a sad, lonely song in a most hautingly beautiful way. Drinking stellar for an '11, over time it kept opening up and sublty assaulting our taste buds with curious whispers of love songs and bar brawls. A bit bold and clunky, but not at all unharmonious, this will last a few years (many) but why wait, it's drinking great right now.
"Why are you still reading this? If you weren't there, I weep for you soul. Sort of."
- Jeff
Closing
What a great night. There's many more wines we dived into but I just don't have the details. Until the next one.