I attended a lunch last week that I knew would be a notable event, but I should have known that it would turn out to be something beyond that, as it was my friend Albert Givton who hosted it. He arranged a lunch of French bistro food to accompany the wines. It started with a lovely salad with lardons, chicken liver, and rare duck breast on greens. It went on from there to offer three choices for a main course – cassoulet (the chef is from the Southwest of France), steak frites with mayo, and coq au vin. I chose the bifteck but the others made me ponder a bit.
Before the food started coming, we tasted a white that was a bit perplexing:
1996 Georges Vernay Coteau du Vernon Condrieu – while I have tasted several vintages of Grillet, I have never been overly impressed with them and they have seemed a bit hit and miss, with one being fascinating and others mundane. This Condrieu was excellent, showing some tropical fruit in the nose, full smooth and balanced on palate with a slightly high terminal acidity that added a refreshing, rather than acerbic character.
1998 Neiman Cellars Napa Valley Red Wine, Caldwell Vineyard – these wines were made by Drew Neiman, formerly with Kongsgaard at Luna and more recently on his own. This wine was 75% cab sauv and 25% cab franc. Warm intense fruit in the nose, and nice bright fruit on palate as well, the tannin well integrated and the wine smooth and rather Bordeaux-like.
1997 Neiman Cellars Napa Valley Red Wine, Caldwell Vineyard – a different animal her. The blend was right bank rather than left, with 66% cab franc and 34% merlot. The wine was paler in colour, and the nose was harder to come to terms with, being initially reticent. The wine wasn’t as hot nor ripe, but there was lots of flavour intensity and good length. I didn’t poll the others, but my preference was for the 98.
We then tucked into the excellent bistro salad with a trio of very different wines.
1978 Prunotto Barbaresco Reserva – from an excellent vintage, this wine was quite pale in colour and wasn’t giving enough in the nose to be able to get varietal hints. It still had an amazing amount of tannin – must have been a real brute when young, and had only adequate fruit. It was better with food than on its own, and the nose opened up a little with time. Probably a better wine a decade ago.
1983 Vieux Telegraphe – this was the one of the three that offered some hints and we correctly headed for the Rhone. More meat in the nose and white pepper, and rather smooth and much less tannic in the mouth, this one drank the best of the three and kept improving for a considerable time as it opened in the glass.
1985 Dom. Lamarche Vosne Romanee La Grande Rue – even paler colour, no tannin whatsoever, although still a bit astringent. Other than a vague elegance, I couldn’t get much interest from this wine, which seemed to have (gracefully, mind you) shuffled off this mortal coil some time previously.
1993 Dom. Comtes Lafon Meursault Perrieres – what a palate refresher! Served between course, this wine was obviously very serious and just as obviously French chard. A medium straw gold in colour, with a lovely nose that included ripe fruit (a hint of pears), but not too sweet, with a butter and almond thing happening. Very tasty, and surprising at this age.
1993 Frederic Esmonin Griottes Chambertin – clean fruit and a hint of iron, slight funk and black cherries in the nose. Smooth and drinking well now with good balance.
1978 Ch. Palmer – lovely Bordeaux nose that included a little cassis and some mushroom, and later as it opened added a tobacco element. Soft now, and fully mature, this wine continues to give pleasure and has retained some nice fruit. I should caution that Albert’s cellar is kept very cool and that wines that still show well from that source may be long dead with different storage.
1978 Taltarni Cab – made by the ‘other’ brother, Dominique Portet (his sibling, Bernard ran Clos du Val) back in the early days when he was just getting his teeth into the new job. Dark and only slightly ripe, this wine betrayed very little of its origin and would have been a great ringer for a French wine, something you can’t say about very many Australian wines! It is all together now, but one need be in no rush to drink I as it seems to have all the components to carry on another decade. I have a case of the 1988, took a bottle out to test it a few years ago and stuffed it back on the bottom of the pile to age awhile longer.
1918 Ch. Calon Segur – yup, that wasn’t my fumbling figures missing a key, this was a 1918 wine made before the First World War ended! Like many of these very old wines, they change much faster in the glass than modern examples and if you aren’t sure about whether or not one is good, just wait 5 minutes and go back to it. I was never in any doubt about whether this was going to be good; it was clearly in good shape and was a very old wine, though I never thought it could be 90 years old, the fairly pale colour notwithstanding. We started out with an interesting nose of nori seaweed, which blew off to reveal a walnutty dry sort of thing, which in turn segued into a more conventional claret presentation. Albert said that the vintage wasn’t a very good one, yet this wine still shows both fruit and tannin. What a unique way to reflect on the history of the wine and of the world at the time it was picked and fermented! BTW, the bottle was a heavy one, with a label I’d have loved to collect!
1999 Heitz Bella Oaks Cab – the restaurant owner kindly brought this out both as a bridge to the last wine and to solicit Albert’s opinion on readiness. Decent nose of fruit with a touch of cinnamon, medium bodied, the fruit on palate fairly ripe, but the tannins still evident. It drinks alright now, but I’m not sure the fruit will outlive the tannin, and keeping it longer may or may not be a good choice. I like this wine in selected vintages, or when I am feeling in a mint-averse mood (compared to the Martha’s), but rarely collect it (I think I have 1993 which I should probably take a look at soon).
1945 Ch. Rayne Vigneau – I was fortunate enough to participate in another of Albert’s unbelievable events a few years ago in which we tasted through a series from this house (1921 – 1945) accompanied by 1999 Bordeaux, and followed another day with 1917 – 1959 Sauternes with 1978 Burgundies. I looked up my notes on this vintage so I could compare them – they are of a tasting 7 years ago. Today’s example was the colour of Amontillado Sherry, and had a nose of ripe pear and nutmeg. The entry was slightly spirity and the fee smooth with an impression of nuttiness. It filled the mouth from side to side, as it were, and had a very long finish. This bottle was far superior to the last one, which had an unsatisfactory nose and a hollow middle completely missing from this one. How nice to be able to reprise such a rare tasting as this.
Needless to say my return late that afternoon to my office did not result in a very productive session. Thanks again, Albert.
