Notes from a blind tasting dinner of Bordeaux wine.

1997 Brocard Chablis Le Clos – OK, so not a Bordeaux, but we had to
sip something while waiting for everyone to arrive. Considerable
colour on this and no real chardonnay hints – two of us asked if there
was Semillon in it. Full ripe nose, long sweet slide across midpalate,
with lots of acidity, and good balance, the only disappointing thing
being the finish, which I thought was too short.

With elephant garlic and melted brie:

2001 Carbonnieux – pleasant nose with hints of lime, nice and crisp.
Decent wine.

With sablefish and crab with cauliflower and grapefruit beurre blanc:

1983 Lynch Bages – notably good nose with some barnyard, medium body,
smooth supple wine with decent length. This drinks well but the fact
that it eventually faded in the glass indicates that it should be
drunk up.

With quail stuffed with chorizo and chestnut:

1985 Lynch Bages – a totally unplanned juxtaposition of these wines.
ASlways enjoy the 85s and this was no exception – big youngish wine
with huge bell pepper nose, not very tannic, and with pretty decent
length.

2002 Lynch Bages – a different creature entirely, dark, youthful, with
coffee/mocha notes in the nose, supple smooth midpalate and burnt
sugar nearing the end.

With shortrib linguini:

1999 Pavie – once again, new territory here, a big dark modern wine
with graphite and currant nose and some complexity staring to develop,
mellow and smooth with big flavours and only soft tannins, ready for
prime time.

With pork tenderloin stuffed with foie gras and wild rice:

2000 Leoville Poyferre – another killer wine, dark, and with a deep
spicy quality to the nose, big and tannic, good acidity, showing some
flavour development on palate, just before the tannins clamp down
again near the end. A wine with promise that needs a few more years.

1986 Talbot – big leather and musky fruit nose, balanced in the mouth
with adequate fruit some tannin, and lots of acidity. The nose was SO
much like a Northern Rhone..! I have a half case of this I haven’t
touched. Think I’ll leave it a couple more years to see what
happens. Maybe I should have put one in as a ringer in my La Chapelle
tasting!

1999 Yquem – what a fantastic way to end this event – a year that
produced not the huge sweet ripe behemoths, but the clean, fairly
sweet but well balanced wine like this, with fresh acidity, very long
clean finish, and some enticing elements of crème caramel and lemon.
Lovely wine.

All in all an exceptional array of wines and food.