Paul Jaouen and Matt Richman arranged a nice dinner featuring 1998
Right Bank Bordeaux last night. 7 amiable oenophiles gathered at
Mortons in midtown for steaks and (mostly) Merlot. We ended up with
mostly "modern" styled wines by the luck of the draw. Morton's is a
nice place for an offline. Good service but in the background, steaks
a good counter for young Bordeaux, sides good.

Wines were blind.

Flight 1
Wine # 1- Sweet fruit, kirsch, some rather hard tannins, gets better.
B
(1998 Angelus)

Wine # 2- Very closed at first, tannic, but riper/smoother tannins
than #1. Some mint and cocoa as it opens. B/B+ (1998 Beausjour Duffau)

Wine # 3 - easily my favorite of flight. Just a hint of barnyard, that
blows off. Verty sweet fruit (someone says too ripe),. but this has a
really lovely texture and a long finish. Oak needs to integrate a bit.
B+ (1998 La Fleur Petrus)

Flight 2
Wine # 4 - big sweet ripe fruit, crushed berries, a little coffee
note. Seems quite modern, some speculation it might be Pavie B+/A-
(1998 Bourgneuf !!!!)

Wine # 5- Good, smooth, lush texture, red berry fruit, Pomerol. B+/A-
(1998 L'Evangile)

Wine # 6- Round, short, surprisingly empty. This is flabby on palate,
yet there is an unpleasant acidic sharpness on the (short) finish. My
least favorite of night. C+ (1998 Clos Fourtet)

Flight 3
Wine # 7 -Big, open. Ripe dark plum fruit, cedar, balanced acidity,
nice texture. I thought this might be the La Fleur Petrus. A- (1998
L'Eglise Clinet)

Wine # 8- Modern, mocha, medium body, red fruit. I guessed Roc de
Cambes. B (1998 Troplong Mondot)

Wine # 9- I actually can't read what I wrote here (scribbling in space
between my plate and stems), other than "a little hot". B (1998 Pavie
Decesse)

Flight 4

Wine # 10- modern, lush, nice dark fruit, coffee. B+ (1998 Pavie)

Wine # 11 - good fruit, herby notes that I found pleasant, B/B+(1998
Pavie Macquin)

Flight 5

Wine # 12- lush, good length, some oak, nice. B+/A- (1998 Quinault
L'Enclos)

Wine #13- this seemed a bit disjointed, sharp tannins, lighter body.
B-/C+
(1998 Roc de Cambes)

OK, some big surprises to me when unveiled. Certainly the Bourgneuf
was the overachiever of the night. I'm surprised at how well Quinault
did, too I didn't like the previous time I tried. I think the Roc de
Cambes was off, as I have tried before and liked. I'm not shocked that
Pavie didn't stick out like a sore thumb, we did a 1998 horizontal
about 3 years ago and I thought it modern but not over the top then.
There probably is some variability in how wines were treated as far as
decanting (most got some air time), and ones in middle got the boost
of going with steak. But a fun and informative evening with a good
crowd. Thanks to Paul and Matt for organizing.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

DaleW wrote:
>
> OK, some big surprises to me when unveiled. Certainly the Bourgneuf
> was the overachiever of the night. I'm surprised at how well Quinault
> did, too I didn't like the previous time I tried. I think the Roc de
> Cambes was off, as I have tried before and liked. I'm not shocked that
> Pavie didn't stick out like a sore thumb, we did a 1998 horizontal
> about 3 years ago and I thought it modern but not over the top then.
> There probably is some variability in how wines were treated as far as
> decanting (most got some air time), and ones in middle got the boost
> of going with steak. But a fun and informative evening with a good
> crowd. Thanks to Paul and Matt for organizing.

Interesting notes, Dale. I was surprised that you didn't get more
roasted/coffee notes, as I tend to find them very prominent in Right
Bank wines (St.-Emilion most notably). Perhaps I'm just sensitive to
torrefaction flavors, though. I recently tried more recent versions of
Quinault L'Enclos and Pavie (2004s) and found them both modern but not
freakish. The kirsch aspect of the Angelus does sound a bit...ah...
exotic. For the record, did the group vote on their preferences and, if
so, what were the group's favorites?

Thanks for the notes,
Mark Lipton

--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

On May 15, 12:13�pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> DaleW wrote:
>
> > OK, some big surprises to me when unveiled. Certainly the Bourgneuf
> > was the overachiever of the night. I'm surprised at how well Quinault
> > did, too I didn't like the previous time I tried. I think the Roc de
> > Cambes was off, as I have tried before and liked. I'm not shocked that
> > Pavie didn't stick out like a sore thumb, we did a 1998 horizontal
> > about 3 years ago and I thought it modern but not over the top then.
> > There probably is some variability in how wines were treated as far as
> > decanting (most got some air time), and ones in middle got the boost
> > of going with steak. But a fun and informative evening with a good
> > crowd. Thanks to Paul and Matt for organizing.
>
> Interesting notes, Dale. �I was surprised that you didn't get more
> roasted/coffee notes, as I tend to find them very prominent in Right
> Bank wines (St.-Emilion most notably). �Perhaps I'm just sensitive to
> torrefaction flavors, though. �I recently tried more recent versions of
> Quinault L'Enclos and Pavie (2004s) and found them both modern but not
> freakish. �The kirsch aspect of the Angelus does sound a bit...ah....
> exotic. �For the record, did the group vote on their preferences and, if
> so, what were the group's favorites?
>
> Thanks for the notes,
> Mark Lipton
>
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: �http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

I didn't really get any roasted fruit notes, but did note coffee/mocha
several times. These were single-blind, as I knew they were all
Righties and ranged from moderate to extreme on the modernity scale,
So probably noted oak/coffee/vanilla less than if it were double-blind
(because I was trying to figure out what things were).; I did pretty
well on St Emilion vs Pomerol, but miserably as to what was what. The
Angelus had showed beautfully 3 years ago, unsure if this was just the
bottle (pretty sure the Roc de Cambes was off).

On May 15, 12:22Â*pm, DaleW > wrote:
> On May 15, 12:13�pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > DaleW wrote:
>
> > > OK, some big surprises to me when unveiled. Certainly the Bourgneuf
> > > was the overachiever of the night. I'm surprised at how well Quinault
> > > did, too I didn't like the previous time I tried. I think the Roc de
> > > Cambes was off, as I have tried before and liked. I'm not shocked that
> > > Pavie didn't stick out like a sore thumb, we did a 1998 horizontal
> > > about 3 years ago and I thought it modern but not over the top then.
> > > There probably is some variability in how wines were treated as far as
> > > decanting (most got some air time), and ones in middle got the boost
> > > of going with steak. But a fun and informative evening with a good
> > > crowd. Thanks to Paul and Matt for organizing.
>
> > Interesting notes, Dale. �I was surprised that you didn't get more
> > roasted/coffee notes, as I tend to find them very prominent in Right
> > Bank wines (St.-Emilion most notably). �Perhaps I'm just sensitive to
> > torrefaction flavors, though. �I recently tried more recent versions of
> > Quinault L'Enclos and Pavie (2004s) and found them both modern but not
> > freakish. �The kirsch aspect of the Angelus does sound a bit...ah...
> > exotic. �For the record, did the group vote on their preferences and, if
> > so, what were the group's favorites?
>
> > Thanks for the notes,
> > Mark Lipton
>
> > --
> > alt.food.wine FAQ: �http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com
>
> I didn't really get any roasted fruit notes, but did note coffee/mocha
> several times. These were single-blind, as I knew they were all
> Righties and ranged from moderate to extreme on the modernity scale,
> So probably noted oak/coffee/vanilla less than if it were double-blind
> (because I was trying to figure out what things were).; I did pretty
> well on St Emilion vs Pomerol, but miserably as to what was what. The
> Angelus had showed beautfully 3 years ago, unsure if this was just the
> bottle (pretty sure the Roc de Cambes was off).- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I should add that though most of the wines had been double-decanted
(and some with a lot of decanter time) earlier in day, most showed
young.