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.