Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have a
*good* wine. I'm guessing that easiest/most reliable will be a port,
and I gather it's a good year for that anyway - and we like port! -
but specific recommendations for either a port or another red to seek
out would be very welcome; thanks. (The Dow's looks good; are there
known good sources for well-stored vintage port?)

[Utterly off-topic, but I have a very (very!) bad recent record on
TNs, so one among many recent: I wanted to make a post titled 'Good
wine from Philadelphia!' but this was the South African Philadelphia
region, Capaia 2006. Gift from some SA friends; very forward but long
presence, one of the most prominent tobacco notes I've tasted mixed
with caramel, extremely pleasant if not massively complex. B+ on
Dale's scale.]

On 04/07/2010 06:12 AM, Ewan wrote:
> Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
> not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have a
> *good* wine. I'm guessing that easiest/most reliable will be a port,
> and I gather it's a good year for that anyway - and we like port! -
> but specific recommendations for either a port or another red to seek
> out would be very welcome; thanks. (The Dow's looks good; are there
> known good sources for well-stored vintage port?)
>

The 1970 Taylor's is very, very good now.

Congratulations on the upcoming, and on being born in a good wine year.
70 was one of my favorite Bordeaux vintages, I'll bet there are a few
wines still hanging in there.

-E

"Ewan" > skrev i melding
...
> Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
> not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have a
> *good* wine.
Congrats! - 1970 was a grand year for Port as well as Bordeaux. Had the
Latour a couple of years ago, great wine! Taylor sits in my cellar and
awaits opening - only thing is that I barely drink sweet wine any more...
:-) Your wallet may decide for you, but I believe almost any choice will be
very drinkable :-)
Anders

On Apr 7, 12:12*am, Ewan > wrote:
> Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
> not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have a
> *good* wine. *I'm guessing that easiest/most reliable will be a port,
> and I gather it's a good year for that anyway - and we like port! -
> but specific recommendations for either a port or another red to seek
> out would be very welcome; thanks. *(The Dow's looks good; are there
> known good sources for well-stored vintage port?)
>
> [Utterly off-topic, but I have a very (very!) bad recent record on
> TNs, so one among many recent: I wanted to make a post titled 'Good
> wine from Philadelphia!' but this was the South African Philadelphia
> region, Capaia 2006. *Gift from some SA friends; very forward but long
> presence, one of the most prominent tobacco notes I've tasted mixed
> with caramel, extremely pleasant if not massively complex. *B+ on
> Dale's scale.]

Port is probably safest, as other than Madeira probably stands up to
ill treatment better than any other wine.

But as noted by others, 1970 is an excellent year for Bordeaux, and
well stored bottles are drinking well for my tastes (I might like
older wines more than most). Offhand I have had excellent bottles of
Ducru, Figeac, Canon. Calon Segur & Domaine de Chevalier very good if
not as good as previous three. I've had very good and OK bottles of
Montrose and Haut Brion (assume storage). On cheaper side Gloria, de
Pez, Soutard, St Pierre, Lanessan have been quite acceptable older
claret in recent years. Of course provenance makes a big difference.

I'll also note the 1970 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia GR was my WOTN with
stiff competition last month. As those that you find are likely to be
a library release, probably less storage worries.

> But as noted by others, 1970 is an excellent year for Bordeaux, and
> well stored bottles are drinking well for my tastes (I might like
> older wines more than most). Offhand I have had excellent bottles of
> Ducru, Figeac, Canon. Calon Segur & Domaine de Chevalier very good if
> not as good as previous three. I've had very good and OK bottles of
> Montrose and Haut Brion (assume storage

I gave my good friend and colleague, who delivered our first born, a bottle
of 1970 Latour. He served it at dinner to celebrate my 40th, it was
magnificent then, and I am sure still wonderful now. Or check out St
Estephe.

On 4/7/2010 12:12 AM, Ewan wrote:
> Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
> not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have a
> *good* wine. I'm guessing that easiest/most reliable will be a port,
> and I gather it's a good year for that anyway - and we like port! -
> but specific recommendations for either a port or another red to seek
> out would be very welcome; thanks. (The Dow's looks good; are there
> known good sources for well-stored vintage port?)
>
> [Utterly off-topic, but I have a very (very!) bad recent record on
> TNs, so one among many recent: I wanted to make a post titled 'Good
> wine from Philadelphia!' but this was the South African Philadelphia
> region, Capaia 2006. Gift from some SA friends; very forward but long
> presence, one of the most prominent tobacco notes I've tasted mixed
> with caramel, extremely pleasant if not massively complex. B+ on
> Dale's scale.]
I have a 1970 Chat. Latour that I might be willing to part with for the
right price. Let me know.

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in
:

>
> "Ewan" > skrev i melding
> .
> ..
>> Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
>> not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have
>> a *good* wine.
> Congrats! - 1970 was a grand year for Port as well as Bordeaux. Had
> the Latour a couple of years ago, great wine! Taylor sits in my
> cellar and awaits opening - only thing is that I barely drink sweet
> wine any more...
>:-) Your wallet may decide for you, but I believe almost any choice
>:will be
> very drinkable :-)

1970 is probably my favorite vintage of Bordeaux. The Latour is
magnificent. The Ausone is also amazing. A top wine of the vintage in my
opinion is the Chateau De La Riviere. It is very hard to find in the
States. A properly stored bottle was fantastic. I bought a case of it a
while back. The wine was terrible. This guy was in the wine business for
years. In fact I bought some wine from him myself. He had a stellar
reputation. He died and his son inherited the wine and ignored the power
bill in Florida and unloaded the wine after it cooked. If a deal is too
cheap there is probably a good reason.

Fred.

I have never found the Ausone to be worth the money in that vintage.

I'd opt for Montrose if I couldn't get Latour. Palmer was excellent
but is now showing as variable.

On Apr 9, 12:03*pm, "Bill S." > wrote:
> I have never found the Ausone to be worth the money in that vintage.
>
> I'd opt for Montrose if I couldn't get Latour. *Palmer was excellent
> but is now showing as variable.

Thanks very much, everyone. Sounds as though I need to get a Latour,
a Lopez de Heredia Tondonia GR, and a port. Um, right. Which organ
do I sell? . And I need to work out which seller is most likely to
have had good storage.

[Then I have to decide whether to take with me on the Hawaii trip I'll
be on that week, or save at home to drink on return.. ...ok, this is
not exactly a problem causing me grief.]

Seriously, much appreciated. I need to spend more time contributing
to this group.

On Apr 6, 11:12*pm, Ewan > wrote:
> Turning 40 later this year; first ends-in-zero birthday where we're
> not living on grad school wages at best, so it would be nice to have a
> *good* wine. *I'm guessing that easiest/most reliable will be a port,
> and I gather it's a good year for that anyway - and we like port! -
> but specific recommendations for either a port or another red to seek
> out would be very welcome; thanks. *(The Dow's looks good; are there
> known good sources for well-stored vintage port?)
>
> [Utterly off-topic, but I have a very (very!) bad recent record on
> TNs, so one among many recent: I wanted to make a post titled 'Good
> wine from Philadelphia!' but this was the South African Philadelphia
> region, Capaia 2006. *Gift from some SA friends; very forward but long
> presence, one of the most prominent tobacco notes I've tasted mixed
> with caramel, extremely pleasant if not massively complex. *B+ on
> Dale's scale.]

You might start following several auctions looking for 1970 wines.
Some auctions have tastings of wines for which they have several
bottles. If you could attend an auction having several 1970 wines that
are offered at a pre-auction tasting, that might be ideal. But for
wines this old, the bottle you buy may be somewhat better or worse
than the sample tasted due to bottle to bottle variation in older
wines. A few wine shops offer tastings of some of the wines they sell,
but it is not likely you will be offered a tasting of several 1970
wines,

If you deal with a reliable wine store and they can tell you where and
how the wine has been stored, this might be the second best option.

I will mention a few wines I have that still are drinking well. They
have all been properly stored, mostly since shortly after release.

Oporto: Waare's, Graham's, Quinta do Noval 'Nacional'

Bordeaux: Latour (best 1970 Bordeaux), Mouton-Rothschild, Ducru-
Beaucaillou, Palmer, Haut-Brion

Red Burgundy: Mostly somewhat light and mostly too old now. I would
buy now only if I could taste.

Germany: Somewhat light and mostly too old now. However a few "freak"
late harvest wines are still holding such as Saint Kiliansberg
Christwein Eiswein Riesling Auslese from F.K. Schmidt, Bernkasteler
Doctor Auslese Eiswein Christwein from Thanish, Scharzhofberger Feine
Auslese Nikolauswein from Koch. These wines could be very difficult to
find.