We opened my last bottle of the David Bruce PN from 1981.

Not sure what to expect, this wine turned out to surprise us. Eminently
drinkable, the expected brassy edge of age was there, but sufficient
fruit carried it well. This 31 year-old bottle was much better than we
suspected.

Alcohol 12.8%.

David Bruce Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir
Estate Bottled Vintage 1981.

The price tag, still on the bottle: $12.50 -- probably purchased from
Beltramo's Wines in Menlo Park.

**
Next adventu the 1970 and 1973 Mouton. The '73 has the Picasso
label, which is probably its best characteristic. The '70 was Marc
Chagall. Probably over the hill (like me!) More tasting notes later.

earle
*

Earle Jones wrote:
> We opened my last bottle of the David Bruce PN from 1981.
>
> Not sure what to expect, this wine turned out to surprise us. Eminently
> drinkable, the expected brassy edge of age was there, but sufficient
> fruit carried it well. This 31 year-old bottle was much better than we
> suspected.
>
> Alcohol 12.8%.
>
> David Bruce Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir
> Estate Bottled Vintage 1981.
>
> The price tag, still on the bottle: $12.50 -- probably purchased from
> Beltramo's Wines in Menlo Park.
>
> **
> Next adventu the 1970 and 1973 Mouton. The '73 has the Picasso
> label, which is probably its best characteristic. The '70 was Marc
> Chagall. Probably over the hill (like me!) More tasting notes later.

Wow, Earle! I'd bet that I had this wine in its youth, but had neither
the foresight nor the inclination to hold onto it for this length of
time. Many of Dr. Bruce's wines from that era (as you likely know) were
big and bruising, often very tannic in their youth. Glad to see that
your patience was rewarded.

Those Moutons stand a good chance of being great bottles. Best of luck
with them!

Mark Lipton

On Feb 12, 11:15*pm, Earle Jones > wrote:
> We opened my last bottle of the David Bruce PN from 1981.
>
> Not sure what to expect, this wine turned out to surprise us. *Eminently
> drinkable, the expected brassy edge of age was there, but sufficient
> fruit carried it well. *This 31 year-old bottle was much better than we
> suspected.
>
> Alcohol 12.8%.
>
> David Bruce Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir
> Estate Bottled Vintage 1981.
>
> The price tag, still on the bottle: *$12.50 -- probably purchased from
> Beltramo's Wines in Menlo Park.
>
> **
> Next adventu *the 1970 and 1973 Mouton. *The '73 has the Picasso
> label, which is probably its best characteristic. *The '70 was Marc
> Chagall. *Probably over the hill (like me!) *More tasting notes later..
>
> earle
> *

I have to wow with Mark on this. Haven't tasted this wine since '85.
Never kept the that long.

On Feb 13, 12:15*am, Earle Jones > wrote:
> We opened my last bottle of the David Bruce PN from 1981.
>
> Not sure what to expect, this wine turned out to surprise us. *Eminently
> drinkable, the expected brassy edge of age was there, but sufficient
> fruit carried it well. *This 31 year-old bottle was much better than we
> suspected.
>
> Alcohol 12.8%.
>
> David Bruce Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir
> Estate Bottled Vintage 1981.
>
> The price tag, still on the bottle: *$12.50 -- probably purchased from
> Beltramo's Wines in Menlo Park.
>
> **
> Next adventu *the 1970 and 1973 Mouton. *The '73 has the Picasso
> label, which is probably its best characteristic. *The '70 was Marc
> Chagall. *Probably over the hill (like me!) *More tasting notes later..

I had quite a few David Bruce wines from the 1970s at one time, but
not his Pinot Noir. Some of his wines back then could only be
described as brutal. I had one of his dry Rieslings that was over 16%
alcohol and had a very high acid content. It would nearly sear your
tonsils on the way down, and you might wish you had a stainless steel
lining for your digestive system. However I still have one bottle of
the 1965 Martin Ray Pinot Noir. I have no idea what it could be like
today. Martin Ray's wines usually were expensive. The quality was all
over the map. When they were good, they could be very, very good, and
when they were bad they could be horrid :-) .

I did not buy any 1973 Mouton. However I still have nearly a case of
the 1970 that has been properly stored by me since shortly after
release. As is often the case for Mouton, it did not impress you very
much at an early age and went through a very long dumb period. It now
drinks much better than I or many critics thought early on. I would
not be surprised if it holds well for another decade, or perhaps more.
It still has considerable fruit, the tannins and acids are tamed
enough, and the color is still fairly deep. Of course storage
conditions are extremely important for a wine this old, and even if
stored properly a few bottles may have cork issues.

*
I heard that the Hyatt in Palo Alto charges a corkage fee of $20 for any
wine brought to dinner.

However, there is no corkage fee for screw-top bottles.

It is called a screwage fee.

earle
*

I haven't tried 1970 or 1980 wines. But based on your experience, what older wines you can recommend to add in our bucket list -to try wines?