CHAMPAGNE & BORDEAUX OFFLINE - Marigold in Philadelphia, PA (4/13/2007)

Tonight was one of those rare occasions where it seemed the stars aligned just for our personal pleasure. Eleven of the finest wine lovers you would ever have the pleasure of meeting gathered together at Marigold restaurant in Philadelphia, PA to break bread, share wine and enjoy each others company. We were absolutely blessed with the pleasure of opening seventeen different Champagnes, Bordeaux and Sauternes with every single bottle in good condition, showing well and most approaching excellence. Truly a special evening. In attendance were PurlpleHaze, just a skosh, wine+art, Mr. & Mrs Rhone Warrior, CraigS, KevinS, futronic, Gentleman Farmer, Festiva and yours truly.

Now, on to the show…

Champagne flight

• 1973 Taittinger Champagne Brut - France, Champagne
  WIMLNR,NOWA,NOWS
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and served immediately. Dark yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of toasted carmel and sherry. Flavors of pear, ginger and yellow apple. Light acidity and light to medium body. No mousse. Drink now. Not rated because Rhone Warrior said it was decidedly not performing as well as the previous bottle.


• 1982 Salon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne
  WIML95+,WA95,WS95
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and served immediately. Light yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout with a nice, fine mousse. Nose of toasted almonds, some beginning notes of sherry and perhaps some aromas of caramel and brioche possibly. Flavors of crisp apples up front followed by some notes of pears and some vanilla notes on the finish. Medium to firm acidity with a medium to full bodied presence on the palate. Comes across as still a quite youthful wine. Drink or hold. (95 pts.)


• 1982 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon - France, Champagne
  WIML96+,NOWA,NOWS
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and served immediately. Light yellow to yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout with a fine nice mousse. Aromas of graham crackers, carmalized pears and baked apple pie. Flavors of cinnamon apples up front with some light citrus notes finishing up with some crème brulee on the finish. Medium acidity and body. Drink or hold.
  
  Revisited over the course of the evening and around the 5 hour mark this wine was absolutely mesmerizing. This was my Champagne of the night in a field of outstanding Champagnes. Well done. (96 pts.)


• 1988 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, Brut - France, Champagne
  WIML94,NOWA,WS94
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Tasted from magnum. Opened and served immediately. Light yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout with a full mousse. Nose of brioche early on with some pears and light spice notes. Maybe just a touch of sherry as well. Flavors of crisp yellow apples dominate with some citrus oil like components underneath. Crisp and youthful acidity with a medium body. This is still a very young Champagne and should hold for quite some time, especially in this format. (94 pts.)


• 1996 Salon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne
  WIML95,NOWA,WS93
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened about 30-minutes to an hour without decanting before serving. Light yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of pears, whetstones, citrus fruits and eventually with more time opened a little brioche. Flavors of apples, lychee, peach and some steely minerality as well. Crisp and youthful acidity, medium to full bodied. Obviously a very young Champagne. I’d recommend holding myself. (95 pts.)


• N.V. Krug Champagne Brut Rosé - France, Champagne
  WIML93+,~WA93-94,~WS84-96
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened about an hour without decanting before serving. Light salmon color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose red cherries and strawberries with perhaps some mild pear and sherry notes. Maybe even some vanilla? Flavors of cherries and strawberries. Crisp acidity, medium bodied. Drink or hold. (93 pts.)

Bordeaux flight

• 1962 Château Lafite Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  WIMLNR,WA88,WS91-93
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dusty garnet color in the glass, slightly opaque looking with no obvious bricking. Initial nose of eucalyptus with some pleasing aromas of tobacco and some black berries. Light flavors or red berries mostly at this point. Light acidity, tannins and body. Drink now. Not rated, just enjoyed.


• 1982 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  WIML98,WA94,WS95
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Young nose, very clean with what I call that “Haut Brion perfume”. Nose of cedar, crushed dark fruits, whetstone and just a little leather early on. Much later in the evening picked up some secondary aromas of toasted caramel and/or coffee. Flavors of black cherries, black berries, currants and minerals. Excellent acidity, tannins and body make this wine a true pleasure to drink. Just about perfectly balanced in my opinion. Still quite young so can be drank now or held with ease. Tasted over a 4-5 hour period and never faded one iota during that timeframe. As a matter of fact, I made sure this was the last wine of the evening I tasted after cleansing my palate. Red wine of the night for me. (98 pts.)


• 1982 Château Cos d'Estournel - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
  WIML94-95,WA96,WS95
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, slightly opaque looking in the base. Light notes of cedar, soft brown spices, wet slate and a touch of eucalyptus. Flavors of black cherries, black berries, plums and some more of those soft brown spices. Youthful acidity, medium tannins and medium to full body. Drink or hold. (94 pts.)


• 1982 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  WIML93-94?,WA92,WS88
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of heavy tobacco notes right up front followed by some dark fruits, spice and a touch of cedar. Young and fruity tasting with some chewy flavors of black cherries, mixed berries and perhaps some red plums. Medium acidity and tannins, medium to full bodied. Drink or hold. (93 pts.)


• 1982 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
  WIML92,WA90,~WS90-96
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose was a little tight giving way to some aromas of cedar, white pepper and maybe some wet slate. Eventually opened to reveal some roasted coffee notes and perhaps some dark fruits. Flavors of black cherries, black licorice and black berries. Medium acidity and tannins, medium to full bodied. Drink or hold. (92 pts.)


• 1989 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  WIML95,WA95,WS98
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of cedar, leather, roasted meat and Kirsch. Flavors of cassis, sweet berries and chewy red currants. Medium acidity and tannins, full bodied. Needs more time in bottle in my opinion. (95 pts.)


• 1983 Château Latour - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  WIML92-93,WA88,WS94
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of cedar, smoke and dark fruits. Flavors of red cherries, red berries and red licorice. Medium acidity and tannins, medium to full bodied. Drink over the shorter term than medium term. (92 pts.)


• 1985 Château Latour - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  WIML93-94,WA88,WS93
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted for sediment right before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose more aromatic than the 1983 tasted at the same tasting showing notes of cedar, rose petals, pencil shavings, black berries and finishing with a little dustiness. Sweet flavors of black and red cherries with some red licorice. “Chewy”. Medium acidity and tannins. Definitely full bodied. Drink over the shorter term. (93 pts.)


• 1990 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  WIML93,WA92,WS93
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and decanted about 3 or so hours before serving. Dark garnet color in the glass, slightly dusty looking towards center. Nose of cedar, graphite, black currants and anise. Flavors of anise, black berries and black cherries. Medium to full acidity, medium tannins and medium to full bodied. Needs more time in bottle. Hold. No rush here. Downgrading my previous rating of WIML94 to WIML93. (93 pts.)

Sauterne flight

• 1967 Château Caillou - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  WIML91-92,NOWA,NOWS
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and served immediately. Light gold to gold color in the glas, clear hue throughout. Nose of apricots with what also smelled like a little sulphur that eventually blew off. Flavors of apricots and a little toasted almond. Light to medium acidity, light to medium body. Drink now. (91 pts.)


• 1989 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  WIML94,WA89,WS94
  
  Tasted April 13, 2007 at an offline. Opened and served immediately. Cork had leaked a little and required the foil to be peeled off piece by piece due to carmalized sugar on the outside of the bottle but it appeared to of happened recently without any detectable impact on the wine. Dodged a bullet here. Dark gold color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of toasted almonds, honey suckle and some tropical fruits. Thick and viscuous on the palate with flavors of toasted almonds, buttered toast, tropical fruits and honey. Medium acidity and medium to full bodied. Drink or hold. Completely different than my last tasting on February 6, 2007. Upgrading my previous rating from WIML90 to WIML94. (94 pts.)

Many thanks to all of those that attended. It was truly one the best wine dinners I've ever; a comment I heard from many others.