Return to Bordeaux
I have Bordeaux a bit too much on the brain these days. After tasting 08's and 09's last March I have been going back and drinking the elegant yet firm wines I was affected by 20+ years ago.
I recall the first time I was "turned on" by a Bordeaux wine. I'd had a chance to taste lots of young 81's, 82's and 83's, and a fair number of 85', 86' and 87' wines. 1988 was the first year I had a chance to taste several hundred wines from all areas...St Emilion to St Estephe and lots of satellites. I always tasted, analyzed and ranked these wines like a machine. An unemotional processor of vinous data I'd been trained to dissect.
One evening after closing the Occidental restaurant in winter 1991 I was inspired to purchase and open a bottle of wine I'd been eyeing on the list for some time. 88's were the first Pomerols I really had the chance to taste more than a handful of and I'd found the wines super interesting. The wine I'd been fixated on that I wanted to try so badly was 1985 Chateau L'Evangile. 85' was a year of warmish, balanced, classical wines that were a good lesson in Claret. The L'Evangile remains vividly alive in my memory. The nose was iron turning bloody copper, with dusty, sweet red-fleshed plums with bursts of anise, cedar and clove. Yet the wine was intense and expressive not exuberant. It's measured nature was titillating. The palate was beautifully proportioned and easy to enjoy at this early age. Sweet, fine tannins, appropriate acids and alcohol, density without heaviness and layers of flavor without any over drying of the palate or cloying sense of sucrosity made the wine marvelous and timeless for me.
I have found myself rejoining my passion for Pomerols again. It's a wee bit more expensive of a habit than it was 20 years ago. I can't say I am unhappy about it. Watch out for 2001's and 2004's that will be beginning to drink from most estates, representative of the appellation, and relative values.
I recall the first time I was "turned on" by a Bordeaux wine. I'd had a chance to taste lots of young 81's, 82's and 83's, and a fair number of 85', 86' and 87' wines. 1988 was the first year I had a chance to taste several hundred wines from all areas...St Emilion to St Estephe and lots of satellites. I always tasted, analyzed and ranked these wines like a machine. An unemotional processor of vinous data I'd been trained to dissect.
One evening after closing the Occidental restaurant in winter 1991 I was inspired to purchase and open a bottle of wine I'd been eyeing on the list for some time. 88's were the first Pomerols I really had the chance to taste more than a handful of and I'd found the wines super interesting. The wine I'd been fixated on that I wanted to try so badly was 1985 Chateau L'Evangile. 85' was a year of warmish, balanced, classical wines that were a good lesson in Claret. The L'Evangile remains vividly alive in my memory. The nose was iron turning bloody copper, with dusty, sweet red-fleshed plums with bursts of anise, cedar and clove. Yet the wine was intense and expressive not exuberant. It's measured nature was titillating. The palate was beautifully proportioned and easy to enjoy at this early age. Sweet, fine tannins, appropriate acids and alcohol, density without heaviness and layers of flavor without any over drying of the palate or cloying sense of sucrosity made the wine marvelous and timeless for me.
I have found myself rejoining my passion for Pomerols again. It's a wee bit more expensive of a habit than it was 20 years ago. I can't say I am unhappy about it. Watch out for 2001's and 2004's that will be beginning to drink from most estates, representative of the appellation, and relative values.
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