88 Cheval, Palmer, 89 Cos, Mouton, 82 Pichon, G

[bills]

Notes from a Bordeaux dinner:

We started off with 1990 Pol Roger Brut from magnum with demitasse lobster bisque, prosciutto palmiers, scallops with truffle crème fraiche, and Koshi oysters with sea urchin mignonette.

Then on into the dinner with a great course of sweetbreads with wild mushroom risotto:

1988 Cheval Blanc – not as forthcoming in the nose as the next wine, and showed a hint of ripeness, but there was some good underlying fruit and in the mouth the tannins were still firm. It is an elegant wine with very good length but didn’t offer the sybaritic pleasure that the next wine did.

1988 Palmer – sweet oak and mint in this forward nose. Silky smooth in the mouth, ending with fruit and soft tannin. I do not think this wine will improve any further, but it should hold well.

With roasted guinea fowl in crepinette with Byaldi:

1989 Cos d’Estournel – first bottle (mine, dammit) was corked. We borrowed a taste from another table that happened to have the same wine and found it uninspiring – very little nose, fairly big wine, but a bit green and lean.

1989 Mouton Rothschild – when I last tasted this, earlier this year, it was a middle of the road decent claret but nothing to turn cartwheels over. This bottle was much better; the best I’ve tasted, in fact. Still a bit tight, it was showing cedar and vanilla with red fruit, and just kept opening up in the glass. Excellent wine and much better than the last bottle, which was bested by the 1990 on that occasion.

With venison chop:

1982 Grand Puy Lacoste – the nose on this was never quite right to me, having a waxy cedar profile, but it wasn’t too off-putting. The wine showed well otherwise, with a sweet entry and the tannins much softened from what they were even in recent years. This drinks well now, and will continue to do so for many years.

1982 Pichon Lalande – it would be impossible not to love this wine. There was cedar and a pronounced spice component to the nose, and the entry was like a caress from black velvet, slipping effortlessly over the tongue and then blossoming into a big midpalate extravaganza and finishing with class and length, no element out of place. Loved it!

We tasted various other wines offered from other tables, and I made brief notes oin some:

1986 Cos d’Estournel – huge wine with anise and smoke in the nose, which made it quite interesting. Needs time.

1989 La Mission Haut Brion – wow! Great nose, almost Rhonish, with some tar, excellent structure – needs a few more years to work out some of the tannins, but what promise!

1983 Margaux – I’ve had mixed experience with this wine. When tasted 5 years ago, it was tight and needed time, showing less well than the 83 Palmer. A year and a half later, the wine showed much better, big yet forward. Last year, briary dark and intense, drying a bit. This time, with lovely clear colour, some spice and cherries in the nose, still tannic, and with ample acidity, long and elegant. I shall attempt to add further data points at every opportunity.

Tasted blind:

1997 Lynch Bages from double magnum – we thought that the wine was Bordeaux in the mouth, but the nose made us wonder – sweet butterscotch. Tight tannins in the mid-palate, medium body, and a bit stemmy, finishing a tad short. This left me with no regrets whatsoever that I have cellared no 1997 claret.

With pear stuffed with walnuts and Stilton, wrapped in phyllo:

1988 Guiraud – medium light colour, with a nice nose of coconut and lemon, light on the Botrytis, with a hint of cinnamon. The wine was clean with lots of acidity, and came across much more refreshingly than many sweeter wines with lower acidity do. I liked this style a lot, and expect it will age well. Four years ago the 88 Suduiraut whipped it, last year it still didn’t impress me, this time it showed promise. Must taste it again in another few years.