An evening spent recently with good friends, all with an infectious passion for great wine. At our last meeting in July, the theme for the night was set - 1990!
As I checked the cellar to see what I could contribute towards the evening, I sounded out a few of the others to see what type of wines they would be bringing. All the wines were to be served blind but the first response I had; 'You're going to love me Olly!' to which I found both amusing and exciting – the standard already set high! He was bringing Bourgogne, others were bringing Bordeaux. In the end I opted to bring a Magnum of Sylvain Cathiard, 1990 Vosne Malconsorts. I'm a huge fan of ‘The Cat’ and own several vintages of this wine myself from '99-'06 but this remained an unknown quantity as the Domaine was relatively anonymous until Sylvain assumed sole command in 1996. In reality, his wines turned the corner in '96, but began to get very good/excellent from '99/'00 onwards. Now Sylvain is one of the most highly regarded growers in Vosne-Romanee. Anyway, what would a magnum of his best 1er Cru taste like prior to the dramatic improvements at the Domaine from an undoubtedly brilliant vintage?! It was a risk, so I took a back up bottle just in case but it wasn't needed.
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The evening was spent in a private dining room in a famous St James Street venue and started with some delicious Champagne - 1990 Le Mesnil. A small, relatively unheard of co-operative. With low expectation, this over-delivered and impressed all nine guests (17). Rich, creamy, toasty and a classic example of the brilliance of the ‘90 vintage in Champagne. Moving on to the dinner, the food started with a bang. An amuse bouche was a shot of Artichoke soup with mushrooms and truffle oil. A spectacular dish by any standards and every guest was asking for seconds! Next came the only non-‘90 wine of the evening – ‘06 Vougeot, 1er Cru, Clos Blanc de Vougeot, Domaine de la Vougeraie - an excellent and exotic style – delicious (16.5). A Lobster cassoulet then partnered a delicious magnum of ‘90 Corton Charlemagne, Bonneau du Martray (17). Intitially quite closed, the wine blossomed with a little air. With youthful notes, this wine still has years ahead of it and is a pristine example of mature Corton-Charlemagne.
Then followed my wine – ‘90 Vosne, Malconsorts, Sylvain Cathiard, en magnum (16). A little nervous I must say, but then instantly relieved to hear some positive reactions. The wine showed the exuberance of the vintage, ripe fruit but lacked purity, elegance and complexity you’d expect from a recent great vintage from ‘The Cat’. It was a success but nothing compared to the bottle that followed. With an extraordinary perfume, sheer sex appeal and simply mesmerising ripe fruits oozing out of the glass, this was a belter! This was the wine I'd been waiting to try! Not knowing what it was, I quickly realised that I did in fact love the person that had bought it and indeed the wine itself. The palate was majestic, silky, still showing primary red fruits, strawberries, exceptional purity and balance and a scintillating finish. Right out of the top drawer it could only have been from one of a handful of the greatest growers and greatest vineyards. It turned out to be 1990 Gevrey, Clos St Jacques, Rousseau - simply brilliant and an easy (19.5) but perhaps that score was even a bit critical.
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The Burgundies concluded so we moved on to the Bordeaux or Bordeaux style wines, all served in pairs. To start, a venison carpaccio was paired with two big names from Bordeaux. Unfortunately a bottle of ‘90 Leoville-Lascases was corked. Then followed a silky, low acid, concentrated bottle of ’90 Palmer. Not a great wine but a very good wine that everyone enjoyed (17).
Next a beautiful course of red wine poached scallop, Moteau sausage and avocado puree. It would have better suited a hot summers day but the dish was, for me fascinating and delicious. The next pair included a nice but slightly underwhelming bottle of ’90 Gruaud Larose (16.5). A perfectly sound wine but the consensus was (as it has been on numerous occasions), that it was some way off the 96/100 Parker rating. That was paired with an interesting bottle of Australian wine. Australia’s answer to great Bordeaux? Penfolds, Bin 707. Although even against an underwhelming bottle of Gruaud it was outclassed. Big and rich, but lacking in complexity and finesse (15.5).
The next course was a roast pigeon, cider fondant potato with black pudding and apple. Another brilliant dish and together with the amuse bouche, the best of the evening. Three wines followed this time, all hugely contrasting but interesting all the same. The first a big wine, clearly not French. It had some fat on it still and a signature American style. Ripe fruit, sweet oak but still with poise and refinement. It turned out to be ’90 Ridge, Monte Bello (16.5) and while good, not in the same league as the outstanding ’91 I enjoyed a few weeks ago. Then followed a wine I was 100% convinced was Bordeaux. Classic, cedary, fine structure, supple tannins and brilliant overall balance. It wasn’t a wow wine but in my opinion at a level of 3rd/4th growth Bordeaux and very ‘Medoc’ in style. I was amazed when the wine revealed was ’90 Opus One (16). It was fascinating to have these famous new world wines in this tasting however, the head to head battle was far from closely fought.
The final red wine was clearly Bordeaux and also clearly brilliant. My instincts told me it was one of the vintage's greatest performers and after that, a bit of guesswork was involved in pining down the chateau. It was hugely concentrated with dense red and black fruits, beautifully ripe tannins and a gorgeous glycerol-filled, silky mouthfeel. A total blockbuster of a wine! I guess that if it had gone head-head with Lafite, Latour and Mouton ’90, it might still have come out on top. The wine was Leoville-Poyferre 1990. It’s a formidable bottle and I must make sure I have many more opportunities to enjoy this wine over the next 20-30 years. Brilliant today but with many years ahead of it! Wine of the night along with Rousseau (19.5)!
We rounded off the evening with a dessert that split the room. A mix of pistachio parfait and parmesan ice cream didn’t work for me but others thought it was terrific. This was washed down with a bottle 1990 Suduiraut. Rich, fat, oozing carmel and orange peel. Seemed to lack a bit of freshness but nevertheless a nice bottle to end on (16).
Too much wine and a late night but a brilliant one at that! Next stop San Sebastian! I can’t wait...
