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Vintage Wine
1973 Inglenook stumps the chumps; Bono & Char win a blind tasting
I take undue liberty with “chumps”. The tasters were in fact extremely sharp palates of significant experience, from the quais of Bordeaux to the aisles of Tarpon, save me, all merited a seat in the clubby paneled room at Bern’s dedicated to Andrei Tschellistcheff, the outsized Russian genius of the California wine revolution.
The images of Andrei and Bern Laxer himself should have been a clue as we faced a dozen beautiful reds and debated whether they might be Bordeaux, Burgundy, Brunello or old Australians.
Wrong, wrong, wrong almost all the way through, especially any thoughts of Oz. The right answers drawn from Bern’s endless cellar by sommelier Brad Dixon, were three flights of Californians, mid-range Bordeaux, then more Californias, all at least 20 years old, when we could barely say shiraz.
In my guessing, I forgot the prime attraction of Bern’s, that it has such wines, thousands of dusty bottles from forgotten decades. These are wines that don’t often exist anywhere else; here they are stored perfectly.
One California cab had faded, but the rest were in remarkable health, from delicate to thick with raisins. But who among us was thinking of an ‘83 St-Julien?
1990 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa) $84.99
Or the real stumper, a 1973 Inglenook charbono. Many wine drinkers today cannot imagine when Inglenook was one of Napa‘s greats (along with BV, Krug and the upstart Mondavi); Bern’s wine list remembers and has the delicious proof on hand. (B-21 does too; you can get a take-home taste of Napa’s golden age, the 1990 Berigner Private Reserve, a 94-pointer, for $84.99).
Even those who remember the ’70s may not know charbono. Like zinfandel it was an old workhorse grape in California vineyards, of unknown ancestry and rare anywhere else. It was like dolcetto or barbera but probably closer kin to the corbeau of France or the douce noire of Savoie. Inglenook championed it as a fine wine grape but it was since lost.
The ‘73 is was a plum lovely thing. I would have placed it as a still vigorous old Burgundy, smooth with earthy tones of mushrooms, white pepper and blackberries.
If you missed charbono first time round, your second chance is coming. A small-scale charbono revival has quietly begun. A dozen or more labels, both Italian old-timers and the wise modernists fond of endangered varietals: Summers, Parducci, Turley, Shypoke, Pacific Star and Fife among them.
Two lessons:
- Charbono is still hard to come by, so look for some on your next trip to the wine country, especially in Calistoga.
- When at Bern’s, forget the likes of Silver Oak. Make that phonebook of a wine list your friend and dig deep… Pick a region from Napa to the Piemonte or the Rhone and look back 20 years; you’ll find remarkable treats well below $100.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Vintage Wisdom: Opening ’85 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Why not? We all have too many wines that age but are never poured. This is a scandal. It’s wonderful to brag about how they’re aging gracefully under the dust, but is that why we buy and keep wine? To NOT drink it? And how do you know it is aging gracefully?
Our friends John and Dorothy at the WSJ have long campaigned for an “Open that bottle” day and recently our friend (and the Million Dollar Nose) Mr. P urged us to dig into old vintages too (easy for his cellar to say “Drink me”). But we all have a few we’re saving and saving and…
2005 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (Pauillac) - $149.99
So I looked at the Comtesse and I could swear I saw a wink. Born in the northern end of right bank in a very good year to a prestigious family (fractious too, given the sibling rivalry with the Baron). And stuck in my wine rack for 20 years. Time to comeout. Maybe past time?
Oh no, what a lovely wine, supple and strong with a tannic posture for a few more years. I decanted twice, with very little sediment, and then let it breathe in deeply. I was rewarded with a clear ruby color and a faint blue aura, a scent of almonds upfront and a delicate flavor of spices around a core of naturally sweet cherry, and a smooth endless finish. The most remarkable feature was the texture, almost silky. A wine in remarkable balance.
That night the Comtesse gave me profound reminders too. Pichon is and was a great winery; a Left Bank cab-merlot blend a lovely thing; while the strong survive, the delicate and elegant do too; 12.5 per cent is more than enough alcohol for longevity, And lastly, we do drink wine much too young, it is made to last. And 1985 was not so long ago – a good year for me too, I wrote my first wine stories that year.
That vintage is still available on a few auction sites for up to $200, but B-21 has both the 2004 ($79.99) and the killer 2005 ($149.99) on hand (good things do come in fives) and is selling 2008 futures.
Buy two and call me in 20 years.
Older wines from Bobby’s Bistro on Clearwater Beach
Robert Parker’s forum says December is the month to “Open an old bottle and post a note”.
From one Bob to another, here are 3 bottles I’ve opened recently at Bobby’s Bistro on Clearwater Beach:
Joseph Drouhin Latricieres-Chambertin 1990:
This bottle was not correct, the unfortunate reality of older bottles sometimes. I came back to it as notes in my Blackberry reminded me I had tasted within the last year – stunning wine. All the animal one expects in a Grand Cru Gevrey just not this time. Bobby stashed away a lot of 85’s and 90’s years ago and the prices have not really moved much… I have had some great Drouhin wines here over the last 10 years. Wine well stored.
Bouchard Beaune L’Enfant Jesus 1993:
Superb. I was a fan of many 1993’s on release and this is why. This is what a great Beaune should be and at 89 bucks on the wine list; a steal!
Haut Batailley (Pauillac) 1996:
Good earthy/mushroom overtones initially, and with time really dominated the wines profile. Not clear that this was Pauillac to me, but for the price I could not pass, but will for next visit.
Open an old bottle and post a note
1.) 1983 Dom Perignon… never among my favorites (and always surpassed by the 1982 and 1985), this was surprisingly fresh and very good
2.) 2000 Sandrone and Scavino Barolo Cannubis… both evolved and forward… lots of tar, roses and gentle cherry fruit in a velvety style… seems like a fast maturing vintage
The 2006 Sassicaia is rated 97 Points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
3.) 1982 and 1985 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano… both superb… 1982 fully mature, but splendid aromatics, texture and sweet, sweet fruit and tannins… 1985… a little more opaque garnet, deeper and richer, but slightly less complex yet denser than the 1982… still… would drink either any time any place
4.) 1985 Sassicaia… a legend and the finest wine ever made there… still an adolescent… utterly profound wine with at least 20 more years ahead of it… the greatest of the greatest wines made in 1985?
5.) 1945 Grahams port… english bottled… also pure perfection… very light ruby garnet but explosive aromatics and a sweet staying power on the palate without being cloying or heavy… and the food… home cooked bagna cauda… beef cooked in Barolo… the rewards of patience… and a cold cellar