Blind tasting notes - theme, French wines prior to 1990
1988 Gustav Adolf Schmitt Niersteiner Heiligenbaum Riesling Spatlese (Reinhessen) - the starter and finishing wine need not be in theme. This wine was a medium straw colour, and had a nice honeyed nose. On palate it was smooth with good length, and dry, but showed the signs of having been a sweeter wine that had slowly dried with age. I love these mature Rieslings so much that I can happily bypass the simpler pleasure of drinking the wines when they are crisp sweet and young for drinking them when they are mature, less sweet and more complex.
1982 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle - I figured (correctly as it turned out) that the others would all bring Bordeaux, as they are not a very adventurous lot. I decided to pull out something else and opted to bring a Rhone because it would be of similar weight, unlike an instantly identifiable Burgundy, and might cause them some thought as to whether, at this age, it might be a Bordeaux. The wine was in excellent shape, showing sweet fruit which at first showed just a hint candied, but gave way to a hint of violet and spice, with maybe some black olive. The wine was far different from how it showed as a young bruiser, now aged to a medium garnet colour with lightening rim, bright appearance, and a little black pepper kicking in at the end, with very good length. It improved in the glass for more than an hour (at which point thirst overcame any further academic interest in watching it possibly evolve further).
1983 Ch. La Gaffeliere (St. Emilion) - this wine was showing amazingly similar to the previous one when first opened and only took on it’s decidedly Bordeaux character with a bit of air. Spicy wood nose, slightly darker but less bright than the Hermitage and still (amazingly) retaining some nice fruit. Better showing than I’d have credited.
1970 Ch. Giscours - this dark Margaux was also showing very well, with excellent mature Bordeaux nose, soft tannin, mellow middle and decent length. I was the only one to insist that this was a 1970 (having been fooled several other times by the apparent youthfulness of the vintage) and as I expected, the others were surprised to find it was that old. I think that this is the best showing I recall in recent years for this wine.
1989 Ch. Leoville Barton - in a way it was downhill from there, as I felt that the last three wines weren’t up to the same standard, and with this one it disturbed me as I have an untouched half case in my cellar. The wine wasn’t expressive at all in the nose, it had good colour and the tannins are now resolved, so it had a smooth mouth feel to it, but I thought it slightly low on fruit. I made a mental note to find mine and see if this was just a less than stellar bottle.
1979 Ch. Ausone - I have a hard time getting excited about Ausone pre 1982, when it came back on form, but the wine is so rare and hard to find, that it is always an occasion to have the opportunity to taste them. An unusual bread dough and fig nose, followed by a midpalate impression of lean low fruit, ending with a bit more interest.
1983 Ch. Chasse Spleen - oddly enough I have a bottle of the 1989 in my pile of things to get around to tasting. This showed as fairly dark with a sweet ripe nose, some tannins remaining, narrowing at the end to present a meaty edge and an astringency that I found displeasing. Perhaps too long in the tooth?
1966 Sandeman Port - the nose on this medium coloured Port was notably hot, but there was nice cocoa and caramel there as well. Colour deeper than the 63s and a decent showing on palate, not too sweet, pure and long. Very pleasant. Sandeman was not my first (nor third, nor fourth) guess!