Blue Ledge on the Hudson and 1997 Pontet-Canet

It’s raining here at camp, but my wife says that she likes it. That’s a change. The cabin archetype is apparently drawing inward for her, not so dependent on what is happening around it. She asked me to keep this diversion short, since a computer connects us to the Universe, which Lynn doesn’t like.

Yesterday we drove to an out-of-the-way trailhead north of Minerva. It required driving over miles of dirt road to reach the spot where you abandon your car and walk two-and-one-half miles further to a remote spot on the upper Hudson River. The cliff on the facing shore was so high that it blocked the sun at two in the afternoon. So we ate our lunch on a rock at sundown and commenced back to the car in the warm afternoon sun.

Upon my suggestion, we had prepared our Jambalaya in the morning before we left for the river, so that the cabin wouldn’t smell too strongly of it when we opened our claret. We drank a 1997 Pontet-Canet, which we absolutely loved. I gave up trying to put into descriptors what I tasted in it; while at the same time I realize that it is important to struggle with that question in order to connect with the wine intellectually as well as intuitively.

Both Lynn and I agreed that it activated a deep inner archetype, not far from where the cabin is located. She couldn’t do much with descriptors, either. Robert Parker said that the wine was attenuated. I think it is, and that might be a prerequisite for its inward, laser focusing quality for us. The trick is pointing the attenuation in rather than out.

[Jenise]

A recent post of yours spoke to the drug experiences of your youth and the effect Bordeaux can have on you that you compare to that. Having not had the former I can't relate, but occasionally a wine, from almost the first whiff, is so instantly attractive and likeable to me that it puts me in a state of near-euphoria, and the experience only grows from there. I will say "Oh my god" a lot and be so enraptured that I can be engaged on no other topic but the wine. No wine does that as often or better than Bordeaux, and no Bordeaux hits that note for me with every single bottle the way Pontet Canet does. In the past year 90, 86, and 85. And most recently, a 75. I have thought more than once I should buy every bottle I see. I recently bought some 66's.

I never had the 97. But I can imagine it. Oh yes.

...but occasionally a wine, from almost the first whiff, is so instantly attractive and likeable to me that it puts me in a state of near-euphoria, and the experience only grows from there. I will say "Oh my god" a lot and be so enraptured that I can be engaged on no other topic but the wine. No wine does that as often or better than Bordeaux, and no Bordeaux hits that note for me with every single bottle the way Pontet Canet does.

I don’t want to make too much out of hallucinogenic associations with wine. The connection was offered more to explain my occasional descriptive liberties.

What you feel, Jenise, from Pontet-Canet could very likely be what we felt. I’m going to accept that it is. The instantaneous euphoria was a bit of a shock to us, because we didn’t expect if from a 1997 wine that Parker rated 85 points with a question mark. More than a chemical high, I think the beauty is artistic in nature the way a Vermeer painting sometimes captivates people.

I am so glad that you connect with this wine. The experience is so profound that you just want to share it, with little hope normally that anyone will understand it in the same way.

[Jenise]

The connection was offered more to explain my occasional descriptive liberties.

Yes, I understand that. And I think we both understand this wine. Remember when I wrote you about six months ago announcing that I'd moved Pontet Canet to my personal Bordeaux A list? What you got in that 97 is why.

Check your inbasket for an email from me about the 2001. From Parker's description, I'm thinking it might turn out like your 97. I bought a half dozen, and at the price I'm wondering if I wasn't a fool to not buy a case.