TN: Picking up where we left off ... some Bordeaux in NYC

TN: Bordeaux at Nice Matin, NYC

The 14-month sudden interruption made this all double-vaxxed 9-attendees local Bordeaux group a little thirstier, and opening some with the re-opening was simply a matter of someone initiating with an email. The down time was just way too long to miss out with this consistently-meeting fun group and the time was perfect to resume enjoying the company once again.

With an excellent evening claret-drinking weather, the venue was one of the outdoor spaces at French restaurant Nice Matin in the Upper West Side. Very nice wine and food service, fresh stems provided for each flight, with most of us opting to re-use our stems for multiple flights. Food was credibly within the French bistro/rustic mode, and I went with a tried-tested Steak Frittes as my main and a delicious Lavender-Goat Cheese Tart appetizer course. Prior to our courses, the table had Mediterranean-inspired shared small bites and hors d’ouevres.


White:
2016 BerĂ©chĂȘ et Fils Coteaux Champenois Blanc ‘Le Monts Fournois’
Steely dry, snappy citrus. Greatly intense and very much a terroir-driven bubbly. Impressed. A-

1985 Ch. Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
Cigar, leather bouquet notes. Slight bricking. Tertiary, mineral, herbs. Smooth, leanish fruit showcasing red berries. B

1988 Ch. Haut Brion, Graves
Dark blood in color. Dry herbs, wet meadow on the sniff. Acidity, smooth, rounded, complete, plump dark fruit. Long in the mouth. B+/A-

1983 Ch. Margaux, Margaux
Very appealing wafts of some leather, fruit, confection, floral and earth. Resolved fine tannin, burst of acidity, nicely-layered fruit, balanced and finessed. Had ups-and-downs with prior experiences, but tonight this was at or near my apogee of this wine. A/A-

1990 Ch. Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac
Expressive smell with some metal notes. Plenty of ripe fruit and would seem to be better, perhaps, a few years ago. Somewhat clipped on the finish. B

1995 Ch. Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac
With the vintage reputation preceding it, wine was left decanted for 1.5 hours at about 6 hours prior to pouring back to bottle and lugging over to the restaurant (my bottle). Bouquet complexity with graphite, confection and leather. On the tannic side of the spectrum, yet generous with petal notes, dusty, ripe dark berries, the slightest of coffee. The Lafite silky texture. A-/B+

1998 Ch. Haut Brion, Graves
The tell-tale HB herbs, wet grass, fresh ripe fruit, crazy good Bordeaux nose. Youthful, but already showing the high quality structure with ripe dark fruit, smoothness and balance. B+

1986 Ch. Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
Another fine example of the flag-carrier of the vintage. This time, showing the still youthful side with fleshy fruit, lip-smacking chewy mouthfeel, and excellent balance and length. From Chris’s still all tissued bottles, case purchased at or near release. A-

1996 Ch. Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac
In your face intense bouquet. Tannic with red blue fruit acidity. Full round ripeness, but evidently very young at this point. Power that lingers forever. B+/A-

1996 Ch. Latour, Pauillac
Whiff of cigar, confection. A vintage characteristic of big, muscled, tannic make-up. A bruiser at this point that most definitely needs lengthy cellar time. B


A quantified post-assessment, emailed after the dinner by the attendees, resulted in the following votes (max of 6 points per attendee allocated to their top 3 wines of the night).

86 Mouton 20.5
83 Margaux 18
95 Lafite 8.5
98 HB 6
85 Mouton 1

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What a way to pick up! Stellar lineup to say the least. Great notes, Ramon. I do wonder when the 96 big guns will ever be ready?

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Wow, amazing night! Any one of those bottles alone would have made a night!

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Rock star reopening!

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Thanks Ramon for posting. My take

After almost a 15 month break, our long time Bordeaux group got together for dinner at Nice Matin. Nice service, a big open cabana to ourselves. While we caught up we had some fried baby artichoke, meze dips, tuna tartare, and a bottle off the list, the 2016 Bereche “ Les Monts Fournois” Coteaux Champenois blanc. A real unicorn, very interesting, lots of body, citrus, floral, and chalk. Fun to try. B+/B

On to the reds. As this was a long anticipated event, we went big with a 1st growth theme.

My starter was chicken sausage ravioli with morels and peas
1985 Ch. Mouton Rothschild
Sweet, fairly delicate and mature, cigarbox and leather
 B/B+

1988 Ch. Haut Brion
A bit tight at first, but nice black fruit, mostly resolved tannin, lots of tobacco and leather. B+

1983 Ch. Margaux
A really great bottle of this. Elegant and long, black fruit with spice and smoke, classy finish. A-

My main was duck breast with gingery carrot puree, ramps, & maitakes

1990 Ch. Lafite Rothschild
Ripe, verging on roasted but not quite, some dirt and a little barnyard, B

1995 Ch. Lafite Rothschild
Surprisingly open though still structured, cassis with ferric notes and cedar, very good length. B+

1998 Ch. Haut Brion
Young and structured but strutting, sandalwood and spice over black currant and plum, great length. A-

1996 Ch. Lafite Rothschild
Dark fruit, graphite, broad tannins, I think this will be great but pretty reserved right now. For current drinking B+/B

1996 Ch. Latour
If Lafite is reserved this is positively brooding. Just all structure, but again confident this will be excellent. For now B

1986 Ch. Mouton Rothschild
Wow, I like to poke fun at Mouton’s ascent to first growth, but this is a fine argument for it. Powerful and young, plush black fruit with exotic spice, coffee, and cedar notes. Totally delicious. A-/A

In weighted voting
86 Mouton 20.5 points
83 Margaux 18
95 Lefite 8.5
98 HB 6
85 Mouton 1


Really great to be with everyone in person. Fun night, except my mad sprint at Grand Central after world’s most clueless Uber driver turned a 12 minute drive into 25.

Grade disclaimer: I’m a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C
drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn’t drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

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Extraordinary way to start back up - bravo

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Thanks and great question, Patrick. With 25 years from the vintage year, I would think that we should start seeing some posts/TNs to help with getting some reads. The local group that I’m in is already looking into organizing and checking in on the 1996s before the end of this year, but we will likely have scattered levels, from small to big guns.

This is a hell of a lineup and you gents do not grade inflate!

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And just like that we’re back!! I can’t wait for our next dinner. Great notes guys!

Thanks, we call it just as it showed.