Giscours 1979: my Eureka wine

It has been a couple of years since I last pulled a bottle from my dwindling supply. There are only four left from the original three cases purchased in 1985 after a trip to Bordeaux and my first taste of the wine.

Up to then I liked wine, particularly Bordeaux, and went deep with the 1982 Bordeaux vintage. Later when I was in England visiting family, I chanced on an article n a newspaper about a course in Bordeaux taught by a Master of Wine at Chateau Loudenne. I returned to the States and after some intense negotiations with she who must be obeyed, we settled on a week hiking in Cornwall and a week at Loudenne. The hiking part of the trip was mixed. We fell afoul of stinging nettles and continuous rain but the final straw was when we were overtaken by a one legged nun. (Don’t you just hate it when that happens!)

So off to Loudenne, and blue skies, and my introduction to a truly great chef, Josette. We ate and drank well, but it was on the third day we did the 1979 tasting. The fifth wine was Giscours and I had one of those transcendent moments. Time stopped and I just sat there with a silly smile inhaling the aromas that had just layered themselves into waves of complex scents. Although I was to drink several first growths that week,it was the Giscours that I remembered.

It is now forty two years old. The cork comes out easily. Even as I am decanting I am getting reacquainted with an old friend. Older certainly, but the aromas are intense and the color is still dark with almost no browning.

There is however a little funkiness but still plenty of fruit, cassis wild strawberry, anise and leather. The bottle is not corked, and as it opens, there is now an underlay of earth and mushroom. The funk finally goes after an hour, and the wine happily unfurls, and now that the strange stuff has gone, we are left with a perfect archetypal claret, well short of the edge. I suspect this has at least ten years before it begins to keel over. But for now, it is still a great wine that speaks to me in a way that only a handful of wines have ever done.

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Beautiful Mark, time traveling thanks to a special bottle of wine! [cheers.gif]

Love it.

The ‘76 Giscours was my eureka wine. I was invited to upscale dinner party and not knowing anything about wine, went to the state store and purchased something that looked appropriate for the occasion. At the dinner I was so surprised that wine could taste like that and was hooked ever since. Nice notes and memories Mark.

Wine is our way to go back to summers when we were innocent, sharing great events with friends and family members who sometimes are no longer here.

Mark, great notes. I also kind of “grew up” with 1979s and 1982s, although I had had a number of Bordeauxs from earlier vintages. When I got to DC in 1980, about the first Bordeauxs I purchased were 1979s and then by 1983 I (like everyone else) was buying 1982 Bordeaux futures. Unfortunately, I never tasted the 1979 Giscours, my loss. For me, the wine I have had most from the vintage was Pichon Lalande. My stock of this wine is long gone, but I still get to try occasional bottles from friends who still have the wine. Most recently, I had some a couple of weeks ago with friends where we tasted older Bordeaux (I brought a 1982 Lynch Bages). It was wonderful to see how well “my old friend” the 1979 Pichon Lalande is doing. I am amazed at how good some 1979s are tasting at 40+. I never would have believed this when I was younger.

What is interesting to me is the 1979 is exactly the type of vintage that so many today ignore while on the hunt for the next 1982. I have loved 1982 Bordeaux and am glad I bought futures, but I am also glad I have gotten to drink a bunch of 1979s over the years because they taste so good (and pretty much always have) and were so reasonably priced at the time. I would think that younger drinkers looking for the same or similar experiences could do worse than try vintages like 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2014.

Thanks for the note and the memory.

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Howard,
Because of a switch by Giscours to Gilbey’s who not only owned Loudenne but took over distribution of Giscours, very little came into the US. I was able to buy my three cases directly through Loudenne and Gilbeys who shipped it over with a lot of gin.

Sadly Giscours lost traction after the 1982 vintage. The son inherited, and the money that had been lavished on it, I am told was spent on polo ponies, and the property was sold or not, depending which side you believe in a court case which went on for years. A renaissance finally occurred around 2000, and the wines being made today are really strong and great values.

I agree the 1979 vintage has quietly been a really wonderful source of wines. The Pichon Lalande you mentioned is still showing strong. In general, if I find wines from Margaux and Pomerol worth buying; I am not sure why they fell away but Certan de May 1979 was one of the leading wines there.

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Thanks Mark. My favorite 1979 probably has been Palmer, which is consistent with what you said.

I think this must have contributed to a dull period where many basically forgot the quality. (Didn’t know the backstory.) Giscours from the 1960s and 1970s was very inexpensive for a long time. I used to get 1970 and 1971 in particular, both excellent wines, for a song. 1966 was about the same.

But I can’t recall the 1979. I will look.

Probably only a handful of 1979 in the US.

But they used to make fantastic wines. The 1970 is a little better than the 1979, and still drinking beautifully.

Giscours has a fairly lurid and tragic recent history sadly. In addition to the nasty court case, the late owner slipped on a boat in the Caribbean, broke his back, and was a paraplegic for the last few years of his life. Very nice man too.

Apart from the Eureka wine, another reason for my fondness for Giscours is that they hold cricket matches on the lawns of the chateau every Summer.

Thanks Mark. I always wondered why the quality went down so much in the '80s.

It is a shame that not enough producers were on their game in 1970. It is a truly fabulous vintage for those producers who were trying.

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane. I served an Imperial of '79 Giscours at my brother’s prenuptial dinner (his first marriage) in 1986. It was delicious even then.

My “eureka” wine was the 1986 Gruaud Larose.

Awesome story, thanks for sharing Mark. And maybe you should think of yourselves as regal first growths and Giscours as the one-legged nun. In retrospect, how can one not love a one-legged nun???

She was on crutches. Caught up with her later, at a local pub. She was finishing off a pint, and happily accepted another from us; she must have been thirsty after all that exercise.

78 Giscours was my first great Bordeaux in late 80s.

I think what it also speaks to is being lovingly cared for over 40 years. If you start with a “solid” Bordeaux that will evolve, it will continue to reward you for decades. I had access to a lot of great bordeaux in the 80s and early 90s, but I did not have a steady place to store them. A 30 year old personally well stored bottle of Grand Puy Lacoste or Leoville Barton is worth more to me than a first growth from the same vintage of questionable condition or provenance.