The 1980 Burgundy vintage at age 40

[William_Kelley]

Loved the article, and love the 1980 vintage. We opened an 80 La Tache this week. In a word, divine. At the first sip, it was so good I literally started laughing. Drunk in a nice trio of 80, 90, and 10 La Tache. My first very careful “dinner” of the covid era, with both vaccinations under my belt. So far vaccine has been the only benefit of being 65.

Sounds like a very good way to start!! Which did you prefer of the three?

All three were fantastic, but the 1980 was my favorite. Partly emotional, as I’m a huge fan of the vintage, but it truly was spectacular. Purchased way back in the day. The 1990 was also pristine, having recently been purchased from a close friend, who’d had it in his cellar since release. Three guys, two white burgs (2017 Ramonet Batard and 2017 Drouhin Montrachet), three La Tache, an empty room at a country club, and four brilliant food courses. A nice way to re-enter.

Certainly makes sense to me!

May it be the first of many such dinners

[Jerry_Hey]

Loved the article, and love the 1980 vintage. We opened an 80 La Tache this week. In a word, divine. At the first sip, it was so good I literally started laughing. Drunk in a nice trio of 80, 90, and 10 La Tache. My first very careful “dinner” of the covid era, with both vaccinations under my belt. So far vaccine has been the only benefit of being 65.

Things sound pretty good in Minneapolis. What a nice trio of wines. I could have brought the 2000.

Another benefit of old age is old wine.

I enjoyed the article also, William. I’ve had the 80 LT and loved it. Unfortunately I passed on taking a case when it was released for something like $1,000 for 12 bottles. Those were the days.

[Matthew_King]

Loved the article, and love the 1980 vintage. We opened an 80 La Tache this week. In a word, divine. At the first sip, it was so good I literally started laughing. Drunk in a nice trio of 80, 90, and 10 La Tache. My first very careful “dinner” of the covid era, with both vaccinations under my belt. So far vaccine has been the only benefit of being 65.

Sounds like a very good way to start!! Which did you prefer of the three?

You mean Pfizer, Moderna or J&J?

[William_Kelley]

You mean Pfizer, Moderna or J&J?

im-100-points-on-that by WilliamGFKelley, on Flickr

Or rather, all of those!

[R_Frankel]

I liked it a lot and thought 91/100 would convey that!

Here is a photo of the I guess 17th-century wooden wine press they dusted down to use for the 1980 Clos des Mouches, and a few vintages subsequently. I didn’t include it in the article because I didn’t want to give cursory readers the impression that this was usual practice 40 years ago (though e.g. Clos de la Perrière in Fixin did use a press like this through 1959, so the holdouts lasted longer than one might have thought).

I had the privilege of a private tour of Drouhin’s facilities with Veronique herself a few years back. She told us that this press is from 1570! And yes, they still use it (very) occasionally.

[Chris_V]

Fabulous article as usual, William.

The only thing we disagree on is the '80 Drouhin Clos des Mouches. I liked it a great deal more than you!

I liked it a lot and thought 91/100 would convey that!

Here is a photo of the I guess 17th-century wooden wine press they dusted down to use for the 1980 Clos des Mouches, and a few vintages subsequently. I didn’t include it in the article because I didn’t want to give cursory readers the impression that this was usual practice 40 years ago (though e.g. Clos de la Perrière in Fixin did use a press like this through 1959, so the holdouts lasted longer than one might have thought).

Very cool photo. Indeed, 91 is a great score. Closer to 95 for me. When I had it, it was just totally in my wheelhouse and drinking in a great spot.

[Howard_Cooper]

The best 1980 I had was the DRC Grands Echezeaux. It was way more expensive than I paid for a bottle of wine - cost $35. But, I decided to buy it as a birthday present for my father. Years later (he died in 1993 so probably a couple of years before that), he opened the wine when I went home to visit. Really wonderful wine. Very rich and flavorful.

[Marcu_Stanley]

I am becoming a broken record praising William’s work around here, but I would encourage even people who have zero interest in the 1980 vintage specifically and never expect to taste one (like me!) to check out this article. It’s very good and connects to his previous post on “naturalism” in wine. The first half of the piece is of great interest if you want a clear, lucid, informed take on the history of winemaking as a craft. Too much wine writing is either a haze of philosophical abstractions and flavor adjectives, or a list of geographic details not clearly connected to winemaking choices. Where winemaking choices are mentioned only a few are elevated as representative of the whole (e.g. “extraction”). But this article takes you inside the complexity of what winemaking practice looks like in one era vs another era, and it does it in a clear enough way that a non-expert can follow. Just doing that implicitly blows up a bunch of cliches about wine.

The first half of the article is too long to quote fully, but to give an example, per William’s analysis: as compared to today, 1980 winemaking was characterized by heavier chemical intervention in winegrowing (fertilization and herbicides/insecticides), more sulfur use to prevent spoilage (related to the over-fertilization of the vineyards), more filtration, more punch-downs and extraction during winemaking, more oxygen exposure during winemaking, less use of new oak (but when new oak was used it was less seasoned), much less grape selection, more aggressive crushing of the grapes, more chaptalization and acidification, and the use of large wood or concrete fermentation vessels rather than temperature-controlled stainless steel. That list may not even be complete. Add to that a good discussion of the different economics of the trade at the time. Great stuff!

[William_Kelley]

I am becoming a broken record praising William’s work around here, but I would encourage even people who have zero interest in the 1980 vintage specifically and never expect to taste one (like me!) to check out this article. It’s very good and connects to his previous post on “naturalism” in wine. The first half of the piece is of great interest if you want a clear, lucid, informed take on the history of winemaking as a craft. Too much wine writing is either a haze of philosophical abstractions and flavor adjectives, or a list of geographic details not clearly connected to winemaking choices. Where winemaking choices are mentioned only a few are elevated as representative of the whole (e.g. “extraction”). But this article takes you inside the complexity of what winemaking practice looks like in one era vs another era, and it does it in a clear enough way that a non-expert can follow. Just doing that implicitly blows up a bunch of cliches about wine.

The first half of the article is too long to quote fully, but to give an example, per William’s analysis: as compared to today, 1980 winemaking was characterized by heavier chemical intervention in winegrowing (fertilization and herbicides/insecticides), more sulfur use to prevent spoilage (related to the over-fertilization of the vineyards), more filtration, more punch-downs and extraction during winemaking, more oxygen exposure during winemaking, less use of new oak (but when new oak was used it was less seasoned), much less grape selection, more aggressive crushing of the grapes, more chaptalization and acidification, and the use of large wood or concrete fermentation vessels rather than temperature-controlled stainless steel. That list may not even be complete. Add to that a good discussion of the different economics of the trade at the time. Great stuff!

Thanks, Marcus!

It seems obvious when stated the way that I’m about to, but the links between the wine in the glass and the site are viticulture and winemaking, and I do very much try to investigate and report on that. I’m actually hoping to make some videos this year illustrating at least some of the basic processes: punch downs, pump-overs; pressing with different kinds of press; barrels, etc.

[dcornutt]

The 1980 Ponsot Clos de la Roche is one of those life changing bottles. Last one I tasted was with Laurent in Burgundy several years ago. Out of magnum. It is my buddy Joel’s favorite. There were some great 80 burgs made. William. Great thread!

[Rich_K0rz_nk0]

Ted is hung like a rogue elephant!

Lol. Classic.

Someone needs to feed that poor guy a burger or three!

lol, was thinking the same thing, he needs a sammich…

And gotta love the Sherlock Holmes hat.

If he’s wearing socks pulled up, I think that completes the Studio 54 look.

[Marshall_Gelb]

1980 is the year Diana and I married. However, at first, we “were told” that it was not a very good year. Luckily, I was convinced by Kermit Lynch (himself) to splurge on the Ponsot Clos de la Roche VV and Maume Mazis. The Ponsot became our anniversary wine and it was simply amazing! All, unfortunately, gone now but I do have a bottle or two the Maume hiding somewhere. Damn! If I knew that we would be married this long, I would have bought lots more!

Thanks for the writeup!


Cheers!
Marshall

[Howard_Cooper]

Marshall, you are a couple of years ahead of us. We were married in 1982, but yet in 1983 it was not easy convincing my wife that I should buy 1982 Bordeaux futures. Obviously, I bought some, but I should have purchased more, esp. since she loves them.

[Marshall_Gelb]

Marshall, you are a couple of years ahead of us. We were married in 1982, but yet in 1983 it was not easy convincing my wife that I should buy 1982 Bordeaux futures. Obviously, I bought some, but I should have purchased more, esp. since she loves them.

Howard: We had limited income in 1983 but for some bizarre reason we decided to take a credit union loan to buy 1982 futures. Luckily, we were working part time at a wonderful wine store. Let’s just say that this was probably one of the better financial moves we ever made! We have never sold a single bottle but have shared many over the years with friends and family. Still have a “few” left and recently opened a Grand Puy lacoste and a Canon and both were stellar!

Cheers!
Marshall