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Rules are simple:
- No restrictions on vintage or price.
- While most everyone brings Bordeaux all the time, bringing a non-Bordeaux red to compete is encouraged to challenge the group's preferences. Since this event began, only 3 non-Bordeaux wines were ever entered and none ever won.
- A vote for 1st Place carries 4 points, 2nd Place 3 points, 3rd Place 2 points, 4th Place 1 point.
- In the case of a tie in points, the less expensive wine prevails, the value to be the lowest in-stock, non-auction price of the bottle in the USA as appears in http://www.wine-searcher.com/.
- Absolutely no expression of observations or opinions about any of the competing reds is allowed until after the last ballot is submitted for tallying.
- Once a ballot is submitted, no changing of ranking is allowed.
- Aside from the winner and his wife getting treated to dinner, the former reigns as "king" over the others until unseated by subsequent vinous battle.
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By 7:45, we were complete and we began with some whites with our amuse bouche and appetizers:
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This hefty, generous and very fruit-forward Aussie chard has nice balancing acidic and mineral lift to its nicely rounded, ripely sweetish, softly-baked apple, pear and vanilla/oak dominant flavors. Nuance of butterscotch as well. Mild citrus notes emerge past mid-mouth and hug the background. I also liked this a lot with the pork rillette, its ripe fruit and vanilla/oak running hand-in-hand with the dish, adding a baked apple dimension to the pork (roast pork loin with applesauce came to mind), leaving the cut to the cornichons.
The bottle last night seemed to have notably better acidic lift and balance, focus and less oak/vanilla than I my last notes disclose. The Stockbroker's Premium Wine Exchange carries the Leewin lines, including the Art Series Chardonnay. The 2004 vintage is already all sold out, but they already have the 2005 vintage in stock.
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My own notes and ranking (I tasted alone and with my Rare Grilled Rib-Eye Steak):
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Wine #2 - Initial rusty topnotes in the nose gave way to dark minerals, herbaceous, touch of green pepper over dark fruit laced with asphalt. In the mouth, it was the most commanding, deeply fruited, lush and powerful. Notes of black coffee, dark chocolate and a bit of tar underpinned the blackcurrant, cassis, violets, cherry, dried tamarind, bit of cedar. Not a great nose, but, in the mouth, it was, to me, the best by far. I ranked it 1st Place. It was my 1999 Château Latour (double decanted: just under 3 hours at home and poured back into bottle for transport to the evening's venue).
Wine #3 - My notes are telegraphic: Comparatively thin after the immediately preceding wine, gravel, earthy, cassis, cedar and a bit of sour cherry and dried tamarind. I ranked this 4th Place and it was later revealed to be the Doc's 1989 Château Lynch Bages. I ordinarily love this wine and even ranked it my 2nd Place in the previous Challenge. I believe this bottle was very slightly off.
Wine #4 - I initially found this a bit strange in balance. However, by my 4th pass, it revealed its admirable structure, strong backbone, slight iodine touches to its cassis, cedar and violets. Very long finish. Confident wine, well put-together. I ranked this 3rd Place. It was the Stockbroker's 1994 Dominus, the Napa venture of Christian Moueix of Pétrus fame.
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There was a tie in points for 1st Place (i.e., two wines garnered a total of 24 points each), so, per our rules, the less expensive wine prevailed.
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2nd Place - My 1999 Château Latour with 24 points (four votes for 1st Place, one vote for 2nd Place, two votes for 3rd Place and one vote for 4th Place).
3rd Place - The Vigneron's 1985 Château Léoville Barton with 17 points (one vote for 1st Place, two votes for 2nd Place, two votes for 3rd Place and three votes for 4th Place).
4th Place - The Doc's 1989 Château Lynch Bages with 15 points (one vote for 1st Place, one vote for 2nd Place, two votes for 3rd Place and four votes for 4th Place).
The Stockbroker offered to share the win with me as there was a tie in points. Our rules, however, would not permit me to accept his magnanimous gesture (not that I would have accepted in any event) - especially since I was the one who drew up the rules and the whole group passed the same unanimously.
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Desserts were then ordered, and the Vigneron had served his bottle of...
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The 1997 de Myrat's visage of beautifully deep, amber-gold with an orange blush made me expect more body/weight/complexity than it's light-side-of-medium body and dominant bittersweet orange marmalade back-end displayed. Fair enough of a wine (depending on its price), but I couldn't help thinking it didn't live up to its looks.
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Good natured teasing and warm laughter ensued over some cups of coffee, espresso and plates of petits fours. It was really fun to get together again for one of our Challenges. It's been way too long.
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8 comments:
Congrats to the Stockbroker. I drank my last bottle of 94 Dominus last Autumn with friends. It was really really good. I can see how it was a contender. You and the Stockbroker could see through the sexy fruit and pick the Bordeaux, but that would be something Debby would never do.
Best of luck on the next challenge.
Thank you, Bill. Nice to hear from you. You're right. From the outset I just felt Wine #2 was on a league of its own. It had so much stuffing and so much more to give whereas I didn't think Wine #4 was going to hold up.
Noel- excellent notes as usual. Thank you. I always look forward to your Bordeaux Challenge write ups! -jojo
i read again your notes on the last challenge (XII) and just realized that i had already brought the lynch bages '89. i completely forgot!- gerry
Hi, Rod. So nice to hear from you! You remember Eric? The fellow who had lunch with us at Old Manila when Jojo hosted with the '96 Chave Hermitage? Eric told Jojo before the subject tasting/dinner that if any none Bordeaux had a chance to win, it was the '94 Dominus. I guess he was proven right. Regards to Debby, and thanks!
Jojo,
Thanks, buddy. I'm very happy you enjoyed my wine. Who is Bill? Heh heh.
Hi, Doc. I find it somewhat funny somehow that you forgot you brought that to the last Challenge. It won a close 2nd Place, I voted it 2nd Place. Always enjoy that wine; that last bottle of yours though at Bdx Challenge XII was much fresher and more youthful.
Best to all,
N
i meant Rod. I had a good buddy in boarding school named Bill Schiffman! Sorry about that, Rod. -jojo
Jojo,
Not a problem. I always enjoy Noel's write-ups and pictures. They bring me right back to Manila.
Nice. Congrats to Jojo...is the 2004 Leewin Chardonnay Art Series the one we will try in the Summer place dinner?
Nice shirts BTW...
I believe we will have both the '04 and the '05 so we can compare, though they will be paired with different dishes.
Thanks, yes, I like the shirts myself.
N
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