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Last night, the eve of Saint Davids Day, and the eve of spring, I had a wonderful evening where we tasted all five 1996 1st Growth Bordeaux, plus Cheval Blanc, La Mission Haut Brion, Ausone, Petrus and Le Pin. This was at a wonderful Charity dinner at the Four Seasons in Park Lane, and all in aid of three Childrens charities- over £100,000 was raised. I will report on the wines in a minute, but there were three thoughts that buzzed through my slightly and pleasantly befuddled head as I walked back down park Lane at midnight on a crisp night of minus 4 celsius.
First what a great business I'm in when work is like last night!
Second what a tremendous chap is the wine merchant who organised the event, Johnny Goedhuis, who has now done this for 18 years, and raised huge sums of money for very worthy childrens charities. It is a huge amount of work, time, effort and dedication, and the sort of spirit we should all hope to aspire to, I am totally in awe of what he does. {mosgoogle}
Thirdly, what a very funny man Nick Soames is. I first used to come across him when my wife had a flat in Cundy Street Chelsea, and his flat was above hers. Although he was a tad smaller than he is now, there was always the most riotous fun emanating from above. I have met him a couple of times since, but last night he was called in to speak after dinner. The whole thing was a string of wonderful humour, and he resisted the temptation of so many politicans to preach or make cheap political points, but what he did say was hilarious, honest and absolutely appropriate for the evening. Bereft of spin, and political correctness, embarrassingly indescrete, total genuine and honest, I wish we had more larger than life characters like Nick in the political world, his grandfather would be proud of him.
So to the wines;- my overall view was that this (1996) is a very good, and in some cases great vintage, but now the wines are 10 years old one can start to see the great wines beginning to emerge from the pack. I also felt that they are all still young, a good sign, and quite classic , with good structure and firm tannins- a vintage for the long hall, and not really ready to drink yet.
We also tasted some super seconds, of which for me Lascases was the star,(18 out of 20), but again they were all pretty young and chunky. I also scored Cos 96 highly for its intensity, but it was still closed and full of firm tannin a bit disjointed ,but will be very good in time.
La Mission Haut Brion was lovely(18.5 out of 20) sweet long and more open than some others. Haut Brion was also excellent ,more elegant, still closed but lovely balance and a long elegant finish.(19.5).
Margaux 96 was my favourite of the evening(20). Lovely elegant fruit, intense without being heavy, very long and starting to become very complex and typical of the best from this property.
Next was Mouton, (18) which had typical blackfruit character, was open and ripe but lacked a bit of complexity and intensity, but was none the less very good, but sufferred following the superb Margaux.
Next Lafite, probably the star when the wines were young, but now typically for Lafite, closed, disjointed, tight, tannic, and in need of lots of time. Unless you know and understand this chateau , you would as did a lot of tasters, mark this right down.(19.5).
Latour was stunning, classic, robust round,ripe and beautifully intense, but again needing lots of time,(20).
Ausone was good but very gangly and immature, but good acidity, length and tannin(17.5/18).
Cheval Blanc, very elegant, sweet, restrained, and very lovely if not a big wine. (18.5).
Petrus ,very intense nose of ripe fruit, lovely balance with everything there, and as one would expect from Merlot, more ready. I felt this had lots of charm(19.5).
And finally, Le Pin-(18.5) very firm almost tannic, big wine and very long , but for me less charm, interest and elegance than Petrus, and more backward, but it was served from Magnum?
Parting shot/thought- are the 1995s a better vintage overall, with better balance? And aren't I glad I am not down in Cardiff at the openning of the new Welsh Assembly, drinking Welsh white wines on Saint Davids day surrounded by leeks and daffodils in the snow!
CB
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