Craig's Wine Notes

14 winos gathered at Gramercy Tavern for lunch on Friday, to taste vintages of La Mission Haut Brion back to 1961. I was really excited going in--Haut-Brion is my favorite of the first growths, and I've liked all the La Missions I've tried; most of these vintages were new to me and I am pleased to say that after weeks of anticipation they really delivered. Almost all the wines showed really well, and you could taste the consistency in the flavors from year to year. Most showed the classic Graves profile of tobacco, leather, and what our host described as "brick dust." The wines:

We started off with the 1994 Laville-Haut-Brion, the white wine of La Mission. Sadly, it was pretty oxidized, as apparently was the 1984 which someone had brought--he wouldn't even let people taste it, for our own good. Ah, well. The first red flight was 1978, 1981, 1982 and 1983. The '83 was very tired, a disappointment after a bottle I tried a year ago which was a real sleeper. This one didn't have much life left to it. The '81 was quite a lot better, not a huge wine like some of the others, but still with plenty left in it. The '82 was a disappointment to me also; I'd had it before with better results. This one didn't really have the concentration of some of the younger wines, nor the complexity that comes with aging them. Unlucky! The '78, though, was terrific, beautiful aromatics, quite concentrated, a little rough around the edges like many of these wines, but just great.

The next group was just sensational, even with one dud in it. The 1961 was amazing--fresh and rich for a wine that is about to hit its 45th birthday, but with all the great complexity in the nose and taste that comes with that age. More classic Cabernet aromas than in some of the other wines here, at least to me, but just great. I thought it was a hair behind the 1961 Haut-Brion from the previous week (and no, I don't drink like that every week, or even every year, things just happened to work out with 2 events back to back), as did one other guest at both; the other two who tried both bottles liked this slightly better. This was a little more concentrated, but a little rougher too. The 1964 was excellent too, lighter color, less concentration, but outstanding on its own terms, not just "pretty good for age 42." The 1970, I thought, was totally dead. It tasted to me like a big ol' glass of tannin and alcohol with no actual fruit in it. Finally, the 1975, which was my second favorite of the day (behind the 1961). It was more concentrated than the 1961, possibly even after accounting for the 14 years difference, but also quite a bit rougher. Maybe that is just the age difference showing. Also this is the one that made me a believer in the idea of the "brick dust" nose--when this was first poured for me it smelled like I'd just walked by a construction site. After a minute or two it revealed all the rest of those great Graves aromatics, with all that tar, leather and tobacco. Either way, those two were, to me, in a different class from everything else tasted.

After those we moved on to the younger wines. The 1988 was, I thought quite boring. It had reasonably concentrated fruit and good color, but was the only wine (apart from the 1970) that seemed not to have any of the traditional Graves flavors to it. A decent bottle of wine, but pretty one-dimensional. The 1989 scored very highly with the group, and indeed lived up to its great reputation. So young, though, as was the 1990. Finally, the last group contained the 2000 and 2002. The 2002 was reasonably good, although like the 1988, seemed to be something that would not develop all the complexity of the other wines. And the 2000, which was a beautiful super-dark purple and intensely concentrated, was so young that it was hard to tell anything--except that, if it ages well, it'll be incredible.

My personal rankings:

1) 1961
2) 1975
3) 1978
4) 1964

The group's collective ranking, with 4 points for a 1st place vote, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd and 1 for 4th:

1961 40 pts.
1975 34 pts.
1989 21 pts.
1978 13 pts.
1982 9 pts.
1990 7 pts.
1964 3 pts.
1970 2 pts.
1981 1 pt.