After lengthy negotiations on the time of our own mini running of the Judgment of Paris (Arlington) pitting Bordeaux vs. California we finally got it together. So, what did we learn. Well, 2004 Haut Brion doesn't stand up so well to Ridge Monte Bello at such a young age. While the Haut Brion was better the second day, it still hadn't developed the depth in the wine I was looking for. The one thing that the tasting did produce was lots of purple teeth!
The line-up was as follows:
1. Freemark Abbey 2004
2. Haut Brion 2004
3. Ridge Monte Bello 2003
4. Chateau Montrose 2004
5. Stag's Leap SLV 2003
6. Grand Vin de Leoville 2004
The dinner started with champagne with an appetizer of fig, marscapone, and prosciutto just to get everyone warmed up. We first went through all the wines before dinner. Robin was asked to be wine guy and promptly was dismissed for pouring too much in the glasses. He was noted for his technique-obviously lots of practice at church.
Dinner consisted of beef tenderloin with a shallot, bacon and port wine sauce. This was accompanied by sauteed peppers, roasted potatoes, and harlot verts. Dessert was a deconstructed blueberry cheesecake with homemade orange shortbread.
Well, lets get to the meat of the evening. The goal of the evening is see if anyone could tell the difference between a French vs. California wine. Barbara, a noted Bordeaux lover, admitted that she got every wine wrong. Good for her! It is apparent from the collected notes that no one was playing along. Although one taster noted an aroma of cabbage in the Haut Brion. Most were not had no information of value. I couldn't tell if they loved or hated it. One thing was clear that the Monte Bello was good. Go out and buy a case!
6 comments:
An absolutely outstanding judgement put together by efc was complemented by a superb meal also prepared by efc.
This blind tasting showed that the Californian wines were well ahead of the French in providing what the customer wanted. Even one aclaimed Bordeaux lover preferred the Californians. The Chateau Haut Brion was the most disappointing (particularly for the price) and was in last place on my list, even after multiple tastings with/without food and after longer and longer periods of time in the decanter. The French need grapes that are more ripe - perhaps global warming will help them with that. If the French still think that they make the best wine on the planet then they need to get their collective heads out of the sand.
An enhancement for next time would be to add a carefully selected Australian cab to the line up - that would certainly put a cat amongst the pigeons.
Thank you once again to efc.
I for one did not consume any harlots -- maybe some haricots, but definitely no harlots. Hey, what do you mean no one was playing along? We had extensive and imaginative aroma and tasting notes. I even had aroma notes for #2, as you will recall.
FReemark Abbey is a fabulous bargain...i think Evan said $40.
It showed really well. The Ridge wine had that finish to die for...never ending and nooticeably different than the others. Leoville Las Cases was big, almost chunky at this stage but had the most potential to develop in the long term. Fabulous now but it should smooth out in a dozen or so years. Haut Brion (and this was my first first growth!) now is too tannic and had some vegetal notes on the finish...however it shows great potential...though I still liked Leoville L better. Believe me...you would be happy drinking any of these!
I think any Australian wine would have been way over-extracted!
It was GREAT - AND - we did better than that. We got all the Fr vs Am correct, picked out the SLV and had great fun with friends! The Cal wines were simply richer. The Fr more austere. It could be the grapes or the style. I do wonder if memory of Fr wines makes them better than they are or the customer tastes have changed.
And - as usual - the food was wonderful.
Cheers All!!
I made you happy by having bacon in the sauce. Doesn't take much.
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