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The Super Bowl came to New York City, and the wives went out of town. Friday night saw five married men and one bachelor gather at Craft for an evening of good wines and good times. We like to keep our celebrations at the dinner table, and since it was Friday, we were still able to celebrate the soon-to-be buckling Broncos. It’s hard to believe it was only two weeks ago; it feels like months already!
Bad Boy led things off with an original bottle of 1976 Krug. It was wheaty with white fruits, along with honey and caramel. Its palate was solid, lean and elegant with nice orange zip and a smooth, soft finish (94).
Big Boy’s 1985 Krug Clos du Mesnil took it up a notch. There were more vanilla flavors and richness, ‘like a laser.’ This had much more body, Jessica Rabbit style, and its acid was super and duper, both related to long. Rich, heavy cream flavors complemented this big, blonde and ‘big-tittied’ baby. Who dat (97)?
Kruggerands
Twin Coches loomed like towers, and a great 1999 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres took no prisoners. Its nose was full of toast and kernel, ‘Coche city,’ according to one, and ‘sick’ per another. There were lots of oohs and aahs for this big, masculine and buttery wine. This was a sunny yellow in the nose, and a creamy rich honey in the mouth. It played perfectly into the strength of the vintage. ‘Compact and intense’ summed it up (97).
The 1996 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne that followed didn’t quite live up to its reputation, although The Inspector confirmed that this wine was starting to mature quicker than most people realized. Its nose was more elegant and cleaner with a gorgeous, yellow core. There were waterfall flavors to its ‘fat’ palate. This was a pretty wine, sneakily long with lingering acid and ‘apricoty’ goodness. The Perrieres was mintier over time, and better (95).
Cochy Cochy Koo
The first red was a 2002 Fourrier Griottes Chambertin, which had great, fresh red fruit up front. Milky and strawberry aromas saw cedar and wood join the party along with menthol. It was a bit all over the place. The palate was a touch medicinal, not in a bad way, but its sweet fruit flavors were flirting a lot with cherry cough syrup. Smooth and silky, a few comments included, ‘1er Cru weight’ and ‘before he hit his stride.’ It was smooth and silky, yet ‘before he hit his stride,’ one noted. I should add that there is no question from about 2005 on, Fourrier has been as good as it gets (93).
It was my second bottle of 1990 Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes this month, and the first one was corked. The second one was weird. Cat box was the first thing that came to mind, followed by milky, minty and black fruit. The palate was rich, heavy, big and broad, impressively so, but there was this ‘farm/barnyard’ quality (94?).
The Inspector pulled out a 1966 Clair-Dau Chambertin Clos de Beze, which was slightly musty at first but opened up nicely. It stayed on the earthy and dirty side of things, but red cherry and citrus fruit slowly took equal footing. It was big, earthy and round with nice spice, brothy and staying dirty (93).
A surprisingly fabulous 1972 Rousseau Chambertin stole the show from the other reds. Its nose was open and soupy, with that ’72 alley cat action. Rich tomatoes prevailed in the nose, and its saucy palate had me commenting that this was the best 1972 that I have ever had. I drank it like catnip, finishing it first (95).
Chambertins Activate!
1990 DRC La Tache. It was all there, but it was a little shy. It was a supermodel for sure, with great mint and a whiff of cedar. Its palate was mouth-coating and delicious. It still possessed elegance to its length and thickness. Red fruit and cedar were its reticent and brooding flavors. We could thank The Duke for this beauty, and he also noted its mouth-coating qualities (97).
Bad Boy brought a perfect bottle of 1959 Lafite Rothschild. Everywhere I go, this wine seems to follow me, as it should as it is about as pleasurable a Bordeaux to drink in the world right now. What a wine, especially when Bad Boy was its third owner, knowing the entire history of the wine. There was so much fruit here, like grape meeting sexy back. Cedar and carob complemented its fruit perfectly, along with vitamins and cereal. This was so fresh, and I was stunned to learn this was decanted 2 _ hours ago. Wow. It was so young and so delicious, it got the highest rating from one of our distinguished six guests, ‘PP.’ I asked, ‘PP? What’s that?’ I should have known better. ‘Pure P****,’ I was told. I’ll let you channel your own inner Match Game and figure out the ‘Blank’ (98).
Although it wasn’t universally accepted as such, the 1989 Petrus was my wine of the night. Look, I get the Lafite being the best wine at that time on that night, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best wine. The 1989 Petrus will go down as one of the Big John Studd wines of all-time. We’re talking Secretariat on his farm, wearing his wreaths the year after he won the Triple Crown, collecting checks for filling the fillies. Yeah, that kind of good. Its nose was Deep Purple, as in the fruit and the rock stars. Big, rich and creamy, this wasn’t rich, this was wealthy. Its acidity could not be denied as the longest and strongest, and anise added just the right amount of kink. Of course, The Inspector was the one who couldn’t deal with this young behemoth, even though I know he is a secret Bordeaux lover lol (99).
Stealing the Show
We were nearing the end, mercifully, so we changed it up to Rhone with a 1966 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle. This was a great Rhone in a perfect spot, long and full of coffee and menthol flavors. It felt like it had a tattoo which read ‘animal’ (95).
I should add that we had two completely DQ‘d wines, a 1953 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle and a 1985 Meo-Camuzet Richebourg. Ouch.
Lastly, we curled up with a 1949 Henri Gouroux Clos Vougeot. There weren’t much notes left in me, other than tasty, classic, earth and early birdie (93).
Thanks to Tom Terrific for gathering us all together, but more thanks go to the ladies that love to leave us alone for a weekend, so we can eat, drink, be merry and be good .
In Vino Veritas,
JK
