Last night I had some of my wine enthusiast co-workers over for a wine tasting. The theme was a Bordeaux and California Bordeaux blend blind tasting. I wanted to see if people could tell the difference between the two different regions and make a stab about age of the wine.

There were three flights of three wines. The wines were unblinded after all nine were tasted

Flight 1
1-1991 Opus-WS-97 points.
This wine was a blockbuster. Still very big and tannic. Olive, leather, and cedar on the nose. Rich fruit, oak and a long finish. This wine will live long into the future. It took me a while but after a while it hit me. This is Opus! It tastes like other young Opuses that I have had.
My rating-95. My guess Opus.

2-1978 Ducru Beaucaillou-WA-90
This wine was (obviously) the lightest in color. Leather, and vegetal notes on the nose. The body was medium, balanced and the tannins were soft. However after about a half hour in the glass the fruit dissipated and all that was left were the tannins. My rating-87-88. My guess was the Ducru. At this point I was thinking I was going to run the table. This was the lowest rated wine by all.

3-1998 Viader WS-95
This wine had an incredible nose of candied fruit, vanilla and toasted oak. It was very rich and concentrated. Long complex finish.
My rating 93-94. My guess was the Insignia. This is where the wheels started falling off for me. This was one persons WOTN.

Flight 2
1-1999 Montrose-WA-90 This wine did not offer a whole lot on the nose. It was young, tannic with a nice mouthfeel, dark fruits, minerals. My rating was 92. My guess was 1994 Ridge Santra Cruz-way off

2-1999 Pichon Lalande WS-88. Cherry, tobacco on the nose. Medium body and firm with chocolate and cherry. Definitely a young Bordeaux. My rating 89. Guessed the wrong Bordeaux with Montrose.

3-1994 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains- no rating found. This wine was fantastic. Candied fruit on the nose. Silky smooth, with well integrated tannins. Smooth long finish. Maybe this wine had an unfair advantage being in the same flight with young Bourdeaux but I gave it a 95. My guess was the 1992 Beringer PR.

Flight 3
1-1990 Lagrange-WS-95 This wine did not offer much fruit on the nose or the palate. One person thought it was corked. Tapenade and tobacco with a light finish. Not bad but a step below the others. I was completely fooled by this one thinking it was a young Bordeaux (although many think that 1990 is still very young for Bordeaux). WS described this as being a blockbuster with a velvety finish lasting for minutes. My score 89-90.

2-1992 Beringer PR WS-95 WA-96. As most of you here know, this wine kicks ass! It did not disappoint. Incredible candied fruit nose, with layers and layers of rich, concentrated flavors. Silk in a glass with an incredible finish. My guess 1998 Viader. My rating-96

3-1998 Phelps Insignia. WS-93 As much as I liked the eigth wine of the night, this one was a touch better. This wine had all the goods. Incredible rich nose, full body, complex loaded with layers of fruit, spices, A finish that wouldn't quit. Incredible! Most peoples WOTN. My rating-97 I was incredibly surprised when the wine was unblinded. I couldn't believe any 1998 could be that good. I had to recheck the year and make sure I didn't pull a 1997 from the cellar. My guess was completely off with the 1990 Lagrange.


Dessert was paired with a 1978 Sudiaraut Sauterne which was okay but heavy on the citrus and not in the league of other Sudiarauts I have tasted.

This was a very enlightening tasting for me. Blind tastings can be very fun yet frustrating at the same time. All in all the wines were solid.

But then you would've missed out on the thousands of staggering folks and the latest vintage of K-J chardonnay at the other Boston Expo! (OK, that's a bit of a stretch)

I too was shocked at your 1998 Insignia TN's. What the heck is the 1997, or for that matter the 1999 going to taste like?

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

No port, Zeke?!

I was surprised at your TNs for the 98 Viader. We have a bottle the other night and were extremely dissapointed. Perhaps the bottle we drank was an anomoly. The wine was properly stored in our box, so I dont think that would be the problem. Unless of course it was improperly stored and encountered too much heat prior to our purchase of it. It had a distinct mahogany ring in the glass, looking like a very old bordeaux. The little fruit we could get out of it was mostly dried prunes along with leather. The wine was thin and died mid palate, with little to no complexity to it at all. After reading your TN's, sounds like we will need to revisit it again soon. I suppose if we get the same results I will assume the wine was poorly treated prior to our purchase. Anyone else w/ TN's on the 98 Viader????

Tua-Really, how was the Wine Expo? I stopped going a few years back. I hated being part of the cattle herd. Anything good poured? As far as the 1998 Insignia I couldn't believe it either.

bman- I was planning on the 1977 Graham's but with 10 bottles of wine for 8 people there was no way we could keep going (wimps).

whineslob-I have had the 1998 Viader several time and did not find any of the characteristics you mentioned. Each time I felt it to be a mid-90's scoring wine.

So Zeke, can I expect to see you scouring all over NH looking for all the left over bottles of 98' Insignia?

Thanks to Decanter for an extra ticket for Sunday at the expo yet this year I felt was lacking. The oregon Pinot's were OK with a fair selection yet tha vast majority of other wines were rather ordinary at best. I was looking forward to the wines from Spain yet only an hour and a half into the tasting the entire area was rather deserted with few wineries still pouring. Some other wineries such as that over-rated plonk producer Lancaster didn't even show up!

The price of $60/day is totally out of wack and I was constantly annoyed by the wineries insistance that you try ALL the wines being poured by them including the crud. I never spit so much wine in my life. By the way, my favorite wine of the day for QPR was 1999 King Estate pinot with a retail of $22. Tasted as good or better that most of the others' reserves.

One thing I've learned lately is that even most of the 88's,89's and 90's are still way too young to drink from Bordeaux. Still tannic with fruit only emerging after hours of decanting. How long were yours out of the bottle?

Sounds like you had a great time and opened some eyes too!

The Lalande was open for 5 hours. However the 1990 Lagrange and 1999 Montrose were only opened for 1+ hours due to the fact that my guests did not open them so they could breathe. I tasted the Lalande when I first opened it and the air tme definitely helped.

As for the Boston Wine Expo, you reconfirmed the reason I have stayed away for several years now.

I haven't seen anymore 98 Insignia in NH but the 1999 is going for $80.

I've seen a couple of left over 98's for $73 and am tempted to pick one up to try (I have 2 others). Would you recommend it or skip?

C'mon guys!!! One of the attractions of the expo is the sense of competition. I feel more satisfaction when I need to outmaneuver and push Auntie Emma out of the way to get my 1/100 oz. tasting of Sera Bella. When I find my notes I'll post the wines that stood out at the expo.

I'm with TuaRita. Next year we'll be going to the ZekeExpo.

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For Boston! For Boston! We sing our proud refrain!
9-4 Next up: Motor City Bowl Champions

Thanks for the tip on the 98 JP. I think I found some in XXXX marked down in price. I'll fill in the XXXX after I stop by and get some....OK I give, it's Kappy's in Sudbury....I think. Call first.

Have you noticed that when 98 are "good" they are really nice and easy to drink now. If they are flawed, they tend to have mouth drying tannins on the finish.

There's still 1998 Insignia dinkin' around here and there in Boston I think for about $80-90. Did not hit the Wine Expo this year.....bottle fatigue a possible explanation. I haven't had a burger and beers in 3-4 months - well, since you could BBQ outside.

I'm with Decanter - ZekeBoston Expo beats the bejeesus out of that other thing next year. Make it something exotic - like 95+ from both WS and RP. I don't have any 1982 Bordeaux so don't start....

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

Had to chime in about the 98 Insignia

Decanted this for an hour...it did not need much.

Deep ruby/purple and opaque. Looks massive..it is.

Nose is purfume of sweet plum, cherry, anise and a hint of leather and vanilla.

Explodes on the palate with layers of sweet unctuous fruit. This overloaded my poor buds, but what a way to go. Medium to heavy on weight. Thick tears on the glass. Glycerin content is high. What a wine for a 98! The best yet!

Well integrated with a long fruit and licorice finish. Tannins are like silk and quite sweet.

I want more of this!

This was even better than the 98 Montelena. The Montelena was more elegant and aloof. This was very forward and nicely done. If you asked me to score it I would give it a 96+

I have not had the 98 Insigna since June 01 when I had it at the winery soon after release. At that time it impressed me, I rated it 93+. I was a little surpired when later RP only gave it a 91. Sounds like it's time to try another one now.

There are pockets of it laying around here in NH still at $72 I think it is. One store I know got a batch of 99 in, which I bought most of, then after that was gone a few weeks later some 98 showed up. The NH warehouse must be totally disorganized, like the remainer of their system.

CabNut

CabNut,

It is a great wine...a fruit bomb as it were. Thought RMP would or should score it higher just for pure hedonism.

Found some 99 in BJ's today for $79…I'll take some. Need a few more 98s…perhaps NH will have some. The lowest I have found is $95 for the 98 down in Mass.

Our BJ's up here has just about nothing good for wine, I was so hoping we'd get a Costco or even a Sam's. From what I've seen BJ's has the worst selection of wine, but maybe that's just the NH ones.

NH had the 99 for $79.99. Their inventory system shows several stores with that left but none with 98, but that's probably not right. I know one of the stores near me that shows 99 actaully has some 98. They may have 99 out back too.

CabNut