Local Wine Events

Only 4 spots left..As you probably know most wine we drink are young wines - usually the current vintage. Now that we are in 2012, you see wines made in 2011 (and 2010), with the exception of wines that are not permitted to be released until they are certain number of years old like Bordeaux, Rioja or some Italian red wines.

Drinking current vintage wines is natural because that is what is currently available. Plus most wines are consumed young so we rarely get the opportunity to see wine age. Tastings of older vintages of wine are sometimes associated with stuffy wine snobs paying thousands of dollars to end up saying a wine is good when it’s really past its prime. Among the factors when assessing older vintages are:

1. The wine was made in a superior year for growing conditions and made by a skilled winemaker.

2. The wine was kept in good storage conditions – cool, humid, and dark. Sunlight and heat can damage both the cork and the wine.

Even then, there are no guarantees! A wine that tastes great to one person may not appeal to another.

Back in the 1990s, wine appreciation grew significantly in the United States, partly due to wine (and food) knowledge becoming more commonplace, more wine travel, and the cost to buy a quality bottle of wine became more affordable. You didn’t have to spend a fortune to get a good bottle of wine. As a result new and established wine lovers would wait until each year's harvest was complete to learn how a particular year fared for grape-growing and wine-making. Was 1994 going to be the best year since 1985? Was 1997 as good as 1994?

I would like to put this to a test. For example, the 1997 vintage in Napa and Sonoma wine regions of California was considered a great growing season and produced classic wines. It was the best vintage since 1994 for California Cabernet Sauvignon. The vintage was marked by warm dry weather that matured the grapes earlier than normal. The best of these wines are perfect choices for cellar aging. Surprisingly, the 1997 crop was the largest in California history. It just shows that if nature smiles on you, it is possible to have very good quality as well as large quantity.

In Chile, 1997 was also considered a classic vintage. It rated 96 on a scale of 100. In 1997 Chile experienced drought conditions, giving concentrated, structured, rustic wines.

I’ve always wondered, if you got a bottle back then, how would it taste now? Can you expect it to taste like a current vintage of the same wine? Probably not, but would the older wine be more complex, nuanced, or layered? Or is all older wine a waste of time and we should only drink young wines?

So let's taste some rare older wines that were released in years that were declared outstanding vintages.

Join us on Monday, February 6th at 6:30pm at:

Lyon Bouchon Moderne Restaurant 
118 Greenwich Avenue (West Village/Greenwich Avenue and 13th street)
New York, NY

A link to the delicious dinner menu is below:

http://www.lyonnyc.com/menus/dinner-menu

No corkage fee on Mondays!!!  YESSSS!!!!

Check out the impressive wines we'll be having:

1.  1997 Renaissance Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Sierra Foothills Yuba County (California) – Current price $45
This is flat-out great cabernet sauvignon, the sort that used to come from some of Bordeaux's greatest chateaus in the 1950s and '60s before the New World wine order took over. Composed 100 percent of cabernet sauvignon, this wine begs to be served with roast beef, lamb or game. Like its classical Bordeaux model, it needs food in which to be, if you will, understood. Wine Spectator

2.  1997 Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta (Colchagua Valley) – Current price: $70
One thousand, eight hundred cases of this extraordinary wine were produced from the oldest (50 years average age) non-irrigated vines controlled by Casa Lapostolle. The blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Carmenere, aged in 100% new French oak casks, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration, is a triumph in wine making. Yields were kept to a conservative 40 hectoliters per hectare, resulting in an opaque purple-colored wine with an exquisite nose of black cherry, blackberry, and creme de cassis fruit intertwined with subtle toasty oak and lead pencil. Full-bodied, with an opulent texture, sensational concentration, and layered nuances, this wine will have 10-15 years of longevity, although its fatness and low acidity give it immediate accessibility. This superb wine is a tour de force. Not surprisingly, the consulting winemaker was Pomerol's brilliant Michel Rolland. Anticipated maturity: now-2015. Serious wine tasters should give it a try. Rated 93 The Wine Advocate

This showstopper has all the bells and whistles: deep color, lavish oak, concentrated ripe fruit, power and harmony in a polished package. The boysenberry, chocolate and licorice flavors are voluptuous and velvety; the wine has elegance to match its power. It's hard to find Chile in its character, but easy to take pleasure in the result. Merlot, Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon. Rated 91 Wine Spectator

3. 1997 Vina Seña Aconcagua Valley (Chile) - Current price $62
High-toned, stylish Cab that's robed in cedar, mineral, smoke, iron and currant flavors. It's plush yet sophisticated, and the structure is finely grained. Long finish. Really classy stuff, showing more elegance than previous vintages of Seña. Rated 91 Wine Spectator

4. 1997 Vina Santa Rita Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon Maipo Valley (Chile) Current price $55
Dark, with a brooding nose that offers glimpses of cedar, coffee and smoke. The dense chocolate- and cassis-laden palate is harnessed by ripe, round tannins and snappy acidity. Winey and extracted, this should develop finesse with short-term cellaring. Rated 90 Wine Spectator

5. 1999 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon (California) - Current price $75
Sharply focused, with a pretty beam of plum, currant and black cherry flavors, framed by spicy, cedary oak and finishing with dry tannins. Rated 92 Wine Spectator

6. 1995 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon (California) -  Current price $60
A dense, well-oaked style, with plenty of anise, currant, chocolate, cedar and berry flavors to sustain it. Turns complex and supple on the finish, though it has the tannic strengh to cellar short-term. Rated 90 Wine Spectator