TN: 86 Grange and two others
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:28 pm
Howdy all,
After much anticipation I finally opened my sole bottle of 86 Grange. A classmate and I had originally purchased the bottle with the intention of drinking it upon our graduation from graduate school. This past weekend, several years late, we pulled the cork. The 86 Lafite will have to wait until we've been tenured (knock on wood).
1986 Grange Hermitage - this has got to be the most tannic wine I've ever tasted! Double decanted back into the bottle about one hour before dinner and then consumed over two and a half hours. The lighter-than-expected red color and the plum aromas coming out of the decanter had me thinking this bottle was ready to go. Wrong! This is a big and brooding monster that demands another five to ten years in the cellar. When poured at the restaurant, the nose and palate were both muted. By the end of the evening, the wine began to come out of its shell, but was probably hours away from really shining. I don't have a lot of experience with Grange, but towards the end of dinner, the 86 Grange was beginning to remind of the 80 and 82 vintages of Grange -- aromatically complex, dense, with layers and layers and layers of fruit, licorice, mocha, etc. In fact, I remember sticking my nose into the glass and exclaiming "It finally smells like Grange" -- a comment that the couple sitting at an adjoining table seemed to have a hard time making any sense of. Next Grange I buy and drink will be an 80 or 82 -- and the wine will spend substantially more time in the decanter.
2001 Dutschke Oscar Semmler - we opened this up so that we'd have something to drink while the Grange opened up; we would have been much better served with another aged Shiraz, but my classmate was keen to try the Semmler; sadly, it came across as quite candied and unstructured next to the Grange; I've raved about this wine on previous occasions; context is everything.
2001 Moss Wood Chardonnay - really, really good; the oily texture I associate with Meursault, good ripe fruit, and a long steely/minerally finish. I'm not looking to buy much wine these days but this is a heckuva good Chardonnay for $30.
That's it for now.
Jon
After much anticipation I finally opened my sole bottle of 86 Grange. A classmate and I had originally purchased the bottle with the intention of drinking it upon our graduation from graduate school. This past weekend, several years late, we pulled the cork. The 86 Lafite will have to wait until we've been tenured (knock on wood).
1986 Grange Hermitage - this has got to be the most tannic wine I've ever tasted! Double decanted back into the bottle about one hour before dinner and then consumed over two and a half hours. The lighter-than-expected red color and the plum aromas coming out of the decanter had me thinking this bottle was ready to go. Wrong! This is a big and brooding monster that demands another five to ten years in the cellar. When poured at the restaurant, the nose and palate were both muted. By the end of the evening, the wine began to come out of its shell, but was probably hours away from really shining. I don't have a lot of experience with Grange, but towards the end of dinner, the 86 Grange was beginning to remind of the 80 and 82 vintages of Grange -- aromatically complex, dense, with layers and layers and layers of fruit, licorice, mocha, etc. In fact, I remember sticking my nose into the glass and exclaiming "It finally smells like Grange" -- a comment that the couple sitting at an adjoining table seemed to have a hard time making any sense of. Next Grange I buy and drink will be an 80 or 82 -- and the wine will spend substantially more time in the decanter.
2001 Dutschke Oscar Semmler - we opened this up so that we'd have something to drink while the Grange opened up; we would have been much better served with another aged Shiraz, but my classmate was keen to try the Semmler; sadly, it came across as quite candied and unstructured next to the Grange; I've raved about this wine on previous occasions; context is everything.
2001 Moss Wood Chardonnay - really, really good; the oily texture I associate with Meursault, good ripe fruit, and a long steely/minerally finish. I'm not looking to buy much wine these days but this is a heckuva good Chardonnay for $30.
That's it for now.
Jon
), it really started to pick up speed after a few hours decanting, but could have done with ages more (say 12+ hours).
