April 2010

Date: Sunday April 18, 2010

Location: Private Home

Tasting: 3:00 p.m.

Members Only


	*See below for what happened.........*

Exceptional Bordeaux Wines

Gary and Terese Grondin are opening their new French Chateau home and their wonderful wine cellar for this extra special AWS April wine tasting of Bordeaux wines. We will be having a small taste of a grand decade of Bordeaux, 1979 – 1989.

Apéritif

White Bordeaux

The Wines

Grand Vin de Leoville 1979

Chateau Gloria St. Julien 1981

Chateau Meyney 1982

Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal 1983

Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal 1986

Chateau Lynch Bages 1989

We will serve bread and cheese with the wines. Coffee and desserts will follow the tasting. Please bring your own glasses. No smoking or strong fragrances.

Attendees recognize they will consume alcohol and assume responsibility of having done so.

Reservations deadline is April 15, 2010. Members Only $50.00


	*What Happened........*.

This tasting was organized by Ken and Margaret Grezlik and Bernd and Maryse Mueller.

It was held by the wine cellar in Gary and Terese Grondin’s home. Gary provided the wines from his collection.


	Ken Grezlik introduced the hosts and outlined the order of the tasting. He described the white Bordeaux aperitif wines, Prince de Tabourg and Chateau des Tourtes, which were served with goat cheese and crackers.

Bernd Mueller, who is very expert on the Bordeaux area, with personal vineyard and winery experience there, led the tasting.

He began with a description of the Medoc region, telling us of the climate and terroir that marks Bordeaux. For each wine, he located its Chateau and described its unique features as well as the factors that affected the vintage.

The wine bottles had been stood up for two days, the wines then decanted an hour before the tasting and returned to their bottles. Frank Carson did yeoman work in serving the portions that allowed 21 tasters a serving. With the wines, there were breads and cheeses, Gouda and Brie and, with the last bottle, some Danish Blue.

Bernd also told us that these wines were from a decade of transition that followed the 1976 “Judgment in Paris” blind tasting that paired US and French wines with the US wines equaling and/or surpassing in at least one wine. That and subsequent such tastings convinced the French winemakers to change their methods toward a riper, fruitier grape and softer tannins, allowing darker, fuller wines that could be consumed with much less aging.

The wines we tasted were in very good condition, with good clarity and some were very bright. There was abundant aroma and flavor in all of them. The Lynch Bages was best, though others, such as the Meyney, were not far behind.

The tasting closed with coffee and excellent biscotti by Margaret and beautifully done Chrusciki (Angel Wings) by Terese. We were very fortunate to have such a fine tasting of old Bordeaux, as were provided by Gary and Terese in a beautiful setting.










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