Casual drinking with an old themeLast night, friends called me up for a last minute drinking session…. Theme, something old. That obviously get me excited. Without hesitation, I quickly grabbed an old bottle that happened to be standing up for a couple of days and rushed over.In his cellar, a glance and I saw some striking labels – Gaja. They didn’t blind the bottle. Interesting, I never had very old Gaja before, so I thought this is going to be some interesting session.We pulled out our weapons – the old cork remover, The Durango. My bottle’s cork came off nicely. My friend’s Gaja Barbaresco 1962 wasn’t so lucky – a bit of pressure applied and the cork sank further in, even our old faithful weapon couldn’t salvage sinking cork. So no choice, just got to depress the cork into the bottle and filter off the wine. So off we go, filtering into a decanter for the 62. The Gaja 61 was much luckier, it got popped easily.Gaja 62 was quite interesting. I was told it was a very good vintage in Piedmont. The nose was on a borderline maderization, however, I found out roughly an hour later, that it wasn’t maderized, perhaps the wine has been in the bottle for too long, needs some breathing space. So later part, it was more of a dried tobacco leaves on the nose. The palette was initially too dry for me, it’s like there’s no fruits to support the elevated acidity. Well, good vintages don’t show its character on first sip, one just have to be patient. Slowly, after about an hour or so, the dryness goes away, replaced by more prominent fruits, now this wine is singing. What a joy to drink an old wine when it flexes its muscle fully. The kind of depth is stunning when it got company of lively acidity.While my friend played some nice Jazz music on his AudioNote 211 tube amplifier coupled with cranky old records and a pair of Avant Garde horn speakers, one can’t ask for more in life. To those wine lovers who are also hooked to audiophile music, I must say sight, ear, palette are three great senses in life. If you’re not an audiophile yet, come speak to me, I will turn you into one. Now I present my bottle – blinded.I brought something funky this time round. My first note when my friend asked me how you describe the nose of the wine, I blurted out “deep violet”. So they started guessing appellations. Bordeaux is not their expertise, so no one was quite close. I told them it’s a Margaux appellation. “Ah….”, I already gave my first hint but nobody paid attention to my tips. Now the label is even more tricky, they quickly ran through many labels … Palmer, Margaux, Brane Cantenac, Cantenac Brown, Kirwan, Rauzan Segla …. Nope, nobody got it right. It was a twin sister label, revealed – Rauzan Gassies 1961, a way under-rated 2nd growth in Margaux which nowadays nobody bothered taking it seriously anymore. But to me, wines that’s 52 years old may sing a different tune, and there must be a reason why in 1855 they have classified it as a 2nd growth. The initial palette does not match the excellence in nose (as usual, Margaux wines excel in the nose), palette was with disjoint acidity and fruits, it’s like the fruits are slightly shadowed by the acidity. But again, for an arguably Vintage of the Century for 1961 Bordeaux wines, you do not ever look down on it by the initial sip. Let it breadth a bit in the decanter (yes, you guys may say I’m crazy, decanting a fragile old wine?) You can have my word for ’59 and ’61 you’re better off decanting the wines). Guess what? The wine was in the decanter for good 3-4 hours, when I left my friend’s house at 1:30 am, I had the last sip of Rauzan Gassies, it is not just alive, it is kicking! It held in the decanter so well, and has improved tremendously over its structure to be more balanced. Great under-rated wine from a great vintage. I am sold on any Bordeaux 1961 wines.Ok, I fast forwarded too far. Back to Gaja 1961, the wine stayed in the bottle as we ran out of decanters. The wine was very good, both on the nose and on the palette. Even though 61 wasn’t as good as 62 in terms of vintage in Piedmont, but the wine has sufficient alcohol of 14 degrees to hold for 50+ years. In those days, producing wines of 14 degrees alcoholic content was unheard of. On hindsight, it was a good move. The character of this Gaja 61 was almost similar to the 62, but more pleasant and more approachable than the 62. Obviously the 62 benefited from some air, the 61 didn’t have the benefit of gasping for some air, it stayed in the bottle throughout. My last pour was full of sediments, what a shame for not filtering off.Now, there are some big big surprises coming on our way while we spend our casual time listening to songs and chit chat. Another friend has brought a bottle of burgundy. Friends who know me I have never been a big fan of burgundy, but this bottle obviously has grabbed my attention – Faiveley Echezeaux Grand Cru 1985. Nose was so so, nothing to shout about. But on the palette, I’m pretty surprised – deep, structured, bold, and almost can chew the wine like some stewed fruit, it’s almost Bordeaux like….. Guess I’m a Bordeaux fan, so I always use Bordeaux wines as a reference. I can almost relate this to my favorite Pichon Lalande 85 apart from the nose.Some decent surprise tonight, now . I’m impressed with aged burgundy.Side step a bit, I once brought a Wine Society Grand Echezeaux 1959 to a burgundy only tasting (I almost didn’t get invited as a staunch Bordeaux defender!), and Lo and Behold, it simply blow the whole table of top name Musigny, Bonne Mares and Richebourg. The kind of complex nose and palette on an old burgundy for a top vintage can never be replaced, that was my number one burgundy bottle so far, till this Faiveley Echezeaux 85 came along, has altered some of my perception about burgundies, till you hear my last story……I don’t know what caused my friends to open another bottle, some stories about “should have opened it during my last birthday… “, well, they didn’t hesitate to pop this – Chambolle Musigny Les Fuées 1990 from Jacques Frederic Mugnier. On the first pour, nothing special, a bit of raisins and flowery notes but mostly muted nose. Palette is worse – muted, woody and nothing really special. I was saying, “Sure or not? you predict this as wine of the night?”, my walking encyclopedia burgundy consultant friend replied calmly, “be patient, keep your palette sharp”. Then without another word, he found an old decanter and decanted the whole bottle. As the night goes, I detected some changes on the wine, the nose has blossomed into full sweet raisins, so was the palette.The woodiness and muted palette has evolved into something more drinkable, slightly more fruits and raisins on the palette. About two hours later, my biggest shock came from this bottle – what was initially muted nose has blossomed into summer fruits, a nose full of raisins that I virtually cannot smell anything else, and the palette has done the same too – rich, thick, nothing but raisins. Never had I, in my entire wine drinking years, encountered a wine that has evolved so much in a short timeframe of 2 hours, not a single first growth in Bordeaux. It is like watching a rose grow up in two hours, and suddenly become extremely matured and will not wither.How shocking was that?Coming from a Premier Cru? Now I cannot help but to take my walking encyclopedia burgundy consultant friend as demigod when it has got anything to do with burgundy. They have made my night and totally different experience in my wine drinking career, and somehow altered the perception of red burgundies for me. One problem left – how to find these elusive bottles? A quick hop over to wine-searcher and I can only find a merchant in UK selling it for S$643.Ouch, now I maybe on a path of no return.
