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Corton Charlemagne..... Ch. Leoville Poyferre.....


10-Aug-99

Took two bottles of wine to Mul Yam, our favorite seafood restaurant in Tel-Aviv.
We had a gorgeous dinner there with our good friends Amihai & Dafna and Rimon & Shoshi. It is hard to recount all the dishes that were brought to justice by the six of us, but the creativity (in the good sense of the word!) of the chef and the top-quality products they use made every lobster dish (we had three different kinds of them...), every shrimp, crab and tuna dish (we had many types of these too, not to speak of mussels and oysters) a real celebration.
Do I hear the purist go "red wine with lobsters??"? Yes! Red wine with lobster! When both are good I am willing to give up almost anything else in the world...

Corton Charlemagne 1992 L. Jadot

8/99. Acquired from Beaune, Dec-94 for $41.
COLOR: Medium-light golden color. Looks fresh and inviting.
NOSE: Myriads of wonderful aromas and a purely seductive bouquet. Fresh white fruits, minerals, wet stones and more. All in a clean (i.e not wood-dominated) first-class manifestation. Perfecto!
TASTE: Deliciously rich and broad on the palate. Exquisitely tasty with the elegance and style one can only expect from a top Corton Charlemagne. Full of fresh flavors with measured acidity and that steely feel that is so characteristic of the terroir.
LENGTH: Long and intensive aftertaste that prolongs the taste of each sip indefinitely.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Full bodied and well crafted Grand Cru that has not lost its terroir identity in the winemaker's quest for perfection. Ample fresh fruit, multi-dimensional on the nose and in the mouth. Measured wood and acidity add perfect balance to a perfect wine.
OVERALL: Extraordinary!! Haven't tasted such a great white (B) in a long time.
MARK: 19/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? Yes.


Ch. Leoville Poyferre 1990 St. Julien

8/99. Bought at auction Jul-97 for $110.
I think this is the first Leoville Poyferre I've ever tasted (you should know by now that Bordeaux is not what I was given to go with my mother's milk...).
COLOR: Deep dark red-purple, hardly any clearing around the rim.
NOSE: Fantastic rich and concentrated nose. Black forest-fruits of sweetish tones. Secondary aromas of tobacco and pencil-tip and a hint of toasted scents. Deep, harmonious and enticing nose.
TASTE: Pure and concentrated on the palate with plenty of winyness, excellent fruit and a wide spectrum of flavors. Still very youthful with apparent (though not obstructive) tannins and just enough acidity to give the wine the vitality it needs.
LENGTH: Medium-long finish with beautiful aftertaste..
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Full-bodied, extremely concentrated wine. Multi-facet, stylish, elegant and pure. A well-endowed wine that is a far cry from some one-dimensional fruit-bombs 'cult' wines produced west of the Rocky Mountains...
OVERALL: Superb-plus! One of the very best Bordeaux I have tasted (not that I've tasted so many!). Still young and needs another 5 years to reach its peak.
MARK: 18.5/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? Yes.


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Jacob "Yak" Shaya.