1959 wasn't merely a very good year for French wine. It has been dubbed the "vintage of the century."
Michael La Tondre, a Fair Oaks wine aficionado, decided to celebrate the vintage's golden anniversary with style. He organized a tasting Saturday night at San Francisco's Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The wines included some of 1959's superstar bottles, with food pairings from chef Ron Siegel, the first American to beat the "Iron Chef."
"Tasting 14 wines from 1959 is a chance of a lifetime," said La Tondre. "Tasting all 14 wines and not getting a single corked wine was sheer luck. The tasters were friends, not wine experts, so even the novices could appreciate the diversity and complexity of so many special wines in one evening."
So how did the wines show? Here are a few of La Tondre's tasting notes. (Look for all 14 at www.sacbee.com/ appetizers). Read on – and please, no drooling:
• 1959 Chateau d'Yquem (100 points): This was gorgeous, maple syrup. You could pour this Yquem on pancakes. But it went fantastic with the lobster and veal cheeks. The veal-lobster reduction sauce matched the amber color of the Yquem, yet one was salty and the other was sweet. This was WOTN ("wine of the night") for me as well as five other tasters.
• 1959 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (95 points): To have some fun, this wine was served blind. Some regard 1959 Lafite as the greatest wine of 1959, but this bottle was not in as good a condition. Great purple color; explosive aromatics; figgy, dry, portlike in texture. Two people chose it as WOTN.
• 1959 Chapoutier Monier de la Sizeranne (89-plus points): This Rhone from Hermitage … had Cuban cigar in the nose with bacon and smoke. The color was red with amber edges showing it was a wine of age. It had a medium mouth feel, and the finish was only 20 seconds. The wine was in excellent condition but not a superstar.
• 1959 Chateau Latour (98 points): This wine had the characteristic power of many classic Latours, with great nose and youthful flavors. Lead pencil, graphite, with blueberry compote – this had excellent complexity. Three people chose it as WOTN. A great wine to finish the night.
Call Bee food and wine writer Chris Macias, (916) 321-1253.
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