The milk pint and the cradle were 50 years ago!
What is not done to celebrate a "round" birthday in a dignified way? And what if it's even half a century? There are as many ways of doing this as there are people.
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| Birthday table before the celebration |
In this case, Barbara is the birthday girl. Three years ago, she, a wine lover and graduate of the "Académie du Vin et du Goût", planned the big day. It was to be a tasting, one with many "noble" wines and sixteen selected guests, her best friends. The prerequisite for all those invited: They must like wine. It falls to me to organise the event, to put together the wines, to moderate the evening. Fifty years, that's a good half life: what can be said about that in wine language?
The vocabulary is indeed large and colourful: dry, noble sweet, racy, nervy, radiant, round, plump, bittersweet, palatable, elegant, multi-layered, ripe, at its peak, dense, full-bodied, substantial, pithy, powerful, warm, long-lasting, endless, radiant, clear, restrained, delicate, spicy, powerful, floral.... This is a good way to pay homage to the jubilarian, to tie a charming wreath. But how do you express all this (and much more) in and with wine?
And in such a way that even after the umpteenth glass and the umpteenth bottle, the memorable occasion does not degenerate into a binge? That the experience has an infinitely long reverberation, a finish that documents the sustainability of the occasion.
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| Table set with competition |
It quickly became clear to me: it had to be Bordeaux. This one name of the city in the southwest of France has "become synonymous with great wine in all the languages of the world" (Antoine Lebègue). But Bordeaux is as diverse and varied as the vineyards that spread over 120,000 hectares there.
In this tricky situation, a suitable vintage usually helps: 1957. Oh dear, according to Parker: " a terribly cold, wet summer and a small harvest." No, the '57 vintage does not have a good reputation in Bordeaux. Nevertheless, a glimmer of hope: Parker still gave the "Haut-Brion" 57 90 points in 1997, the "Lafite Rohtschild" 86-88 points and "Lynch Bages", the "Mouton of the little man", 88 points. Oh horror. The prices for these "rare" wines have climbed so high in recent years that even a highbrow birthday party can hardly cope with them. I note: Latour 1957 - 520 SFr. (330 ), Mission Haut-Brion 1957 - 347 SFr. (220 ), Pichon Comtesse de Lalande 1957 - 210 SFr (133 ) etc.
Far more discouraging than the high prices is the availability of the vintage: it hardly ever appears in the auctions.
Dear Barbara has really given me a good "cracking nut" that cannot be opened so easily, not even with money and time.
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| 372 |
Now, of course, you would like to know how I solved the task, how the evening went, how the half-century mark was passed.
Barbara (original quote): "It didn't hurt!" This "not hurting " gradually turns out to be an impressive experience of man and wine, of pleasure and joy, of experience and devotion.
The first round after the prelude (to rinse with wine!) brings four whites into the glass: "Smith-Haut-Lafitte", 1996, "Rabassière", 2005 (a Viognier from the Rhône - so a pirate), Carbonnieux, 1989, and "Amigne de Gilbert Devayes", 2002 from the Valais (the "court jester", so to speak!).
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| Rare 57s - better than their reputation |
Bordeaux against a piece of home for Barbara. She grew up in the Valais, where today the autochthonous wines are so sought after, and her second geographical love, quasi her holiday home, is Bourdic, a small village in the south of France, between the sea and the Cevennes.
This opens the door wide to the wine evening: Two white Bordeaux, one 19 years old and already properly aged, the other only ten years old, still youthful, in the most beautiful festive dress; a smart Duché of Uzès (Bourdic is close to this small town), a real Grand Duke and a farmer from Switzerland, from the Valais, a wild local who has long since moulted into an elegant gentleman.
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| 26 bottles are decanted |
Don't worry, I'm not going to list all the 26 bottles opened, nor am I going to string together names and origins. I just want to show how a birthday can be celebrated in such a way that the reverberations will last for months, even years.
Experiencing is something other than just knowing, taking note, just celebrating, commemorating a day....
Experiencing is living, it is what makes us rich, what will remain in us. A wine tasting is only an external circumstance - a moment in life where experience is possible.
If we, the 16 guests, henceforth come up with knowledge in conversations, for example, that the best Bordeaux, the weak Siebner vintages (57, 67, 77, 87 and 97) are not so weak at all, can definitely be compared with wines from good vintages, that one can not only criticise them but also enjoy them, then we have experienced all this. Or when we tell how the '57 Latour is still on a par with the '92 Latour, after 45 years - and not on an inferior level. Or when we describe how the 100% Merlot wine "La Fleur de Gay" from Pomerol differs from the 100% Merlot wine "Cuvée C" from Bourdic, then this is not just memory, but experience, stored in the moment of enjoyment.
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| Critically examining festive round |
Perhaps enjoyment is the only right way to celebrate a "round birthday". You can, but you don't necessarily have to, do this with wine, because enjoyment is as varied as all the good wines on our planet.
Happy Birthday, Barbara!
Sincerely
Yours/Yours
Peter (Züllig)