I am a big fan of 75s, while not blind to the flaws of many of them.
Here are some notes I did of an all 1975 dinner I arranged awhile ago
(not all Bordeaux).

I try to arrange a couple of wine dinners a year, along widely varying
themes. This season''s event was a tasting dinner of 1975 Bordeaux, and

as it seemed fit to me, also starting and ending wines from that same
vintage. In the following notes, therefore, the vintage is universally
1975. The wines were largely from my cellar, with several sourced from
friends.

The 1975 vintage is not one that people with Speculator or
''Parkerpalates'' will enjoy. They are framed in a style in which they
will never intentionally make wine again, so in a sense we were
tasting something that has now become a piece of past history. The
wines were made from fruit picked perhaps a little early and the fact
that destemming was not then much utilised only added to the tannin
''load'' of the wines (now, they would more exactly measure the point
of
ripeness of the grapes, and would destem to suit the style that they
consciously strive for). The result are big, hard, tannic wines that
have needed at least a quarter of a century to come around - this
would clearly be economic suicide in today''s world of instant
gratification. I daresay that if you put a glass of even a great 1975
Bordeaux in front of a Cal-cab drinker, or a fruit-at-all-costs fan,
they just wouldn''t know what to make of it.

You have to tip your hat (or glass) in respect - you will never see
their like again.


It began with a couple of wines that most people would consider long
deceased, a pair of 1975 Rieslings from the Mosel.

Patheiger Kaseler Kernhagel Auslese (Herrenberg) - a classic Riesling
with fairly light colour considering it''s age, and a very typical
petrolly nose. It had good concentration, and even more important at
this age, an excellent balance of acidity, with the wine bright in the
mouth rather than flabby.

Serriger Wurtzberg Auslese (Herrenberg) - I thought it would be fun to
have two wines from the same house. This one showed quite differently
indeed. It was darker, and while the nose was much less typically
Riesling, it was rich and honeyed, and in the mouth it had a larger
presence, deeper flavour concentration - a wonderful wine. What fun
discussing the relative merits of two very decent wines of that
vintage!


These wines were served with an array of scallops, sea urchin, and
foie gras with flageolets on a butter sauce.


First Flight:

Calon Segur (St. Estephe) - good colour, a medium garnet, and a nose
of toasty oak, with a stemmy greenish element, fair length and a bit
of tannin. This wine just kept opening up in the glass and getting
better and better, and to our surprise was the group favourite of this
flight.

La Fleur Petrus (Pomerol) - my one regret was that I had not cellared
more Pomerols, as this vintage seems to favour that bank. This wine
had nice but not effusive fruit in the nose, and apparent oak. It was
medium bodied, and still showed a fair bit of tannin, softening, but
assertive enough to make the wine seem on the lean side. Fair length.
Decent.

Beychevelle (St. Julien) - a nose of sweet oak, well structured with
good weight in the mouth, and good length. This wine has showed well
for the last few years, before which it was too hard to approach with
pleasure. But for the Calon Segur, it would have been my favourite of
flight.

Branaire Ducru - the only one that did not show as well as it has in
the past. A decent nose of cedar and vanilla, but an atypical leanness
in the middle that I have observed a couple of times - I think that
this wine, which was one of the better for drinking over the at
decade, is starting to get a bit unreliable. If you have it, drink
soon, and you should still get the odd pleasant surprise (I had a very
good bottle six months ago).

Served with sweetbreads and chanterelles, with goat cheese on brioche.


Second Flight:

Lynch Bages (Pauillac) - the "Big P" gives this poor marks, but we
felt differently about it. A nose of fairly ripe fruit, with good
concentration in the mouth, and excellent flavour, it had good length,
and the tannins didn''t really kick in until the end.

Montrose (St. Estephe) - This wine has been quite backward, even by
the standards of this vintage, until quite recently. I had a bottle
the week before as a test, and enjoyed it, and this one was entirely
consistent. It had a nice cedar and fruit nose, and the fruit was
exhibited on palate, with a pleasant smoothness, not too tannic, as it
was well balanced by the flavour intensity. Now entering it''s
(probably lengthy) plateau of drinkability.

Ducru Beaucaillou (St. Julien) - a very good red currant mint and
cedar nose, excellent depth, even though still quite tannic,
concentrated yet elegant. My best of flight choice.

Leoville Barton (St. Julien) - a big wine, the tannins still firm, but
with enough fruit to back it that it drinks fairly well now. I am not
sure that it has enough fruit to see out the fairly high level of
tannin, so drinking it in the next few years may be more pleasant than
waiting longer and having the fruit fade.

1979 Montrose - this found it''s way in as a mistaken bottle pulled
(not by me, I hasten to add), instead of the 75. Fortunately the
restaurant (Le Gavroche in Vancouver - highly recommended) had another
bottle of the 75, so I had this one served as a blind tasting. I told
everyone that the chateau matched one of the others in the flight,
though from a different vintage. Most people thought it was Ducru, to
it''s credit. It had very good dark colour, good balance, and very good

fruit. Here is a tip for you - this wine was rated by Parker at 78
points, and characterised as light, acidic and austere. There is
therefore no appreciable market for the wine. RPs note is either based
on a poor bottle or.....in any case, if you do find this wine, don''t
say anything, just buy it, let the seller think he put one over on
you, and raise a glass to me when you enjoy it.

Served with smoked quail salad with pine mushroom and warm sherry
vinaigrette.

Third Flight (The Big Boys):

Leoville Las Cases (St. Julien)- I have not been into this wine, and
it''s reputation has been one of a tannic backward giant. It was indeed

still quite ''firm'', but the fruit is now showing through the veil of
tannin, and it had a very pleasant sweetness on entry that tended to
lighten the impact of the tannin. It is not yet there, but I have much
more confidence that it will someday arrive, still with sufficient
fruit to allow it o be a very good wine.

Mouton Rothschild (Pauillac) - not a great Mouton, but having said
that, the second best of the decade after the 1970. It had a
flamboyant, mellow cedar nose, and was quite forward and smooth with
good length. I have my doubts about whether this wine will hold for
many more years - it just may be showing the first signs of break up.
Wish I had some to revisit so I could tell for sure! The comment was
made that in this vintage, the quality of the wines were apparent,
with the Las Cases clearly a little below the top group, and the
Mouton where it belongs as ''first of the seconds'' (don''t tell the
Baroness I repeated that!).

La Mission Haut Brion - a wine rated as 100 points by RP, and quite
unaffordable as a result. A really wonderful chocolate/cocoa nose, and
a huge wine in the mouth with rich concentrated flavour, so much so
that the tannin, whichis present in great amounts, is not very
noticeable until it has been in the glass fo awhile. Not 100 points in
my book, but very hiogh nonetheless.

Latour (Paulliac) - a very different but very lovely nose of tobacco,
cedar, black currant. Immense depth of flavour, and tremendous length.
I''d have given my vote to this wine, had not the next one given me
pause.

Pichon Lalande (Pauillac) - cedar and nice fruit in the nose, and a
different structure than all the others, balanced and elegant (more so
than even the Ducru), a classy wine, that was attractive and more
forward than the others. Many people decided that this was their
favourite of the night. I refused to limit myself to just one, and
chose the Latour, then the Pichon, and the La Mission. Great fun to
have to make such choices! (Contributed blind, and gratis, by the
restaurant!)


Served with lamb filet Wellington, celeriac puree, and roasted garlic
jus.


Quinta do Noval Port - my long time choice for this vintage, I bought
a case early on to see me through the wait for the 77s to mature. My
last bottle. Medium colour, good nose - a little spirity, and quite
good depth of flavour, but nearing the end of it''s plateau and
starting to decline

Taylors Port - I hadn''t had this for a few years, and was quite
pleasantly surprised - it had very similar colour to the Noval, but
more concentration of flavour on the palate, and presented as an
over-all more serious contender.

Served with pear poached in port, stuffed with candied walnuts and
Roquefort, on port reduction, with Chaource and Clarines cheeses