My Article: Think About 1985

I admit to feeling slightly rough today after a dinner with a few friends in Tuscany to celebrate the 27th birthday of my videographer Jacobo. He is half my age. It’s not fair.

I wanted to make a nice impression so I went into my cellar to find a 1985 to drink. I knew I had some vintage Port but I decided that I would be worse for wear if I pulled that out. So I looked for the many bottles of 1985 Bordeaux I thought I had in the cellar. I couldn’t find any! I must have drunk them a long time ago.

The 1985 vintage was one of the first vintages I tasted from barrel as a young taster with The Wine Spectator. I was tasting at the time with former New York Times wine writer Terry Robards, who was one of the top tasters in the world at the time. I also was tasting with Alexis Lichine, the late great author and vintner. It seems like yesterday.

I remember the 1985 vintage as well because I worked the harvest at Vieux Chateau Certan, the famous Pomerol estate. I remember loading grapes into the wooden vats, and the cooling system was with dry ice. The daughter of one of the owners was my girlfriend. I was living in Paris at the time. 🙂

France was a magical place then. It moved at a much slower pace. Everyone seemed to be into food and wine. It wasn’t all about money. Or no money. Or socialism, or everything else in France now and Europe in general. It was a place to take time and enjoy life at a healthy pace.

The 1985s always had a lovely balance with ripe fruits and fine tannins. They were fun to taste from barrel and they drank incredibly well when young. But then came 1986, which had more hype and was not as good across the board, followed by 1988, 1989 and 1990 as excellent years. The last two vintages put 1985 in the shadow.

Anyway, I found a bottle of 1985 in my cellar for dinner last night. It wasn’t a great bottle. I, in fact, was worried it might be poor. But it was excellent – 1985 Haut-Bages-Liberal. The Pauillac showed a lovely sweet tobacco and floral character with dried fruits. It was medium-bodied, with delicate fruit and ultra fine tannins. It was claret as the English say – real claret. 92 points, if you want to know the score.

I am sure my hangover isn’t due to that bottle or the bottles of Barolo, Barbera, sparkling wine, and the rest we drank last night. I am going to keep to my story. It’s jetlag from coming back from Hong Kong a few days ago. But it’s worth the pain this morning to think back to 1985 and what I was doing at the time. And the bottle was delicious too.

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