1982 GPL and Figeac



Chicken with pumpkin and chick pea stew!

 1 May 2013:  We were given a huge pumpkin so I had a pumpkin day on Labour Day.....chicken with pumkin and chick pea stew, served with couscous and lightly curried pumpkin soup.....enough to feed an army.  Also joining this exotic theme was some smoked baby lamb from Patrick's stone oven and a Moroccan style chicken cooked sous-vide with confit of lemon and bay leaves....the wines were less exotic though.......!

2006 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux (in magnum)

Very expressive nose of fig, nutty, guava, mango, lemon, honeysuckle, with a lanolin note. Rich and viscous on the palate, but deftly balanced by vibrant acidity. Finishes long. 18/20

1982 Grand Puy Lacoste (in magnum)
A marvellous example of the classiness and ageability of 1982 Bordeaux. Cassis, blueberry, cigar box, cedar and leather notes. Medium body, with velvety texture and beautifully integrated tannin. Long complex finish delivering freshness and complexity. There is no hurry in drinking this up at all.  Drink now till 2030+. 18.5/20

1982 Figeac (in magnum)
Plum, blackberry, dried fruit, cedar with chocolate and liquorice nuances. Medium body, with mouth-coating texture. Almost liquoreux on the finish. Drying finish. 17.5/20

Our surprise wine was a 2009 Yao Ming!  (Thank you, Debra!)  Well-balanced wine, elegantly crafted, with a bouquet of cedar, blackberry, and some jammy notes.  Good level of acidity keeping the wine in harmony and balance. It did benefit from aeration, but I was too busy in the kitchen to have the opportunity to come back to this.  Would be interesting to try this again.   

And we topped up the red wine selection with a 2006 Pontet Canet.  We did not have time to decant this but it was already very expressive with lovely aromatics of cedar, cassis, blueberry, plum, blackberry, violet, liquorice with some graphite and leather notes.  Medium level of firm and ripe tannin, velvety and mouthcoating texture, medium acidity - just enough to give the wine a lift of freshness. You could tell there's a very robust structure in the wine, but totally enjoyable now and would continue to evolve over the next 20 - 30 years!  18/20

Then we finished with a 1992 Noble One, Botrytis Semillon from Australia.....the colour of which was an orange-tawny, but the palate still tasted fresh.