Merry Christmas

The holidays here got off to a wonderful start on Christmas Eve with cousins and other relatives and about twenty pounds of beef rib roast cooked all the way from rare to approaching shoe leather to satisfy the different tastes of the crowd. 

There were white wines to start the evening but when the beef was ready the "big boys" gave up their corks.  The two wines were both Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour Reserve Cabernets, one from 1999 (14 years old) and the other from 1988 (25 years old).  Both were delicious, though both were probably just beyond their peak and beginning to go downhill.  That was particularly true for the younger wine. 

Both wines had the unmistakable aromas of prunes, and the younger wine held on to that aroma while the older wine eventually moved on to earthiness.  The younger wine displayed more fruit and deeper color and early on it was the favorite of the four who were drinking wine.  By the end of the meal the opinion turned and when all was said and done the 1988 was the star of the evening.

This wine had the earthiness one expects from the Rutherford area of Napa Valley and the fruit was a little less ripe.  It made for a wonderful balance and the the earth flavors matched better with the beef than the more forward fruit flavors in the 1999 wine.  I found the 1988 wine tasted younger than the 1999 wine by the end of the meal.  Good meal, good wines and good friends and family.

Merry Christmas to all reading this and best wishes for a great holiday season.

1999 Beaulieu Georges de Latour Reserve.  13.8% alcohol
1988 Beaulieu Georges de Latour Reserve.  12.6% alcohol.