(Sep. 10, 2014) — The Old and the New

As has been done several times in the past, we begin the 2014-15 Winetasters season with a retrospective look at older vintages from the famed Bordeaux region of France. Once again this will take the form of a “vertical” tasting, or multi-vintages from a single Chateau. As we have seen in past tastings of this type, it provides the opportunity to discover not only how individual vintages take on unique characteristics from each year’s weather pattern (and other factors) but also how the wines age and how the aging patterns vary from vintage to vintage.

For this tasting, the wines will be from Chateau les Ormes de Pez, one of the better estates from St. Estephe at the north end of the Haut-Medoc. The chateau is located in the northern part of the commune just west of the classed growth Calon-Segur, and is owned by Jean-Michel Cazes, also owner of the highly-regarded Chateau Lynch-Bages and one of our “Flying Winemakers” from an earlier tasting. The wines of Les Ormes de Pez are typically dark, plush and full-flavoured but with good ageability and are well appreciated for providing consistently high quality at a modest price. Les Ormes de Pez is a “Cru Bourgeois”, the designation for those that did not quite make the list of Bordeaux Classed Growths in 1855, but several of the best Crus Bourgeois (including this one) are felt by many to be good enough to be considered for classification if a new one were to take place.

We are calling this tasting “the Old and the New” (admittedly the “New” is relative), as four of the wines are from the 1980’s and should clearly show how well these wines age and where they might currently be on their plateau of peak drinkability, while the others are from newer vintages in the 1990’s and just beyond, and some of these may show that there is some evolution and improvement still to be had. The vintages we will be tasting are 1985, 1986 (both from magnum), 1988, 1989 (the “Old”), plus 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2000 (the “New”).

One of the benefits of tasting multi-vintages of a wine like Les Ormes de Pez, which is relatively affordable in the Bordeaux context, is that it will show an aging and peak drinking profile that should inform buying and cellaring decisions for current and future vintages from this producer and other reasonably-priced Bordeaux wines.

We hope to see you at the tasting and at many of the other excellent events planned for this year.

As always with our tastings, this event will be strictly non-smoking, and we request your cooperation in not wearing any scented after-shave or perfume. Using public transit is strongly encouraged.

Cancellations accepted up to September 5, 2014. See the event form for cancellation contact details. No reservations by phone, please. No confirmations will be issued — you will be contacted only if we are sold out. First come basis. Non-members may attend at guest rates, but preference will be given to members.

Download the event form if you wish to mail in your reservation cheque.