TN: 1972 DRC LaTache

[Roy Hersh]

Instead of taking a trip with the family (which will come later) I decided to have a blow out of a wine weekend with good friends to celebrate my 50th birthday. The theme was shockingly, Port yet we managed to squeeze in a few dozen other wines too.

I pulled out all of my great oldies from the cellar to share them with participants that flew in from all over the US, Canada, UK & Portugal. We had quite a collection of old Colheitas from 1815-1957 with the vast majority between 1863 and 1937.

The night before the official events began, my brother, my wife and daughter went out for a nice and casual meal. We decided to just order off the list and then came home to drink the featured wine:

1972 DRC LaTache - although I've had my share of DRC bottlings, I've only enjoyed one Mag of 1969 LaTache in the past. It was fun to slowly enjoy this bottle over a few hours of great conversation with Mitch. The wine itself showed a slightly cloudy orange-brick color with a tawny edge (he flew in with the bottle earlier in the day, which may have something to do with the "cloudy" appearance). The cork was really funky with gobs of black gunk that smelled like mushrooms.

On the nose, the DRC initially proferred a lactic note which disappeared in short order. Then came the smoked meat, autumn leaves and a hint of wintergreen that together provided a melange of aromas that kept getting crazier as the wine wore on. On the palate this was racy and sublime with quite a bit more fruit than I had expected. It certainly would have been wiser to pull the cork five years earlier, as this showed its age but still delivered plenty of pleasure for me. There was a very dark edge to the wine with black cherry, tar and tobacco along with an earthy note which left no doubt as to where this was from. The mouthfeel was soft and generous but not what I'd call smooth or velvety. Plenty of panache here without the power, I enjoyed this wine and thank my brother for sharing his oldest LaTache. 94 points