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Last month, I took a weekend trip to Europe to inspect a major European collection. I was able to negotiate to be able to offer wines from this extensive collection through our retail operation, offerings that will start this week and continue over the next month as organized by era. The cellar is that vast – some wines were purchased in twenty case parcels! Keep your eyes peeled for more of the ‘Lugano Collection.’

Of course, part and parcel of the inspection process was an extensive tasting of a random selections of wines from this amazingly diverse collection. We settled on ‘six wines from six decades’ and gathered in a small bistro and ate and drink the night away.

We began innocently enough with a 1992 Joseph Drouhin Clos Vougeot. The wine had a pleasant nose, lightly layered though perhaps entering the last stage of the benevolent maturation process. The wine had edge – cedar, mineral, animal and vegetable with kisses of bouillon, earth and hay. Everything was nicely balanced in the nose with a touch of prickle. The palate was tasty and smooth with a pinch of green flavors from the vintage, a wine not to age much longer but still enjoyable. There were nice earth and leather flavors on its finish, but one could sense the animal and vegetable gremlins waiting to bust out in a bad way soon, which is the vintage more than anything else, as the bottle was quite sound. Drink up (88).

A 1988 Jaboulet Hermitage ‘La Chapelle’ had a smoky, toasty nose with lightly roasted Hermitage fruit, deep plum and cassis fruit, and a nutty, raisiny sex appeal. Meaty and oily, its nose was impressive, but its palate was a bit dry with extreme acidity. It lacked the fruit and depth of a great La Chapelle, but it was still a very good one with dry, leathery flavors and a long finish. On the second go-around, it reminded me of 1975 Bordeaux a bit (90).

Speaking of which, the next wine was a 1975 Beychevelle. The nose was amazingly fresh, still with a lot in reserve, but also with deep, dry cassis, minerals, anise and spicy earth aromas. The nose was high-pitched, a summit for tannins and alcohol. It was ‘ruff n’ rugged’ in a good way on the palate, spiny and intense with much more finish than fruit, and a lot of anise and mineral flavors. I like this vintage in general when I need a good spanking (88).

As a side note, I know in today’s number-crunching world that 88 points seems like a scarlet letter, but I would like to take the time to remind everyone that a wine can be perfectly enjoyable and ‘good’ in that score range, especially when dealing with mature wines when the price is right, and the ’92 and ’75 proved just that.

Unfortunately, our wine from the ’60s was corked, so we moved on to a 1959 A. Ligeret Santenay Gravieres, Tasteduvin bottling. Now we were talking. Perhaps it was just the randomness of selection, but the older we went, the fresher the wines seemed to be! The Santenay had a seductive nose of meaty, sweaty and sweet Pinot fruit. There was rich, black, smoky fruit with pinches of prune, animal and bread. The wine was delicious and ‘right thurrr’ – who says Santenay can’t age? Rich, chewy and creamy, the wine had the hot fig flavors of the ’59 vintage, that deliciously brown sugared fruit, complemented by earth, spice, seeds and skins. It gained in the glass in a citric and oaty way (92+).

The grand finale was indeed a grand finale, an original bottling of 1947 Borgogno Barolo Riserva (Borgogno has released numerous older wines as of late, but this was an original). This was my first great experience with the legendary 1947 vintage in Barolo. Yes, I, too, still have much to learn! The nose was perfect Piedmontese bliss – tar, leather, meat, earth, tobacco, roses, book, fireplace, truffles. It was symphonic in its complexity and still youthful in many regards. Absolutely delicious, it got nuttier and stayed spiny with its great t ‘n a. There were great sawdust, mineral, anise and spice flavors, a kiss of citrus on each cheek. This was aged Nebbiolo at our service, a meal unto itself with all the food groups. What was also interesting was the light and browned color the wine had, common for older Nebbiolo. Most wines that had this color would be DOA, but not Nebbiolo (96).

After a random and thorough sampling, I was both excited and confident in the quality of the cellar. There is something to be said for those European cellars, and I look forward to offering you many wines from the above cellar over the next month.