1919 Le Mont: 90 years young!
1919 Le Mont MoelleuxYesterday was my father's 90th birthday and we celebrated with a party: 44 of us – extended family and friends. Today we have a brunch with this 1919 Le Mont Moelleux as the aperitif. It will have to go around 12, so it will be a generous tasting sample each and I hope the wine will be OK as I have yet to pull the cork. The level looks good only slightly down and the wine appears clear. This Le Mont predates the founding of Domaine Huet, which happened nine years later.
As I hoped the 1919 Le Mont turned out to be a remarkable wine as youthful as the amazing 1924 Le Haut Lieu Moelleux tasted in May 2004 at the Christie's pre-auction tasting. Although a a little less perfumed than the 1924, the 1919 had similar vitality and, at just under 90 years old, has remained incredibly youthful. Mild gold, crystal clear and lightly viscous, complex honeyed nose with touches of sous bois which gave way to notes of sweet almond and citrus fruit. Very little noticeable oxidation. Honeyed mid-weight on the palate with long clean, citric finish. Some of us managed to keep some in the glass for well over 30 minutes and it showed no sign of of tiring. Poured blind it would I'm sure to impossible to think that this Le Mont is effectively 90 years old. Instead one would be more likely to guess that it was 25-35 years old.
As I hoped the 1919 Le Mont turned out to be a remarkable wine as youthful as the amazing 1924 Le Haut Lieu Moelleux tasted in May 2004 at the Christie's pre-auction tasting. Although a a little less perfumed than the 1924, the 1919 had similar vitality and, at just under 90 years old, has remained incredibly youthful. Mild gold, crystal clear and lightly viscous, complex honeyed nose with touches of sous bois which gave way to notes of sweet almond and citrus fruit. Very little noticeable oxidation. Honeyed mid-weight on the palate with long clean, citric finish. Some of us managed to keep some in the glass for well over 30 minutes and it showed no sign of of tiring. Poured blind it would I'm sure to impossible to think that this Le Mont is effectively 90 years old. Instead one would be more likely to guess that it was 25-35 years old.
8 comments:
Enjoy!
Thanks Laurent. We certainly did – a remarkable wine! Tasting note to follow.
Glad it lived up to expectations for this important event Jim. The wine had an incredible colour.
Thanks Mark. I fancy the 1919 would have lasted at least another 20 years as it was showing no sign of tiring – more a question of how long would the cork hold up.
Our mouths are watering Jim!
Michaela and Sue – it was a memorable bottle for a memorable occasion.
What a historic bottle you have - oops, had there! It survived WW2 and you killed it in a sip...
Forgive my envy; it's evil - I know! Thanks for sharing your experience on this super blog Jim.
Thanks Georges. Killed perhaps but the memory lingers on....
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