Unauthorized

The National Jewish Research Hospital gave me their annual Spirit of Achievement Award at a catered dinner held in Baltimore. Knowing it was going to be catered, I suspected the wines might be lousy. I wasn't completely wrong, although a local wholesaler did donate one attractive wine, the 1998 La Vieille Cure from Fronsac. Knowing I would be at the head table with some serious wine lovers, I brought jeroboams of 1989 Grand Mayne St.-Emilion, 1989 Haut-Brion, 1982 La Conseillante, and 1990 Vieux-Château-Certan. These were served to our table and shared with as many of the guests as possible. A perfect wine, the 1989 Haut-Brion is that estate's greatest effort since the 1961 and 1959. The sleeper was the 1989 Grand Mayne. Out of jeroboam it is still youthful and concentrated. The 1982 La Conseillante has been fully mature seemingly since it was bottled, but it is still fabulously drinkable. The 1990 Vieux-Château-Certan is a great vintage for this estate, the finest in the decade of the nineties until the 1998. It is a youthful, complex, cedary, savory Bordeaux that combines elegance and power. By the way, the food was ghastly.