Wine Experts SOS please!

[wop]

Okay, It's my 30th this year and after browsing my friend's on facebook, I had an idea of getting a nice one to go with my year.
Borrowing from their facebook pics, seem to go for:-
Pauillac Chateau La Tour
orMargaux
I'm thinking of going for a Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1980...or La Tour...but I don't think 1980 is a good gran vin year for La Tour.
Sorry for the quality of pics above, most of them taken from Blackberry, poor quality lol.
Any ideas? I'm not really a wine person, as I am more of a champagne drinker. Would be great if anyone here could recommend a good vineyard that produced a good 1980 wine.Thanks.Wopa

[Cephius]

nominate archibald for wine mod

[Tyche]

Achibald is your man.

[archibaldcrane]

I'm a 1980 birthyear too, and as BG's resident wine expert, I can say with certainty:

I have no fucking idea.

I've drank all of 1 wine in my life valued over $80. Sorry man.

[Tyche]

Was that the one that the CEO of IGE bought?

[archibaldcrane]

Was that the one that the CEO of IGE bought?

That Burgundy was one of the most expensive bottles I've drank yes - although it wasn't great.

[tyven]

what kind of price range Wop? I have a friend that might be able to help out with advice

[archibaldcrane]

Ok ok, Wop, pick up this lot:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/l...D=4017686&sid=

Gives you a couple options, the Clos de la Roche, Vieilles Vignes 1980 is supposed to be superb.

[wop]

Thanks anyway, guess I'll have to head off to a vintage wine specialist shop here and ask their Sommeliers.

Cheers!

[archibaldcrane]

Although personally if I'm going to drop that much on a wine that old, I sure as fuck won't be dropping it on a Pinot. Bordeaux would be the way to go, but I don't think 1980 was a "superlative" year by any standard. I was always told that if I was around some rich asshole who had a huge cellar and wanted to impress me by pulling out a bottle from my birth year, I was supposed to lie and say I was born in 1982 (great year everywhere basically).

[wop]

what kind of price range Wop? I have a friend that might be able to help out with advice

Up to $500-800

1980 isn't a great year, and I think that's about the highest limit I'm going to pay.

One of my friend suggested a Petrus 1980
http://www.sodivin.com/Francais/acha...024_2412_.html


However, I do agree with Archibald, the La Tour 1978 above is a bit too old though...French red usually 1982+, anything before is too old.

[archibaldcrane]

The 1980 Latour only got an 89 from Wine Spectator when they tasted it in 2000. Granted it could've developed more, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1980 reviews aren't any better (they're worse even).

Ask around at some high-end places, but put a price cap on it - $400 or so. Make them work to find something truly great, don't get sucked into buying something exorbitant, and research whatever they recommend before you buy it.

Good luck!

[Mayareira]

Can't go wrong with Petrus for sure.

[archibaldcrane]

Don't spend that much on a sub-par vintage Wop, c'mon.

[wop]

Problem is I could either have this 1980 Petrus or half a dozen of vintage DP 2000 or Cristal 2002. -_-
Decisions decisions!

Speaking of which!
Had this last weekend and it was absolutely delicious!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...dobop/Dom1.jpg

So, it's either 6 of these, or 1.........

[archibaldcrane]

Champagne is shit (I really can't stand it - Prosecco is really the only sparkling wine I enjoy, méthode Champenoise can go suck a monk's dick) so I'd go with the Petrus, but yes you should be making these types of value judgments.

Get something for $400 for your birthday year, and spend the rest on a nice wine (or if you must, champagne)-related present for yourself.

[Mayareira]

Petrus is overpriced, sure but its type of a wine you drink on special days (mostly on business meals actually, I never spent money on it).

Depends on how important the day is for you. Its most certainly an extravagant expense for a regular night.

[wop]

Thanks for your inputs Maya and Archi!

[sephir]

I'd personally go for the Margaux, but I have a bit of a different wine tasting habbits than my friends. I much prefer a softer red and strong white whereas most people seem to prefer stronger reds and lighter whites.

But if you are willing to try something other than wine, you might want to look into a good cognac. Theres a few honey flavored ones that I personally enjoy and quite recently I was allowed to have a sip of Louis XIII Cognac (its absurdly expensive, like $500 for a single shot glass worth) and it was absolutely amazing. But there are much cheaper ones that are very good.

[Daydreamer]

Question - if you aren't really a wine person, why spend over a bill, or even over 40$ on a bottle?

I worked at a wine store for a year to simply learn about wine and honestly, while the more expensive things I tried were better, they weren't thhhatttt much better. This is also considering I had to train myself to taste the differences that actually make them better. My favorite thing I tried there was still this random like 60$ bottle of third growth wine that lingered on my tongue for a solid minute.

Note: If someone else is buying then hell yeah go for it.