Memorial Day Get Together

It's June! But in order to get here, we need to recap the Memorial Day weekend which set some records as the lowest high in some parts of our state. Not only that, the rains that came on Saturday and Sunday turned a dry May into a normal May in terms of rainfall!
We were invited to participate in an annual May birthdays get together at our friend's home on Saturday afternoon. As we left our home it was raining and the temperature was 49^o F! I thought about bringing my down jacket, it was that cold!
When we got to our friend's home, they had begun drinking Champagne, Shaman 16. When everyone had gathered, our host opened up a 1964 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo. The wine was ruby in color with not a sign of browning at the edges. The flavor was one that still evoked cherries with a smooth finish of tobacco. When we had enjoyed this vintage, our host opened up a 1970 Chateau Palmer. Chateau Palmer is one of my favorite wines and although the label had suffered a little, when I passed this bottle on our host's counter, I knew what it was. Like the 1964 Barolo, the 1970 Chateau Palmer was still very youthful tasting! Black cherries and raspberries danced along side the mushrooms and leather. We lingered over both bottles sampling as the wines evolved through time. Our host had prepared short ribs that was falling off the bone and we had all brought a dish to contribute. This was a slow grazing, conversation filled afternoon that turned into early evening in no time at all.
In contrast to the wines that were now 57 and 51 years old, the next wine, a 2004 Falletto Barolo, at 17 years old was decidedly youthful! The tannins and acidity were still there although there was a lot of red cherries, red raspberries and delicious fruit to balance the flavors. One person in attendance stated that she was more familiar with this flavor that those of the older wines, because how often do we get a chance to taste 50+ year old wines!
The host and I then had a conversation about the order of tasting wines. It recalled to mind the answer I gave to one of the questions in the U.C. Davis online course in Wine Stability: "An old wine will generally have mellowed out with respect to their tannins as well as their fruitiness, so an old wine should be tasted before a young wine. A young wine would probably be more tannic as well as more fruity and will overpower the old wine. When having a meal with friends, it is best to drink the old wine first so that all the subtle nuances of aging can be tasted before one becomes desensitized or too inebriated to appreciate the old wine because how often does one have the opportunity to do that! And if you have more than 6 friends sharing the bottle, it is best to get your share before the bottle is gone."
After we had drunk the red wines, our host opened our bottle of 2019 Chardonnay (although the label says 2017). We received compliments from the gathering which was nice. The grazing ended with ice cream and a Chateau Guiraud sauterne.

It was a wonderful way to spend a rainy, cold afternoon meeting new friends and getting to know them while imbibing some aged wines and grazing on a sumptuous repast.