Recently I celebrated my 30th birthday with a retrospective look at the 1981 vintage.  I wanted this to be a special tasting and so the planning began about a year before the date.  I stole the idea from an old boss of mine at a restaurant called Fatheads in Pittsburgh, PA and modified it to be my own.  Instead of 40 bottles of 40oz beers we were going to drink 30 bottles of 1981 vintage wines from around the globe. 

It was a good thing I started planning early as it took up until the very last moment to secure the 30th bottle.  I wanted to have a nice mix of wines; Bordeaux, Italian, Burgundy, Rhone, California, Spanish, Australia, sweet, red, and white.  I wanted to throw some ringers in as well as some of the top wines for the vintage.  Little did I know the task would be daunting and often times I wondered why I was putting myself through this. 

The day of the party, July 2, was a beautiful sunny day.  I ran down to the city to pick up some last minute cuisine for the party.  I anxiously awaited a phone call letting me know the last few bottles had arrived.  Running around like crazy on the day of a party always seems to be inevitable, no matter how much "planning" is done something always seems to pop up.  Of course this was no different, propane for the grill!

The menu for the night was filled with classic homemade cuisines to fill the belly and warm the soul.  Some of my personal favorites; steak Diane and chargrilled chicken wings and I would be doing the party an injustice if I didn't mention the two types of homemade lasagna.  Dessert would find itself in the forms of "better than sex cake"-up for discussion, Chocolate Mousse Surprise, and a fresh fruit pizza drizzled with white chocolate.  All of the food for the evening was homemade by the hands of my mother.  

It's always fun for me to try and pair food with wine, this time was a bit different.  There were so many bottles that we went with traditional food as opposed to perfect pairings.  Instead of listing all 30 bottles, I will highlight just a few for sake of space.  The #1 rated wine for the 1981 vintage is Penfolds Grange scoring a reputable 97 by Robert Parker and in the top 10 from the producer.  The wine was pallet shocking at 30 years old I was certain that all of the wines would be fairly mellow.  This was not the case with the Grange, cedar overtook the nose and a sense of warmth followed showing its massive tannins and higher than normal alcohol.  Overall not my most favorite wine but an experience nonetheless. 

Keep in mind as you are reading this, these tasting notes are in no particular order and the tasting itself was in no particular order.  I picked the first few and then had guests choose which one was to be opened next.  I asked a colleague what he thought the "wine of the night" would be.  Knowing that he is a huge California wine drinker it was no surprise he said "something from California."  There were many California wines on the list the likes of which included Heitz Martha's Vineyard, 3 different Diamond Creek Wines, Mondavi, and a handful more.  By and far California proved to be the region with the most outstanding marks and the region that I would for sure be on the lookout to replenish.  I had on one prior occasion had a bottle of 1995 Diamond Creek and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Volcanic Hill, Gravelly   Meadow, and the Three Vineyard Blend were absolutely astounding.  Each single vineyard showed characteristics of the vineyard and the Three vineyard blend was something other worldly.  I have to say overall 1981 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill was my personal favorite and in my opinion the "wine of the night".  Jammy fruit and saddle leather came to mind as I stuck my nose deep into my Riedel Glass.  The color showed little signs of age and the mouth was an exciting adventure of red raspberries, herbs and the slightest burnt charcoal flavor. 

I mention Riedel glasses for a specific reason.  I am not a fan of gimmicks and always am the first to dismiss them as folklore.  There is a reason you buy premium wine, you like the flavor and the experience it provides.  Why would you limit yourself to less than the full experience of drinking that bottle of wine?  Ever since I grabbed a few glasses from our inventory I have decided there is no better way to drink than from a Riedel glass. 

If you're still reading, you are probably wondering why I hadn't mentioned any Bordeaux.  I love it so much and off vintage is probably my favorite way to drink Bordeaux.  Great value and the wine tastes amazing.  This was no different. The only flawed bottle was however from Bordeaux.  The Cos D'Estournel just seemed to be in a backward stage that took forever...12 hours to come around.  We didn't drink too many Bordeaux's as the night ended with a total bottle count of a mere 15.   Although we didn't finish all 30 bottles we had a blast and left room for another great party with the remaining 15.