SPECTACULAR WINES, SUPPORTING A GREAT CAUSE

Dear Classmates,

In the early 80s, a young real estate banker, David Gardner ’69, became fascinated with wine. In the course of his oenological education he learned about a new futures market for wines and that wine expert Robert Parker had just made his controversial call that the 1982 vintage would be one of the best red Bordeaux wine years of all time.  Putting two and two together, he invested in futures and wound up with a nice assortment of these magnificent wines.  

David passed away as a young man in 2001 but his wife, Lynn Shostack, carried on his love of Princeton and wine legacy.  As you may recall, she, among many other things, sponsored the Princeton Magic Project, supported Princeton research, endowed a chair in Shirley Tilghman’s name and was named an Honorary Classmate.  Sadly, Lynn herself passed away early in 2024 but not before giving the Class a case of assorted 1982 Bordeaux from David’s collection. We are down to the last three bottles which we will auction off via a silent auction at Reunions to benefit our Class’s special charity, PICS.

This is your chance to own one of these wines that helped make Robert Parker’s reputation and help support PICS.  Here’s a little bidding advice:

• Chateau Talbot, Saint Julien—probably the best known of the group and described as a “text book mature top echelon Bordeaux,” bottles have recently sold for about $450.
• Chateau Montrose, Saint-Estephe—rated an amazing 96 points by Wine Spectator, this superb wine retails for around $500.
• Château Prieuré-Lichine, Margaux—The bargain of the group retailing at about $150, “This is fully mature and in a good place. The color is deep and dark. Nose is mostly tertiary and secondary but there is some beautiful sweet dark fruit under the surface.“ Legend has it that Margaux Hemingway was conceived after Ernest and his wife shared a bottle of Margaux wine!

The auction will begin at the Wine and Cheese Tasting on Friday afternoon and end at 9PM Saturday night, around the end of the Class dinner. These wines have been cellar stored, except for a road trip to our 50^th Reunion but you won’t know how they have aged until you open them!

Meanwhile, we continue to receive donations of wine (150 bottles at last count) and would love to have yours.   The simplest approach is to call Princeton Corkscrew Wine Shop at 609 430-1200, and ask for Joe Beckett, the Floor Manager.  They have a good selection, fair prices and will handle the storage and delivery of your wine to the event.  However, if you’d rather ship wine from home or from the vineyard, or bring it with you, we can help with that, too! Please reach out to any of us:

•  Dick Bott ( richard.bott@verizon.net )
• Wayne Wilson (wayne_wilson@earthlink.net  )
• Jeff von Arx ( jvonarx@jesuits.org

We are only a month away from our 55^th.  We look forward to raising a glass with you on Friday afternoon May 24^th at the Wine and Cheese Tasting.

Dick, Wayne and Jeff