From a 375, procured fairly recently at a quite reasonable price, mid shoulder fill and a decimated cork, my expectations were not high.
But the initial nose was somewhat promising, so I strained and decanted.
My wife thought I was nuts making such an effort, but it was her lamb and peas with Syrian rice that inspired me to take a flyer on this one, the night before Thanksgiving. Just easing our way into a day of indulgence.
Very much worth the trouble (and price)! The wine was obviously resolved but retaining a modest tannic backbone. A fully mature claret, with such a silky mouth feel, showing pomegranate, cranberry, cinnamon, gently smoldering Autumn leaves. Not at all on its last legs at 45, but of course no need to wait at this point. I have had a generally good experience with 1975 bdx.
Love the Beychevelle. Who on this board swooped the 1966s from me at the recent Zachys auction?
Bonus: My wife – not an easy critic by any stretch – loved it too!
Glad to hear that worked out, and that you’ve had good luck with '75 BDX. I have a mag of 1975 Beau Sejour Becot waiting for my wife’s BDay at the end of Dec, really hoping its a winner!
Interesting. There are, or at least used to be, some good ones out there. I even had good luck with some recent 375s of Cantemerle that I snagged off WineBid for $25 per.
I gave up on continuing to find well-stored bottles of this wine awhile ago, but I had a whole bunch of superb bottles and am not at all surprised it’s still in the zone. It’s better than a lot of the bigger names.
Opened a really nice 1966 this summer (not from the Zachys lot!). I’ve really enjoyed Beychevelle - most of the vintages I’ve had were from the 80s. I frequently find older Beychevelle in mixed Bordeaux lots at HDH. In fact, just going through the last several auctions I have bottles of 1961, 1986, and 1989 that I need to collect from HDH.