How is the bottle identified as recorked? Thanks!
2015 Château Lanessan - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (12/16/2018)
First bottle from a case purchased for $14 a bottle on futures. It’s really hard to beat Lanessan from a value perspective, and the 2015 continues the string. Maybe it has a touch more oak than prior vintages, but it’s still a classic, close to old school Bordeaux. Moderate ripeness, solid tannins, and a fair touch of finishing austerity hit the mark for me.
Posted from CellarTracker
What a great cause, Carlos. I’ll try and pop some claret in the next few nights, but here are a couple from the weekend plus a white (though white Bordeaux is just not my thing, stylistically.)
2013 La Clarté de Haut-Brion Blanc
Not a fan. The nose shows those tart gooseberry and citric Sauvignon notes, but also an overripe tropical character with banana and creamy notes, and the palate is much too alcoholic and soft for my taste. Meh. (80 pts.)
1996 Château Haut-Bailly
One of those wines I would be content just sitting and smelling - the aromatics on this are brilliant; classic Graves with such intense smoky, gravelly, and tobacco leaf scents leading into a palate with very clean, fresh black fruit. It still feels rather youthful with lots of intensity and freshness to the fruit flavours, and I’ll hold off my bottles a bit longer in the hope of more tertiary development, but this is already in a really nice place.
1989 Château Rausan-Ségla
A remarkably youthful showing - there’s a core of black fruit here that still feels quite rich and primary, savoury earth and cedar accents, and a lot of tannin beneath. If this were served blind, I would have been guessing it as something at least a decade younger. The balance and depth here are impressive though, but right now this needs some meat alongside or a decant before drinking.
1983 Cos Estournel - Heavy bit of funk/brett, and mold at the tip of the bottle smelled musty - concerned the bottle was flawed…
Poured it into a decanter and about an hour later, it turned into something lovely. Soft mellow, completely resolved. Tiertiary leather notes galore. Easy drinking and delish.
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2000 Château d’Armailhac - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (12/16/2018)
Decanted for an hour then followed for two and a half hours. About a third of the bottle left, poured back into bottle, vacuum seal with air sucked out and put into refrigerator for tomorrow.
Today it’s a good wine, not a great wine. Tanins are mostly but not fully resolved. Very acidic right to the edge of annoying, but not quite there. The nose is quite beautiful with expressive dark red fruit, principally cherry. However, the palate is much lighter and you feel a bit cheated after a 94 point aroma that you can smell when the glass is three feet away. The interesting thing is that the taste of this wine is the best AFTER you swallow it! The flavor remaining in your mouth is a very nice warm fruit mix of red tree fruit and red berries. If Paulliac is the smooth and sexy Bordeaux, this fits in well with that description, but just a bit too light and thin for my taste.
I have one more. Save it until 2023 to see what develops. (89 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Great minds and all - I had a bottle of 1986 Ducru on Saturday night and took my chances with a non-recorked bottle (I have some of both). Yet again, this is a spectacular bottle of wine. Brilliant aromatics, very red on the nose with just a slight hint of lavender (the bottle I opened earlier this year had a bigger note). Tannins are well resolved and to me, this is some of the most floral and aromatic older Bordeaux. Fabulous bottle.
We also opened a 2000 Pichon Baron. This was in an odd place, with some surprisingly soft tannins, a few cola notes but not a lot of hints of secondary or tertiary development. Very curious to see where this wine goes; I expect it was just unhappy to be open at this stage of its life. Made for pleasant dribking though.
don’t have much Bordeaux, and all of what I do have is very young, but here goes…
2014 Le Marquis de Calon Ségur.
opaque inky violet color. Nose dark fruited, some leafy green herbal notes, an earthy note emerges with time. Palate somewhat closed, still a stiff wall of tannin; firmly structured dark fruit with a brightness on the finish, strong hints of tobacco leaf and herbal complexity. Still so young and hard to read but good potential with more time and air (PnP this time). 90 pts
–picked up at Costco, a pretty good value I guess but still hard to drink at this stage.
2012 Château Le Puy Cuvée Emilien
PnP. Dark ruby. Nose some tobacco leaf, red fruits. Palate blackberries and strawberries, strongly herbal, nice tart acidity. Obviously young and primary still, but lovely, and this particular bottle was clean, no farmhouse at all. A great match with a fatty steak. 92 pts
–I’ve seen this chateau/cuvee get some flak for some inconsistency here on this board, but this particular bottle seemed pristine and was greatly enjoyed by us. would buy again and store carefully.
A small sticky label, saying recorked and date.
2000 Haut Bages Liberal: I think this is the last of these in my cellar (I can never be quite sure), and it was the only one I can recall really enjoying – the others were opened much too early. And to be frank, this one was at the very beginning of its window.
The lesson here, to me, is the rather stubborn nature of the 2000s. A minor label like this, I have continually been seduced into the idea that “surely it must be ready by now.” And been mistaken.
But it does speak to the promise of the vintage, and is encouraging for all the other left bank 2000s I have buried here and there. A little tannic drag at the back end, but otherwise a classy, fragrant drink. If I had siblings in the cellar I’d target them for consumption in 2020-21.
2001 rieussec. Sauternes count right?
Perfect balance of honey. Fruit. Medium heavy palate with great acidity. Greatness.
Of course it counts! Love that wine. Thanks for playing.
1988 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey - From a half bottle, very nice and full, but with lots of structure behind it. I thought it was actually better the second night. Not as impressive as I hoped, but still a very nice wine. I bought 18 half bottles upon release, gave a few away, and have had slightly better results with some previous bottles. I have one more left.
1989 Margaux. Unmistakable Margaux perfume, but quite reticent even after 2+ hours in the decanter. Fabulous concentration and finish, but extraordinarily tannic.
I don’t think even a longer decant would have opened this up. Try again in ten years. If it ever opens for business this will be a masterpiece.
2010 Domaine du Bouscat
Smells delicious, but smells super modern. Oak, berry pie. And the palate confirms — this is a HUGE wine. Listed abv of 15%. Really core tannin structure still. Lots of blackberries all over my palate. Oak pretty present here. Finished with a bit of a green, bitter note (from the oak?). I have one more that I’ll hold.
And that’s all I’ve got, Carlos. Two bdxs in my modest cellar. Matching your donation. Thanks for doing this. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Thanks for playing and thanks for the donation!
I have to agree with this assessment after trying it yesterday with 8 hours uncorked. Correct wine with some herbs and tart red fruit, but not much extra. A little disappointing given the Chateau and vintage, but may still be too early. will re-check today
Thanks to all who participated. Total tasting notes added up to $395. We had a matching donor for a total of $790.00 donated to Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Fund. Happy holidays!