Garnet at rim, medium-red at the center.
Upon first opening, the wine smelled fresh, with aromas of red currant and other red fruit.
Over time, aromas of ash and a metallic bretty smell emerge. Also burnt match, mercaptans.
The intensity of the mercaptans seems to vary over time, but does seem less at beginning, as soon as the bottle is opened. This evolution in the wine’s aroma is is consistent with previous bottles I have had of this wine in the last year or two.
As the mercaptan smell varies, when it is less, there are other nice aromas in the wine. But when it is strong, it is really rather off-putting, with a rather simple dual smell of warm cherries and rubber.
Has anyone else experienced this variation in mercaptan aromas in old Bordeaux?
Is this an example of how winemaking was not as clean decades ago as it is today?
On the palate, the wine is rich and complex, some cocoa and delicate flavors of coffee, red fruits, nuts.
There is more complexity and enjoyment on the palate - blood orange, nuts, fruit, earth (what you want from old Bordeaux) - than on the nose, considering the mercaptan smells.
If not for the mercaptans, I would be glad to have more bottles of this - aside from that, it still has life and has underlying good qualities. But there is just too much other good wine out there to swim through these mercaptans.
Because of this flaw, I would not search out this wine in the future.