About 15 years ago I bought at auction four bottles of the '90 Angélus, and have stored them professionally ever since. The first three were everything that this famous wine is described as in the most enthusiastic notes. The last I opened at Thanksgiving, and thought someone had stuck the label on a different bottle of wine. From the nose I would have taken it to be Left Bank. All the aromas were of dark fruit, earth, and mushroom. But the real surprise was that the wine was fiercely tannic, and completely lacked the pure velvet mouth feel of the first three bottles. A final weird point was that the longer the wine was in the decanter the more tannic it got. Has anyone else had bottles of the '90 like this, or of other wines that seemed to undergo a backwards evolution?
I’ve had young wines get more rather than less tannic with air.
I’ve seen old wines where the fruit has faded over the years while the tannins remain, and that can get worse as the wine sits open. I’ve never had a 1990 Angelus that’s done that and have no idea what happened to your 4th bottle. How long ago did you open the 3rd bottle? Was there greater ullage in the 4th bottle? I suppose there could have been oxidation between then and now, but your description doesn’t sound like oxidation. Could it be low level TCA muting the fruit? That shouldn’t amplify the tannins.
Scratching my head here, I guess all I’ve got is that at 30 years, there are no great wines, only great bottles.
David,
Thanks very much for your thoughts. Last bottle was about six years ago. This one pulled out of the same bin. Excellent level and spinning capsule. I guess I have to go with your final conclusion.
I might mention another Thanksgiving problem with a ‘95 Leroy ’ Boudots’. Everything about the wine was technically correct, and you could not have sent it back at a restaurant. But every element was dialed down from a 10 to about a 4. The only curious thing I noticed beforehand was the spinning capsule. I’m used to her bottles always being over-filled and the capsules stuck. Two duds only partially redeemed by a truly splendid '13 Pernot B-B-M.