Happy New Year to all you winos! Hope you all had plenty of booty in your stockings and that you all enjoy some great bottles in 2020!
I’ve been pretty lucky with wines during the holiday period, although nothing to match the BAMA 82.
Misses:
Clos du Jaugueyron - Margaux - 2000
I was expecting a lot from this so it was disappointing. Vibrant redcurrant and cranberry flavours and a soft, velvety body, but no real follow-through and a rather narrow taste profile. Certainly worth drinking but not the uplifting experience I was hoping for. It never got out of second gear.
Léoville Barton - 1990
The condition was pristine, with a good level and perfect cork. On opening, it was quite fresh but clearly didn’t need decanting. A couple of hours later, the aromas were not promising - flat, old and tired, like the taste. It did however improve, revealing forest fruits on the nose, a much better searing middle section of black cherry and a reasonable finish, but this was a lot better a few years ago and on the basis of this bottle, it needs drinking quite quickly. Certainly not worth the current price.
Hits
Grand Puy Lacoste - 1985
Fabulous stuff. On opening, it was bright and fruity, but perhaps a little light, so I recorked it, which turned out to be a mistake, since it fleshed out into a rather brooding, surly beast of a wine which then took several hours to open up properly. When it did, it was excellent - cigar box, tobacco, hints of orange peel and leather, blackberry and blackcurrant aromas, then a bright, fresh mouthful of cassis, with a gently but firmly rising second wave of dark cherry, before a long blackberry finish. Powerful yet lithe and not without elegance, one of the best GPLs I’ve tried.
Grand Puy Lacoste - 2007
It does just what an “off” vintage should do - charm and caress the palate, providing easy, uncomplicated and unpretentious pleasure, whilst waiting for the big vintages to mature. Lithe, elegant flavours of blackcurrant and leather, almost Margalais. We had this twice, the last time being last night as a back up to the LB 1990, which it outclassed. The only problem is the price which is only now about what it should have been in the first place. At 35€, this is fine, anymore is a waste of money, because I can’t say this is better than Sociando-Mallet for the same price.
Dauzac 2000
This has come on well in the last two years: ripe blackberry and hints of maturing blackcurrant at first, then a searing second wave of bright red cherry, which continues into the elegant, persistent finish. It doesn’t have the power of Giscours, but much better than I expected. No hurry, this has just reached the plateau and it may even improve further.
Clos du Chêne Vert - C.Joguet - Chinon - 2002
Quite light but persistent red berry flavours with a definite greenness but also with great finesse, slightly bretty, not a great vintage but a very enjoyable wine. Joguet wines are not the best value around, but they do have an innate class which sets them apart from the rest. Very refreshing after all the Bordeaux.