TN: 1966 Château Haut-Brion (France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan)

WINE TALK
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  • 1966 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (11/7/2020)
    Surprisingly dark. Medium ruby with lightening only toward the outer edge. Started out nice but deteriorated rather quickly. Nose right out the gate was still powerful and holding on to a bit of liveliness. Complex mature bouquet of mushroom and earth scents, tobacco, bright red fruit (cherries) still with a lift, smoke and ash, old leather bound books with moldy paper. Over time , as some of the Unami and earthy notes blew off, this went from exotic to classy before declining in intensity after an hour. The palate was light to medium weight and incredibly smooth but still holds a bit of acidity that I think is evident in the still slight streak of fresh fruit in the nose. Smoked wood chips and darker fruits (maybe some tar) dominate the somewhat lacking palate. DRINK NOW. 92+ (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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I had a bottle of this a couple of years ago. I think it held on better than yours, but overall pretty similar.

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This was the first wine I ever had that was 30 years old and too young. Birth year for both of us and bought one to open for my wife’s 30th in 1996, back when that was a much more affordable proposition. Not that it was hard and too young to enjoy, just that it was still very youthful and wasn’t close to mature. I’m glad you got to enjoy it with some of the mushroom and umami, etc. It had none of that at age 30. [cheers.gif]

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The 67 is amazing. Probably best of the vintage.