1978 Château Magdelaine- France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (12/31/2020)
A touch of the screw from the Durand and the cork falls into the bottle. I didn’t have high hopes after that but luckily it’s not dead.
Maybe not the greatest Magdelaine I’ve had but quite enjoyable. Starts with dusty plums and then with air a velvety texture and develops along with some red raspberry on the palate.
On the whole a lovely older claret and a very pleasant way to see out a notably unpleasant year.
Given the cork I can’t say if the bottle is representative.
Given my previous experience I didn’t want to risk opening another of these for friends so I decided to try a second to accompany some rack of lamb and spinach.
The cork was soaked through with leakage between the cork and the capsule. Again, a touch of the Durand’s screw and the cork falls in.
But the wine could not be more different. Unlike the light elegant showing of the previous bottle this one (same source) was rich, complex, with exotic spices, blood and iron. Really good! With air some notes of orange peel emerge on the mid-palate. The finish is long and voluptuous.
I sort of wish I’d saved it for a special occasion but I’m enjoying it so much now that it’s hard to feel much regret.
I have what is left of a case of '72 DRC Grands Echezeaux that falls into this category. First bottle had a cork that fell in upon unpacking the shipment. Every other bottle has been a hold-your-breath moment. These came from a dry location (LA) and they all had high-normal ullage. They have been (thankfully) consistent.
I opened the 78 Magdelaine within the last two weeks and the experience was more like your second bottle. This cork was not fully saturated but none too robust either, crumbling a bit even with the Durand.
My thoughts: “A good, classic old right bank wine, with red fruits, some clay, and the plush feel of merlot. A lovely claret, fresh enough in my mind that this will stay on the plateau for years to come.”
I liked it a lot, and your note is spot on, but this was for me, good without being captivating
Jay thanks for your impressions; i acquired a1978 Magdelaine recently in the UK. I have been picking up old Magdelaines over here in London for the last couple of years at increasingly higher prices. The last one I acquired was a 1975 for over £100. I suspect it is more of an obsession on the east coast on the west side of the pond, then over here. But paradoxically there seems to be zero interest in pre-spoofed Belair. That is illogical captain…? Check BWE.
Not really. By the time Moueix acquired Belair, it was a tired third rate property, with magnificent caves, excellent terroir, and little or no money to plough back into the business. Yields were high, and a few of the wines I tasted over the years were not exactly clean. While I don’t particularly love the wines that I have tasted from Belair Monange, they are far better than the old Belair wines.
Magdelaine has always had an incredibly loyal clientele, who loved this expression of Saint Emilion. Totally different kettle of fish. I have recently brought out of storage some 2001; after drinking a couple of bottles, I can’t believe how well they are showing. Even better than a very good bottle that I had a few months ago. Belair to my knowledge never made anything close.
While my Ch. Belair experiences would be, at best, middling in scope with at most (iirc) 3 vintages, even the strong 1982 version would not allow me to level the property up with Ch. Magdelaine. Yes, I will admit that I’m very much an East Coast obsessor of the latter.
But I’m now more willing to give Belair a little bit more consideration should I remember to look them up when browsing for wines, thanks to Ian who has just put it in my radar.
For those looking for something fun, Morrell has a few magnums left of Magdelaine, 2000, 2001, 2009 and the 2010. Prices are full retail, $260 for the 2001 etc, but magnums are rare as hen’s teeth.
I would avoid the 2010, when like so many 2010 Right Bank wines, Magdelaine could not control alcohol, so it weighs in at 14.5% and is quite unbalanced.
When Gilman and I did Part I of our Magdelaine vertical (Part II Spring 2022 hopefully), we included a couple of pe-merger Belairs. The 1990 was a pleasant wine and the 2008 was not spoofy like the 2012 and following vintages presented, but neither could hold a candle to the Magdelaines.
Looking back at the past decade when I have devoted many resources to sourcing and tasting as many vintages of Magdelaine as possible, I am truly amazed at just how under the radar this wine has been in the past. I suspect perhaps it is due in large part to the fact that some of the old guard British critics- notably Broadbent and Robinson- while sometimes complimentary, have never really been captivated by the wine. Prior to Parker- those were the voices most heeded by US audiences outside of Wine Spectator. The rarity of the wine itself may play a role too.
It does not have the complexity of the first growths, but the acidity carries it remarkably into a lively old age and I have generally found that while Magdelaine bears the mark of its vintage, it is never done to excess. And so even an off vintage is easily recognizable and has something to be said in its favor.
I bought up some of the 2000 and 2001. Pristine and well sourced bottles and magnums. The provenance is worth the pricing IMHO except maybe for those who have access to bring over European stocks.
On the 2010, I think it will actually come out okay- but I would buy the 2011 all day long over both the 2010 and 2009 if forced to choose. In my TN for the 2010 at our last vertical, I noted “and yet it must be noted it has some scary similarities to its younger cousins”.
I was quite taken by notes of a distinguished poster here on 2004 Belair, Keith Levenberg, look it up on CT. I have had that wine several times and I get why he is excited by it. But to put it crudely it is not a 95 point wine more like a 91 point wine imho.
I love old Magdelaines but now they are becoming fully valued relative to their underlying quality. Magdelaine in my experience does not have the complexity of a first growth, it is more of a RB second growth. But I do get the obsession with unadulterated old school St-E. Belair has excellent terroir. Was the winemaking of Pascal Delbeck so terrible? Well not in my experience.
Disclaimer/disclosure: I am trying to offload a case of 2004 Belair on BWE which I have stored in the US which is surplus to requirements, because I have over half a case of this wine in the U.K. I do however want to repatriate my bottles of Haut-Brion, RSV, Giacosa red label, Cappellano and other more valuable wines. Not sure how often I will get to the US to repatriate these remaining 50 bottles. The deadline is midnight tonight and the highest bid is $240 for a case of 12, a bargain.