1995 Ch Couspade St Emilion. A few surprises at opening. Really good fill and cork in great condition. Nose out of the gate was clean and unaffected by bottle funk. Normally a wine of this age I expect to have some funk to blow off but none here. Plenty of bricking as expected. Very attractive heady perfume of orange, tobacco, cigar box, and spicy pluminess. Hints of plum, cinammon, wood with building complexity over a few hours. Much better on the nose than the palate. It was not actually all the enjoyable to drink given how lacking structure it has become with almost no detectable acid or tannin making what little fruit it had almost cloying. From Larry A who gave me these at a song from his cellar. (7/21) 2 (out of 5).
2010 Ch Clos de Sarpe St Emilion. I had some reservations about opening this at this time and those reservations were confirmed unfortunately. Seems like a beautifully made and well balanced St E but I think it was caught in an in-between phase. Dark with outstanding Bdx fruit but aromatics seemed muted/shut down. Almost like drinking a relatively young Sonoma cab. I’ll wait a long time before opening another. (7/21) 3+ (out of 5).
I had a bunch of the ‘98 and ‘99 that I drank around age 12-15 that were good then. I would not have kept them 20+ years. Doesn’t seem like that type of wine.