TNs: 86 Cantemerle, 93 Montus Madiran, 05 Morot Beaune, 12 Vilmart GCd'or and 16 Telegramme

A bunch of eclectic wines from a belated birthday week of celebrations, the Cantemerle and Vilmart were the standouts. I sometimes think I get a bigger satisfaction from a surprise like the 86 Cantemerle which was a ridiculous steal than from more expensive wines.

  • 1986 Château Cantemerle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (15/10/2021)
    A stunning aged claret. An experienced friend put this in the 2000s which wasn’t a bad guess given how youthful it looked and tasted. Had that old-school restraint with a tinge of austerity but the red fruit was still very much vibrant and intact, the tannins and structure held everything together well. Auction win for under S$90, I think this ranks as one of my best ever buys.
  • 1993 Château Montus Madiran Cuvée Prestige - France, Southwest France, Madiran (15/10/2021)
    Past peak unfortunately, still lots of structure with no fruit left. Very green notes and old-school dirty winemaking, and not in a good way.
  • 2005 Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru Grèves - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru (15/10/2021)
    Guessed this as a Burg but got the appellation completely wrong - thought it was a Vosne 1er instead with the wine having very bright red fruit with a mineral finish (which unfortunately got more muddled with air). At least I was in the right ballpark for the year - the ripe fruit and good, but not imposing structure that led me to guess 2009 over 2005 when I was hesitating between the two. Another terrific QPR wine.
  • 2012 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier d’Or - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (15/10/2021)
    Picked this for Esora because I thought it would go well with food and was amply rewarded. Was also lucky that my bottle was more open for business than previous notes suggested. Round and fleshy fruit of mainly green apples, a superb backbone of zippy acidity. Sometimes Vilmart can come across as a little direct but this had good concentration and purity of fruit with a layered finish. Liked this a lot.
  • 2016 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Télégramme - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (14/10/2021)
    Bought this based on favourable reviews for a great CdP vintage but this was rather jammy with too much alcohol on the finish. Surprisingly light without much structure behind the fruit. Reminded me of a 2018 Burgundy actually.



Usually when people complain about fruitless Madirans the problem is that its really cassoulet-less Madiran. (we can fix that)

1 Like

Those '80s Cantemerles can be so classic and delicious. And while they’ve slowly started to creep up in price, they’re still amazing bargains. I’ve always liked the '83, my birthyear.

Not sure if the cassoulet would have fixed that particular bottle Arv but that does look delicious! And thanks for the heads up Ryan, will definitely look out for more based on this showing.

Not just the 80’s. The 1996 has been fantastic since release. I just drank an excellent bottle a month ago and this week took delivery of a 5L bottle for my birthday party next year. Not exactly a birthyear wine, but large formats as old as I am are hard to come by.

The 1996 was the best Cantemerle I ever tasted, followed by the 1989, 2000 and then the 2005.

I also won a 96 Cantemerle for a song the other week, now I am extremely excited to taste it. Will report back!