With the ongoing discussions of fake versus real wines, I thought I would post these label images of a couple of wines of the 1950 vintage from my cellar book. These are wines I bought in the late 1990s from a reputable source, and the lesser vintage and bottle size (750 ml) lets me conclude that these are real. So they’re here for reference, if it helps anyone. I’ll throw in the tasting notes as well, although I have to admit that when I drank these I was a lot less knowledgeable about how to handle old wines so I probably didn’t let the reds show their best. They would have been decanted and then drunk almost immediately.
1950 Cheval Blanc - Negociant bottled by Nony. Dark but with considerable browning. Nose of beets, changing to cedar as the air worked on it. Very tannic at first with little fruit, but the tannins blew off in the air, revealing only a little red fruit. Interesting for what it was, but definitely over the hill.
1950 Lynch Bages - The color was a light ruby, with a good deal of browning. The palate was muted at first, but after 30 minutes started to bring on red fruit and the typical Lynch Bages style. After an hour, it had dried out considerably. Definitely at end-of-life.
1950 Yquem - Dark amber color with a green ting on the rim. At the initial decanting the acidity was high without giving my sweetness, with a mushroom nose. After about 45 minutes, the acidity had calmed down and come into balance with the sweetness, which came on well. The mushroom nose blew off as well. Great flavor of dried apricots. Shows what a stellar maker can do in a marginal vintage.