1975 Beychevelle (from 375)

[Neal.Mollen]

This wine was neither hard nor austere. Quite to the contrary

[M_Dildine]

@Neal.Mollen

This is a wine many wine lovers would not enjoy, I think. It is . . . slight. Gentle. It speaks in hushes. There is no rush of fruit. If the SQN I had at Thanksgiving (and enjoyed) is a jacuzzi of a wine, this is a soft breeze. Fully resolved tannin. The primary fruit – whatever existed at one point – has packed up and left for a retirement home someplace. What is left is sweet and tender as a kiss on the cheek.

Bought as a science experiment and it performed well above my expectation

Nice. There is a place for both jacuzzis and soft breezes.

[Thomas_Keim]

@Neal.Mollen

This wine was neither hard nor austere. Quite to the contrary

I bought a case of the '75 Leoville Barton some 20 years ago in half bottles, and they were as soft and chewy as chocolate milk at 20 years of age -

[Thomas_Keim]

@Thomas Keim

@Neal.Mollen

This wine was neither hard nor austere. Quite to the contrary

I bought a case of the '75 Leoville Barton some 20 years ago in half bottles, and they were as soft and chewy as chocolate milk at 20 years of age -

AND - they came from very poor storage at the time -

[Karl_K]

@Jeff Leve

@Karl K

@Jeff Leve

You can read more than you probably wanted to know about Beychevelle here: http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/bordeaux/st-julien/beychevelle/

FWIW, today, Beychevelle is making really strong wines that are worth trying…

Jeff, thanks for the link, I will read it. I had been to your site before, and had read many of your comments on CT, pegging you as an accurate critic, but until now I did not realize you are wine cellar insider.

Tx.

[Arv_R]

when I was first getting into wine, and bouncing between tasting groups…I remember one older fellow specifically warned people not to bring Beychevelle’s. Must have had too many recollections of the 70’s era.

[PeterH]

@Arv R

when I was first getting into wine, and bouncing between tasting groups…I remember one older fellow specifically warned people not to bring Beychevelle’s. Must have had too many recollections of the 70’s era.

1970 Beychevelle was just fine. It was drinking well for thirty years. '73 was light, as were all the right bank wine that year, as were the '78s. At the time they were called “useful” vintages, tasty, but short lived. Not to mention, relatively cheap. Compared to any decade after, the '60s and '70s had a far below average of really good vintages. That was a major factor in the out-sized hopes for the '75s.

P Hickner

[Arv_R]

Beychevelle is a well regarded medium for hydrating marathoners

Choosing between electrolytes, glucose, ethanol, anthocynanins here

[Karl_K]

Nice photos.

I do have a bottle of 78 to open soon.

[NoahR]

Had a bottle of 81 Beychevelle that was a beauty to behold and a 75 tucked away somewhere deep in the cellar. Need to hit that soon, I think!

[Karl_K]

@PeterH

@Arv R

when I was first getting into wine, and bouncing between tasting groups…I remember one older fellow specifically warned people not to bring Beychevelle’s. Must have had too many recollections of the 70’s era.

1970 Beychevelle was just fine. It was drinking well for thirty years. '73 was light, as were all the right bank wine that year, as were the '78s. At the time they were called “useful” vintages, tasty, but short lived. Not to mention, relatively cheap. Compared to any decade after, the '60s and '70s had a far below average of really good vintages. That was a major factor in the out-sized hopes for the '75s.

P Hickner

In terms of really good vintages, yes the vintages in the 60s and 70s were not 2005 or 2010 but I have had good wines of their own type from across those two decades in the past 15 years. This is not an entire list but highlights easily popping to mind include 1970 Lafite, 1970 La Mission 1971 Mouton (admittedly green, though enjoyable: when I blind tasted it to a friend he guessed Cheval Blanc b/c he attributed the greenness to CF), 1973 Cheval Blanc, 1975 Talbot, 1975 LLC, 1976 Cheval Blanc, 1976 Haut Brion, 1978 Talbot, 1978 LLC (admittedly I haven’t had the 78 in probably 8 years after having a few bottles and it seemed to be losing the charm of 15 years ago), some 1979s.

I have had wines from 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966 La Mission, and 1969 that were good. I even, from reading others’ reviews, think there are some 1967s still providing drinking pleasure.

Highlights from the 1960’s off the top of my head include 1961 Talbot, 1964 Ducru (several nice bottles recently), 1964 Latour (some nice bottles recently), 1966 Latour (amazing and just coming into maturity in 2006), and 1966 La Mission (every good in 2001, admittedly a long time ago).

All of these I have bought private treaty or at auction. I bought them because I wanted to taste older Bordeaux. I also bought them because they provided some value compared to bottles from the 1980s and 1990s and beyond.

So I guess it depends on what you mean by really good vintages. To be able to have the conditions in which some producers at least (and admittedly here the names I have put out are some of the better ones) can produce wines still enjoyable in 30-40 years time, seems like a good vintage to me, at least one some regard.

[Rainer_Guntermann]

Nice to see that Beychevelle is getting some love. 1970 was my first Bordeaux I bought at Christie’s and it’s still drinking well. 1966,1978,1979,1981,1982,1985 were all good vintages. Not for the Blockbuster lovers but very good table wines with typical Bordeaux qualities. Happy to have some left and after Neals 75 note I’ll dig a bottle out to try it. A few years ago I thought it might need more bottle age . Had some very good 75 experiences lately: Las Cases, Barton, Pichon were all significantly better than 10 years ago and drinking well. There is hope for Lafite, Mouton imo. Thanks for the note Neal
Cheers
Rainer

[Keith_Levenberg]

Had the '75 Lafite last week. It wasn’t as good as my last bottle of '75 Beychevelle…

[Pat_Martin]

Big fan of Beychevelle in the 80’s. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the 82, 83, 85, 86, 88 and 89 with the 82 and 86 the top examples. The 66 was brilliant too at a tasting in 2015.

Funny that Neal posted on this, who I recall has some green phobia, as I think older Beychevelles have a strong green streak (not bell pepper exactly, more like a fire roasted poblano, a signature I happen to love) that I always assume will turn off those who dislike any green notes.

[Karl_K]

@Keith Levenberg

Had the '75 Lafite last week. It wasn’t as good as my last bottle of '75 Beychevelle…

In what way specifically? Do you mean that the Lafite is closer to the end of its life? That the Lafite still has more ageing to do? Or something else?