Thanks Fu. i’m heading in a few minutes to a 1995 Bordeaux tasting of our chapter of Commanderie de Bordeaux with pretty much the same 1995 vintage wines. Have to admit that your notes have me more positive that I was before. Not a huge fan of Bordeaux 1995.
The 96 Haut Brion was my favorite wine of the tasting followed by the 96 Lafite. I really enjoyed the tension and purity that both of these wines had. I didn’t get to everything though.
Thanks for the notes Fu. I wondered for a long time whether the '95s were going to come around. The '95 Angelus is for me one of the wines of the vintage along with Latour which is a completely different animal. Calon is starting to sing. Sorry you missed it.
let me know how it is. I really didn’t have any preconceived notions on the vintages/wines as I’m not very educated on bordeaux vintages.
I’m a little surprised at the 1996 Lafite’s showing, as it was one of the greatest young Bordeaux I’ve ever had during the first couple if years after release (tasted more than 20 times with consistent notes over that period), and was to me the clear wine of the vintage. I haven’t had one in about 10 years, so I wonder if you had an off bottle or if it isn’t aging as expected.
The 1996 Pichon Lalande, on the other hand, is no surprise, and IMO is the best wine they made between 1970 and 2000. I haven’t had later vintages, so I don’t know if I’m selling it short.
I am fairly confident it was an off bottle. Tried the 2nd bottle, it wasn’t very exciting to me.
Great to hear on the 95 Latour. I picked up a few of the release.
96 Left Bank rocks. Probably the last great Cabernet Sauvignon vintage from Bordeaux before the warming trend really kicked in.
Give me 95 for Right Bank.
That 95 Haut Brion sounds exactly like my experience about 4 of 5 years ago where it was all wound tight with not a lot of pleasure. I wonder is this ever going to come around.
Nice evening. Thanks for the notes.
Thanks for the notes, Charlie.
If there is one wine I’ll take every time, it’s the 1996 Latour, followed by the 1996 Margaux.
Now, factoring in price, a surprising wine I had on two occasions over the last year, and showed amazingly both times, is the 1995 GPL. I know you didn’t get to try it, but for around $100, it’s a PnP that’s hitting all strides at this time.
-DP
I tried it, but it was toward the end so didn’t have a chance to put down notes. I remember both 95/96 being nice wines
Thanks for the impressions, a useful snapshot.
I was a little surprised by some of the qualitative observations. As a matter of interest what temperature were these wines served at?
Not sure. I would say at the proper temperature. The room was kept cool and the wines were appropriate
really nice tasting, and i enjoyed the notes Charlie. surprised to read your 96 cheval note…heard from some hdh’ers that it might have been wotn. multiple bottles, i guess?
Could be. A couple people that tasted from the same bottle as me noted the same flavors. Bottle variance. It’s a bitch
just saw this. i was wondering from the pic you posted where the tasting was… sounds like a fun night man.
i think i still have a couple of bottles of fg 96 somewhere…we should recreate this tasting in the future.
The 96 cheval that I tased from was pretty flashy and fruit forward. Didn’t have the depth that I was looking for. Pours were tiny though. Thought to get a full impression.
Love the 96 cos, wish u guys popped a 95 grand puy or Pontet…great wines
Back in the day, 95 vs 96 was a huge fight between Suckling [95] and Parker [96].
Overall, at this particular point in time, you seem to be favoring the 95s as the very best of the bunch.
Also, Parker once said of the 96 Lafite either that it was “the greatest young Lafite” or “the greatest young Bordeaux” which he had ever tasted [or similar words to that effect].
Whereas you are saying “ew”.
And again - it’s just one snapshot in time - anything could happen in another 20 years.
You ballas left too early. Could have gotten big pours at the end