A great evening of wines with close friends and memorable wines. And a night when all wines showed beautifully.
The 1985 Lynch Bages is at absolute apogee. Glorious right out of the gates, such an intoxicating perfume. A very pretty melange of earth, Cuban tobacco, and fresh red berry puree. The palate is perfectly resolved, tannins like rich butter. Deep core of soft plummy fruits, but it is the predominate mouthfeel of fresh red berries that surprises. While it is obvious this is a very mature wine, the red berry fruit is so fresh, like soil-to-glass transfer. I loved this wine. (96 pts.)
We next popped the 1996 Mouton, which paired wonderfully with my seared duck breast entree. Love the Gu Gan abstract painting on the label, so stylistically mine. The deep black purple swath on the canvas perhaps emblematic of this very powerful, Cab dominant wine. Still a very young wine next to that 85 Lynch Bages. Deep cassis notes on the nose and palate. Rich earth, cedar box and tobacco. And a minty top note that is quite appealing. This is an exceptional wine. Shows the opulence of Mouton with a very distinct freshness. (97 pts.)
The 1996 Pichon Lalande was more similar to the Mouton than distinct. Going from one to the other, and their resemblance was notable. The Lalande showing a bit more herbal notes and mint, but that same Big Cab blast of cassis with that 1996 freshness about it. So classic. (96 pts.)
Love it when all wines fire on all cylinders. Would love to have the Mouton and Lalande 5 years out and then another 10, like the Lynch Bages. That Lynch Bages is such a great reminder how beautifully Bordeaux ages, and that next layer of complexity that it shows.
Posting a pic for a laugh, world class wine out of crappy glass stems from the restaurant! When in Rome, and all that…
Very, very nice- drinking some good ones! I have said it before, and I will say it again- it was the ‘85 Lynch Bages that got me i to bordeaux, many moons ago, probably too young by your standards, but that wine was always great. Glad to hear it is now also.
Count me as a fan of the 85 Lynch Bages. I am learning about older Bordeaux… do you think it will hold for several years or longer ? Neil Martin has window out to 2040
I have several and have been drinking 1 a year, but dont want them to rapidly decline?
Of course, it always depends on the bottle and the provenance more than anything else, but the bottle I had last night, I have no doubt it could go to 2040.
There was some bottle variation with ‘85 Lynch. Great bottles are as Robert described, but there were some bottles where the bell pepper was dominant to the point where the wine was barely drinkable.
The 85 Lynch is another wine, like the 86 Talbot, whose ullage on the auction market is almost always a concern or worse. It’s so systematic you have to think there were either faulty corks involved or whole containers were exposed to heat. It sticks out because one can always find sound looking bottles of the 82, 83, 86, 88 Lynch for sale with fills into the neck. Given the prices involved, I never end up chasing those suspect 85s.
I would definitely love to try another bottle on its own. I thought it was outstanding, but it’s always tough when it’s the last wine of the evening after you’ve already had a fair bit of alcohol. We started with cocktails at the club.
I just picked up some 1996 Haut Brion. I kind of wish I had known my friend was bringing the Mouton as I would’ve brought the Haut Brion for comparison. All good, however, I’ll just bring it to the next dinner! Love this vintage, prolly my favorite vintage of the decade overall, after 1990, though the 1998 Pomerol vintage winds on all fronts.
