How much air should I give my 86 Lalande?

WINE TALK
1

Doing a aged Bord dinner manana anyone have one of these of late.

danke

2

About 1500 miles of air. You may ship it to me now, the weather is cool this week. [tease.gif]
hehe sorry, I’m in a good mood today!

3

Nice avatar [welldone.gif]

IMO, virtually any '86 can do with some air, and Pichon in this vintage has always struck me as somewhat rustic, so I would consider decanting at least 2-3 hours prior to serving. And make sure you post a TN afterwards [wink.gif]

4

Thanks gents notes to follow.

5

Back in April I opened it 4 hours ahead of time and poured off a taste. It showed extremely well that night.

6

13th March 2008 - Decanted 2 hours, at a Pichon Lalande vertical dinner:

7th - 1986, this is the third time I’ve tried this vintage, and it is the third time I was less than impressed. Definitely not the typically elegant PL, or even attractively butch like the 1989 or 1985. The flavors seem superficial, the finish, again, short with a disturbing hint of astringency.

6th January 2008 - No decanting, but left opened in bottle for approximately 1 hour before serving:

1986 Château Pichon Lalande - From Edouard (whose direct aunt used to own the château). My old notes revealed that I last had this wine sometime in July 2000 and found it to be atypically hard and the most masculinely austere Pichon Lalande I had ever tried. This bottle had the same character, decidedly masculine, austere with more dominant earthy,leathery notes than I have ever encountered in PL.

It wasn’t hard like the one over 7 years ago, but it definitely could not be characterized as feminine and graceful like the typical PL. The Stockbroker said it was because 1986s are generally more austere and muscular - a vintage thing.

He’s most probably correct. A comparison with '85 and '89 (which I found to be comparatively less feminine PLs) flashed in my mind, but those were still a lot lusher and nowhere near as austere as the '86.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I liked the '86 a lot and greatly appreciate the chance to re-try it. I’m just a bit amazed how far removed its character is from all the other vintages I have tried.

7

When I last opened one two years ago, it was still a pretty tough sucker. That’s 86. It softened up and opened up a bit over the course of dinner, but it is much more tannic and taughtly wound than typical Pichon Lalande.

8

Back in April I wrote that I was half expecting the 86 PLL to be a tannic beast, but it wasn’t. Couldn’t call it feminine either though. Liked it all the same.

9

a little follow up from our Friday Bordeaux tasting

1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

This was decanted for over 2 hours and then spent another 3 in a open bottle before consumption.
It took the nose awhile to get going but when it did-( wow!) A pure deep nose of cedar,tobacco,mushrooms,
red cassis, and leather.
Perfectly elegant mouthfeel of dark cherries,tobacco,cedar,truffle oil,creamy dark chocolate,and a bit of bell pepper.
The finish explodes in the backend and is very silky. Lot’s of energy left in this bottle-this will evolve for 20 more years IMHO… (96 pts.)

cheers

10

Allright!! [winner.gif]

11

This baby opened up just in time. I’d say give them plenty of air in a decanter. If we hadn’t taken our time with dinner it never would have opened up like it did.