Does anyone have experience on how the better '95s are drinking now?
Meaning? Anything specific in mind? I have found some are still hard as a rock.
I have been relatively disappointed with the 3rd, 4th and 5th Growths that I have had in the past couple of years. None of them were yielding anything yet.
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Ian, nothing specific. Working on the Pratts theme. I haven’t had any '95s in years and I was wondering if this was a good time to try a few. Working on the Pratts theme.
I’ve not been too enamored by '95 Bdx in general at this point - the only exception that comes to mind immediately is one '95 Pichon Lalande around a year-and-a-half ago. I had a '95 Haut Brion around 2 months ago which was a little disappointing. A '95 Cheval Blanc (magnum) in Jan 2008 was good, but could most certainly have been better.
It has been several years, but I was thinking on checking in on a Lynch Bages for NYE with rack of lamb. Decanting required I would guess. Last time I had (3-4 years ago) it was most unpleasant.
The '95 Pichon Baron is drinking nicely now, although I didn’t find it having much in the way of secondary flavors/aroma when I tried it last (Sept '09)
Andy
That’s been my experience with all the '95’s I’ve tried over the past couple of years. I’m letting mine sleep some more. Strange, as the '89’s and '90’s were drinking better at 14 than these are.
Had '95 Calon Segur earlier this year, which took about 1.5 hours in the decanter to open up and for the funk to blow off, but after that it was quite good.
I had a 95 Angelus at Ed Murrays a few months ago that drank great, but I would still give it a long decant.
1995 Pichon Lalande…what an OUTSTANDING wine! This is from 2005, FYI…
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My benchmark for 1995 was the Carruades de Lafite. I knew the “big” names would not be ready early but I kept kind of expecting the Carruades to come around. I had a whole case so I think I opened bottles at 8 years, 10 years, 12 years. Nothing, a giant waste. A year or so ago I opened a bottle and enjoyed it. Since then I have felt free to open my 1995’s and I have had good luck with them. Still no first growths but in general they have been very nice “food” wines, as Bordeaux should be.
I have a passive cellar, pretty cool all year round. Sixty-ish.
Tried the '95 Gruaud Larose recently – it was a pretty, well-balanced, enjoyable wine with very pretty fruit and nothing in the least bit harsh. That bottle did not show a lot of secondary characteristics.
I had had a bottle previously at Thanksgiving 2007 that was spectacular – I did not write anything down close enough to the meal to record all of the secondary and tertiary flavors and aromas we experienced, but my note says “Fabulous complexity and character. Tremendous variety of scents and flavors. Mellow tannin and robust fruit. Delightful.”
– Matt
Certainly seems like it is all over the place. I think we are going to try to pair wines from 90. 95 and 96 depending on what people have in their cellar. Won’t be a comprehensive tasting but we should get some good wines to try.
I am a big fan of the vintage and have sampled a bunch over the last year to get an idea of which I want to buy more of. I would say the typical GCC is still at least 5 years away from a real drinking window, but they are no longer so closed that you don’t get a sense of what they are. Definitely worth opening for “tasting” but not quite there for “drinking” yet. Crus bourgeois and such are real beauties now though. My 2c.
It was, but better then than now. Built to wow young and it did the job for a few years…
What about Cos d’estournel? I have some people say that it is ready and good to go.
Bob, in the 90’s Cos used as much as 40% Merlot. I have not been able to find the exact percentage for 1995 but I assume it was high, and I have also heard the wine is drinking well now.
FWIW after 2000 Cos cut back drastically on the Merlot and in recent vintages the Cabernet percentage has been quite high. This probably means longer cellar times.
We have Angelus coming and hopefully Pichon Lalande.