Not easy to find a good wine in the 1983 vintage for me but this is probably one of the best ones. I do have a bottle of Margaux in the cellar that I’ll open on my 30th so hopefully that trumps this!
1983 Château La Mission Haut-Brion- France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (8/25/2009)
cork was popped, tasted about a hour and a half after. The nose was so powerful on this wine, it just exploded out of the glass with tons of earth, tobacco, dark lean fruit with a big chunk of meatiness sticking out at the top. The earthiness is the most prominent characteristic on the palate, there is fruit and some more mature notes of woodiness but the earth frames a rather lean profile. A long brooding finish sour blackberry and tobacco with soft resolved tannins. I wish the mid palate matched the depth of the nose and the finish (which were absolutely delightful), but alas… what can you expect from my pitiful birth year? (92 pts.)
1983 as a Bordeaux vintage birthyear is hardly pitiful, Charlie. You want pitiful, try my birthyear for Bdx: 1965.
As regards '83, aside from the '83 Palmer Tony mentioned (which is very nice, though I prefer the '89), go for '83 Lafite Rothschild. The last one I had was around 4 or 5 months ago and it was sublime. I considered it better than Latour’s '83, which, from me, means something as Latour is my favorite Bdx producer of them all. Pichon Lalande’s '83 is good, but not very interesting to me though I am a fan of that château.
I’m a 1983 also and don’t think it’s such a bad year. A lot of good Bordeaux made but I’d especially keep an eye out for Germany, where it was a very good vintage. I picked up some 83 JJ Prum and Von Schubert Spats recently for about $40/per, which should be really nice. I haven’t had them (and they’re out of my price range) but 83 is reportedly a great year for the La Las too. Well reputed for Sauternes and not terrible for Burgundy at the high end.
The 1983 Chateau d’Yquem is a very good wine. Only had it once many years ago, I thought it was a classic concentrated wine that has a long life ahead of it. Might be a good one to lay down for your 40th.
I opened a Mouton for my bday and was kinda disappointed. Could have possibly been the storage condition shrug. I will be on the search for Lafite. Maybe some of my brethen in the motherland will have one to give me when I visit xoxo.
Margaux is my favorite but its probably not ready. I haven’t checked in on any of mine in over a year. Palmer is fantastic, too. I also like the Lafite but not as much as the first two listed here. 1983 holy sh*t…I suddenly feel old…You actually have birth year wines that aren’t even ready!
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