1988 Château Rieussec- France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (12/31/2016)
Removed from refrigerator prior to serving. Tasted over the course of about three hours.
The nose is sweet botrytised pears and peaches galore. Apricots come into play as well. White pepper and a healthy slug of volatile acidity too. So much honey and yet it was so beautifully balanced.
Great acidity on the palate, and this tasted fully mature. Dried apricot, perfumed white flowers, clover honey, and botrytis on the finish. It seemed to have everything in its correct place.
I can’t say for sure whether this will get better or not but it was pretty tasty at 29 years old.
I have a 2001 that I plan on letting sleep for a long time and hope it shows as well as your 88 did down the road (although it’s REALLY tempting to Coravin a little pour in the near term)
Thank you Rich, I have about 2 inches left in the bottle and I may uncork it tonight to see how it’s been faring in my fridge since Sunday morning. I say Coravin that 2001! That’s what it’s for, right?
I know man, that’s what I keep telling myself. I love my coravin and use it for short term preservation as a way to drink from multiple bottles at the same time and it works great for those puporpses…but I don’t fully trust it as the cork gets older, and I know I’m not going to drink the rest of the bottle for a long time.
Let me know how amazing the rest of that 88 is and maybe I can be persuaded
