This was a Jeckyl & Hyde experience, last night it was thin, lacking color, fruit was hidden, tannins were weak. @David_Baum can attest. Tonight?
1996 Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (1/26/2025)
Popped at cellar temp and followed through dinner and beyond. Wasn’t giving up much at all. Palate was thin and uninspiring. Left in the decanter overnight and poured it back in the bottle in the mornjng.
Night #2 and this has finally unwound. Color of fig jam and/or coffee, nose of stone fruit, leather, spice and cassis. Cassis transfers to the palate along with plum and tobacco leaf. I can’t get over the color, weight and structure change of this wine overnight. It’s like night and day. Tannins are chalky and fairly firm but the plum and acidity push through to balance things a bit. Note to self, 18hr decant or don’t bother.
Funny, I popped a 2000 tonight. Perhaps because of more the solar vintage, but I find the 2000 more accessible. The 95, 96 and 98 definitely need a ton of air. These are such incredible wines.
I wish I could say, I have not had, but would love to try, the 1986 and the 1970s. I would still probably decant both of them, but I would not operate off the premise that they require three, six, or 12 hours of airing. If you are serving them for a dinner, maybe decant them early so you could follow them over the entire evening, and have another wine or two or three - Berseker-style - Open to enjoy just in case the Bama needs more air or just because we are berserkers and we need more to drink.
I think it would be really cool to have an evening where you pop both of them together.
A couple of years ago Bern’s had a 1959 magnum that I really wanted to snag and just didn’t have the ability to get over there before somebody else swiped it
I can imagine you guys raving about those BAMA lunatic fans, big yak palates, lovers of thin green weedy sh@t, lol, and now it has metamorphosized itself from larvae to a beautiful butterfly! Kafka is always right. You just had to go through a trial within your own castle.
Did not get to experience that. We went to Napa for big bruiser cabs with a nice Eagles win sandwiched between tastings Sunday and just landed back home on an early flight back to San Diego
I’ve had mixed experiences with 1996s. Last experience:
1996 is a weird vintage to me. I’ve gone through 6 of them over the past 12 months or so and it’s been all over the place! Some too tired, some seemed fine but underwhelming and some were pretty darn good. This was the best yet. So “best yet” that as I’m writing this, there is but one glass left in the decanter. I went through the whole darn bottle myself.
That bottle’s nose is all fresh red berries, some leather and meatiness, a touch of herbal medley and even a little bit of metallic twang. A pretty darn nice old school Bordeaux symphony. The palate doesn’t do 100% justice to the nose but it holds the road: fresh (almost thin) first palate, chewy and acidic mid palate and then a long crunchy red berries finish with a whole whack of tannins staying on the inner cheeks and gums. That mid palate really compensates for the somewhat thin entry. Old, fresh, serious and chewy. I’m loving this bottle tonight.
“Metamorphosized itself from larvae to a beautiful butterfly” – An analogy comparing a transformation (likely in opinion or experience) to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
** “Kafka is always right” – This references Franz Kafka’s themes of transformation and existential struggle, potentially an analogy to a confusing or surreal experience.
“You just had to go through a trial” – An analogy referencing Kafka’s novel The Trial, suggesting the person underwent a difficult or confusing process.
“Within your own castle” – Likely an analogy to Kafka’s The Castle, implying an ordeal involving bureaucracy, isolation, or an unattainable goal.
