1996 Château Lynch-Bages- France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (12/19/2019)
Coravined one glass 2 hours in advance. Aromatic wonderful “Bordeaux” nose hitting the exact notes you come to expect – blackcurrant with a rustic lead pencil scent just released from your open cigar box. My personal bias is a great nose on a wine and I wish I could savor this one for hours. Full-bodied dark fruits on the palate shaded ever so slightly to the tart side. Rich currants shine on the mid-palate and linger lightly with fully resolved tannins into a long finish. More leather than velvet on the texture this is a savory and elegant wine delivering the goods. A perfect wine to drink now but showing no signs of thinning and should continue to shine for years to come. I wish I could drink this every night! (96 pts.)
Thanks for the great note. It has been a good decade since I had this, but I have a few TNs from release until that point- and this never shut down in that time. Drank beautifully from day one. And Craig- while this is not the 1989. it is stylistically very similar. Based on the TN we have received- appears the wine is still firing on all cylinders.
Went to Cellartracker to see if I had any left. Drank my last bottle 7 years ago. Damn! Still have plenty off the 89 and 90.
January 28, 2013 - Ruby in color and just starting to fade ever so slightly on the edges. 13% ABV. Cedar, pencil and sweet pipe tobacco on the nose. Pure black currants, cassis, graphite, cigar box, wet earth, mushrooms, smoke, leather and coffee on the palate. Textbook Pauillac! The wine is rich, young and taut. Great texture and mouthfeel. There are definitely some secondary characteristics developing here but there is still a great sweetness of fruit that shines through. Well stored bottles of this wine will easily age gracefully for another 10-20 years.