Opened last night while watching Top Chef Masters. Cork crumbled and broke in half, so I had to push the cork into the bottle and strain through a sieve.
Immediate nose of vanilla (shocker) and eucalyptus. Color was a nice, dark ruby red. Still lots of oak and tannin left in this bottle, but the fruit hasn’t started to fade at all…pretty good for a 13 year old wine. Plenty of blueberry and cassis with just a tinge of licorice. Really no acid left to speak of.
The 1996 is actually holding up quite well. The 94s are still rocking, the 95s need to be drank.
It is the 97s and forward that have really declined in quality. At this point the 96 is a far superior wine to the 97. Had a 97 a couple months ago,and it was well into decline, even pass the 95s.