FWIW,
I think I mistook all the praise for the Lalande because of the two it is the wine I generally prefer. I find it has a grace, yet with spine, that Baron often lacks.
And I agree, Lalande definitely more graceful than Baron, in this vintage as well, but I don’t mind a bit of an earthy bruiser as long as it is balanced, as this one is
Opened another bottle of this wine last night - well, technically I Coravin’ed one glass a week ago, and was disappointed. I felt it was ‘closed’, perhaps, but after this thread I’m now quite certain it was sediment, as the Coravin stirs up sediment, and this wine had plenty of it judging by how much I had to leave in the bottle when pouring (with light source) into a decanter.
Happy I did, and now I can affirm that one should definitely not use a Coravin on a bottle 25 years old (if prone to sediment, and red, I suppose). Was singing after 2 hours in the decanter, a generous Pauillac in every way.
I have never been a particular fan of Coravin. I don’t particularly like the concept of opening a bottle, and my experience has shown that there is some deterioration. Hard to be sure, as each bottle is different, so trying to find a control that is totally convincing, but anecdotally, I have never had a bottle to be quite as good as I expected.