1985 Château Cos d'Estournel - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
[Double-decanted for 1 hour at 4pm, then back in a decanter at 5:15. First tasted about 5:30.] Muted smoky nose of dried red currants. Expansive and complex in the mouth with a long finish of mature fruit and spice. 7pm: Nose is showing more complex aromas of red fruits, cedar, and and saddle leather. Stunningly expansive in the mouth with a long complex finish of juicy red fruits and tobacco. If you still own this, I would not wait much longer. My last bottle. (96 points)
1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
[Double-decanted for 1 hour at 3:30pm. First tasted about 5:30.] Muted nose of black currants and graphite. Thick and rich with lots of dark fruit, leather, and some chocolate. Classic 1986 still with loads of fruit and richness. These may age forever. 7pm: Bright red and black fruit, licorice, and cigar box. This is a terrific 1986 where there is still tannin, but it's overwhelmed by the rich fruit. It's really big and powerful for a wine this old, but never goes overboard. Rich but elegant. Superb. (95 points)
Both wines were beautiful and showed the characteristics of their respective vintages. The 1986 PLL was all power and grace with plenty of life left. The 1985 Cos was fully mature and so elegant. It had an ethereal aspect that gave it a slight edge for me.
Happy Birthday buddy, I recently had the '86 PLL, what an absolute banger of a wine, a top Lalande for my palate. @Robert.A.Jr u better not open that '85 Cos w/o me!
Is '85 the Top current 80’s vintage at the moment?
Old timers compare it to 1953. Never a dumb moment; lovely from barrel to now. Overall, 1982 is still the best, but we are now in bottle by bottle territory.
Hard to say that, so many of them shine right now! I’ve had a lot of 85s recently and they are excellent across the board! Popping an 82 and 83 tonight.
For me, no. While I have had some wonderful wines from 1985 and 1990 and they are excellent vintages, for me and my taste the wines from those vintages can be a bit low in acidity. When I have had several wines together, I have tended to like wines from 1982, 1986 and 1989 better.
Now, you guys probably drink a lot more Bordeaux than I do. And, it may be different for different levels of wine (I can accept that 1986s are more variable), but when wines are on, this is my consistent preference.
Loved both of those wines, though I didn’t find the same elegance that Ken did in the PLL. For me the PLL was very much what I expect from an 86 - lots of bright dark fruit, but still showing a slight austerity and tannic bite underneath it that I don’t find from PLL in many other vintages. Although the tannic aspect did soften with air and alongside the duck, which is becoming my go-to dish for bigger/more tannic reds.
The Cos was another level. Might be the best bottle of Cos I’ve had from any vintage, just outstanding aromatic depth and so silky and easy to drink.
On Marc’s question, it’s one of my favorite vintages of the decade for me along with 82 and 89. 85 is also my birthyear, so some bias there, but I’ve had some truly spectacular '85 Bordeaux in the past year or so - it seems to be drinking especially well right now, while I still get the sense from some 82s/86s/89s that they need more time. Have had some great showings from 85 Gruaud and Lynch-Bages (the latter also from @Ken_V 's cellar earlier this year).
Nicely done!! I had both of these wines this year (separately), and concur on both counts. The Cos is stunning and is my WOTY runner up to the 82 PLL. My reaction to the 86 PLL is very similar to yours - I admired it more than I loved it.
In our Pichon Lalande vertical several years ago, the 1986 and 1996 were the outliers. Personally I found them both lacking the elegance the other wines showed.
My Orlando group did a PLL vertical from '69 to '10 a some months back and the 96 was outstanding…and my WOTN
Though I must note, '82 '85 '90 '00 were not in the lineup.
These also tend to be my favorites from the ‘80s for drinking now. But it varies from wine to wine, and as others have said at 30+ years it’s as much about good bottles as good wines.
