1985 super seconds tasted blind

Wines served single blind in flights of three. Lots of funk in the first two flights. Ducru does seem to have a TCA problem. Léoville Poyferré right up there with the best, when generally the top tier (Pichon Lalande, Palmer and LLC) did have a touch more class than the rest. Overall, this is still a lovely vintage

• 2006 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Buttery, lactic nose, and all a bit indistinct to start with, before the sauvignon fruit came through, decently minerally, the oak subtly done

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• 1985 Château Haut-Bailly 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Funky nose, a minty streak, quite rich and creamy, mid weight. Attractive

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• 1985 Domaine de Chevalier 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Less on the nose than the first wine, stalky, smoky, nice, but light

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• 1985 Château Rausan-Ségla 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Strong farmyard nose, softly textured, powerful, big old style claret

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• 1985 Château Palmer 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Another horsey one, with some earthiness in the middle, ripe and tangy. [Not up to the Palmer we have last autumn]

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• 1985 Château Léoville Barton

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Lactic nose, unclean middle, grippy finish. Probably corked, but certainly an earthy wiry claret of little charm

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• 1985 Château Gruaud Larose 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Another soft textured farmyardy claret, penetrating, multilayered, super

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• 1985 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  TCA

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• 1985 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Second bottle: not as badly corked as the first, and fresher all round, but still musty

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• 1985 Château Léoville Poyferré 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Beautiful, bright fruit, lots going on here, all of it delicious, nice grip at the end - lovely bottle

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• 1985 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Deep, tangy, beautiful and voluptuous, a complete claret

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• 1985 Château Léoville Las Cases 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Tight, creamy, very fine, but this one suggests it has more to give so presumably LLC

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• 1985 Château Lynch-Bages

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Stalky to the point of unpleasantness, raw and earthy fruit - this used to be so good, but the last few bottles have all been too stalky

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• 1985 Château Montrose 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Smaller than the preceding wines, warm and funky, but not much here

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• 1985 Château Cos d'Estournel 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Ripe and spicy, smooth on palate, grippy finish - one of its better showings, still a bit tight, so could get even better

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