France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
Served double blind. Quite rounded and fat on the nose, showing a little less acidity and more structure with relatively high alcohol. Feels very much like a bruiser of a wine and also seems to have a bit of age. With air, this tightened up in structure, and showed a little more lean and less diffuse. Overall a fair bit of oak and reduction here. I thought this was older than it was though -- perhaps a 2010?
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Served double blind. This drank much younger and lighter than the 2014 Boillot Poruzots just before. Leaner, with a nice lemony fruit profile and some good acidity to cut through. Not as concentrated and intense on the palate as the other two wines, with a slightly oaky, rounded disposition as well.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Served double blind. Readily my favourite of the three blind whites. Much lighter in texture than the other two -- showing less oak and reduction overall, and there's a freshness and elegance that actually had me pretty confident that this wasn't a Corton Charlemagne. I thought this was a great Puligny 1er cru or something... go figure.
What a treat to get to try this again so soon. Ripe and creamy, but with a really nice chalky texture here. Drinking exactly how I expect it to be, and I think any variance in my notes is variance with my palate than with the wine. I quite like the chalky minerality chewiness on the back end.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Yeah, no. Very sweet, but a midpalate that is very hollow despite the seemingly ripe profile. Not much grape structure -- this is all driven by oak. Lacks the weight of a modern Napa cabernet, it actually feels like this is already drying out. Bitter oak tannin on the finish.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Surprisingly good, especially for the washout vintage. I guess not being able to push the ripeness as hard as possible meant that the estate could try and produce something a little more elegant. And for the most part, they succeeded. The oak still shows a distinct coconut/vanilla/lactone thing, and the palate is relatively hollow. But there's good acidity and grape as opposed to oak tannin. Drinks like a very nice bistro wine.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Firm and structured, drinking quite youthfully at the moment, and really needing a lot of air to finally show more than just tannic structure on the palate. With that air though, there are more leathery elements, but a plush, black fruit profile starts to emerge. This shows the acidity and leaner, structural elements of the vintage in a backwards way.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Shows very ripe, with plenty of plummy notes on the nose and palate. The distinction between this at the 2001 Chapelle really is the texture -- whereas the Chapelle is a bit coarse, this has a full, silkiness on the palate that is really enjoyable. The tannins on the back end aren't yet fully resolved, but there's a velvety, almost dusty quality to them. To me this feels like it's just entered its secondary stage.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
A little foursquare, but drinking very well for a 2005. This doesn't have the intense structure that so many others have, and there's a resolved, plummy, juiciness here. Not too complex or layered, but with a lot of those nice fruit layers on the palate making this readily accessible at such a young age.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Wow. A stunning wine right from the get-go, this was fully mature and drinking so well. Lovely silky texture on the palate, with that perfect balance of fruit, herbs, and leather on the nose. There's just the right amount of sweetness from the fruit on the palate too. So many left bank 1995s have been utterly charmless, dull wines, but this is something completely different. For me, this is comfortably showing mature, secondary characteristics, but you definitely get the sense that there's many more years to go here. I really like how the wines turned out at the estate in this era; this bottle is no exception.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
I was really excited about trying this wine, but I don't think it lived up to my very high expectations. The nose shows a little dirty and unclean, with a slight hint of brett and a lot more leather and earthy tones than I'd have expected. The fruit is a little faded and not precise, and while the texture is silky like the 1995, this doesn't have the intensity and concentration of the younger wine. I'm thinking this may not have been a perfect bottle, and while it was good, this was overshadowed by both the 1989 Angelus and Troplong Mondot (yeah, right?!).
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
One of my favourite wines tonight. Massively scaled on the nose, with plenty of ripe black fruit and leathery notes, this still feels almost slightly primary from it. On the palate, the ripeness makes this a little hot, and the bulkiness of the wine detracts a bit from its elegance. Nonetheless, this is a very impressive wine just for its power and how fresh it is showing for its age.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Today, this showed a little better than the 1989 Cheval Blanc! Like the Angelus, this is quite large-scaled with pleasant plummy fruit on the nose. In fact, this seems like a less-concentrated and complex version of the Angelus, where you just seem to get more fruit and ripeness while some of the tannins, leather, and other secondary accents are dialled back.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Others liked this more than I did; for my palate I found this getting to be a little old, and certainly this didn't have any of the freshness that the 1964 two weeks ago did. There's a slight iron oxide note on the nose, but the fruit is still plummy, even if dried out a bit. This does have the Cheval Blanc silky texture, and is obviously fully resolved at this point. I would have liked more weight on the palate, but that's definitely asking for a lot for a wine of this age.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Again I think others appreciated this more than I did. There's a very small hint of volatility on the nose here, but like the 1966 Cheval Blanc, this is a wine with lots more red fruit than black (and again there is also some drying to the fruit). Overall, this has a bit of a thinning palate presence, which would make me think that this should be drank sooner than later.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
After a suspected bout of covid, I think my palate shifted towards riper, bigger wines, with more expressive fruit. Figeac, which I think I historically quite liked, no longer really fits the bill, as I found this a little too light and lean thanks to the pronounced pyrazines on the nose here. With food and air, this does fill out a bit (and I definitely enjoyed it more later on), but that relatively thin streak does detract from this wine.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Again I think others liked this more than I did; here this is a Bordeaux driven strongly by its acids. The tannins don't provide as much structure here either, and there's a lot of tart red fruit to supplement some modest green (but mature) pyrazine elements. There's also an unpleasant cigarette ash element that comes and goes. Like the 2000, better with food.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
A stellar bottle of Figeac, where you don't get as many of the outright ash/pyrazine notes. This is full-bodied and ripe, with a mix of red and black fruit, though more red than black. Slight leather notes, with a finer, more elegant texture for the fully resolved tannins. A bit of sweetness from the fruit. At a peak now, with plenty more gas in the tank thanks to the structure.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Impressive for its longevity, this is a wine that aged on its acids. For me, this is definitely thinning out and drying out, but the acidity has preserved enough fruit that this isn't hollowed. The tannic structure also feels a bit thin and light, as if really the only thing that kept this wine chugging along was just the acidity acting as a preservative.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Smoky, lean and thin, with some initial bottle stink before it blows off. Modest brett notes emerge with air as well. There's a funkiness that is almost like TCA but is more like what happens when pyrazines age too much. Like the 1978, a wine that is surviving thanks to its acids, but I don't see the upside in holding bottles of this any longer. Drink up.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
I liked this a bit more than some of the other older examples. This does initially show a little thin, but there's a mix of red and black fruit here that doesn't make this seem like it's a wine fully aging on the acidity, because this has more of a tannic structure and fullness on the palate. However, like the 1962, better drank sooner than later.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Again a wine that drinks a little too old for me. An earthy, almost left-bank-like nose, with lots of pencil shaving notes as well. Old school with some rustic textures and flavours on the nose and palate. The fruit on the midpalate is hollowing out; can't help but think this isn't a perfect bottle of this wine and that there's more upside with other bottles.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
What a treat to cross paths with this wine again. This is showing so well, with its silky, plummy textures on the palate. Mature red fruit here, with some dried herbal notes, but mostly a plush breadth on the palate that gives this wine really nice expressiveness. One of my favourites tonight, this is in the zone with just the right amount of maturity but also still so much expressively plush fruit.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
I think this lagged the other 1982s today, just because I'm finding myself not as enamoured of the Magdelaine style. Honestly, it drinks too much like a left-bank wine. Plenty of pencil shavings and dried figs on the nose; quite youthful and structured, but not as plush and giving with the fruit as the Canon or Figeac. Impressive for its freshness.
From half-bottle. Pleasant enough Sauternes, but lacking a certain opulence, even as it ticks all the boxes. Unfortunately just not very exciting for me -- this doesn't have the same freshness and lightness of a riesling dessert wine, nor really the weight and density of a top-notch Sauternes.
2014 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
Served double blind. Quite rounded and fat on the nose, showing a little less acidity and more structure with relatively high alcohol. Feels very much like a bruiser of a wine and also seems to have a bit of age. With air, this tightened up in structure, and showed a little more lean and less diffuse. Overall a fair bit of oak and reduction here. I thought this was older than it was though -- perhaps a 2010?
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2014 Marc Colin et Fils Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Served double blind. This drank much younger and lighter than the 2014 Boillot Poruzots just before. Leaner, with a nice lemony fruit profile and some good acidity to cut through. Not as concentrated and intense on the palate as the other two wines, with a slightly oaky, rounded disposition as well.
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2014 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Domaine 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Served double blind. Readily my favourite of the three blind whites. Much lighter in texture than the other two -- showing less oak and reduction overall, and there's a freshness and elegance that actually had me pretty confident that this wasn't a Corton Charlemagne. I thought this was a great Puligny 1er cru or something... go figure.
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2009 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut 95 Points
France, Champagne
What a treat to get to try this again so soon. Ripe and creamy, but with a really nice chalky texture here. Drinking exactly how I expect it to be, and I think any variance in my notes is variance with my palate than with the wine. I quite like the chalky minerality chewiness on the back end.
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2009 Château Troplong Mondot 80 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Yeah, no. Very sweet, but a midpalate that is very hollow despite the seemingly ripe profile. Not much grape structure -- this is all driven by oak. Lacks the weight of a modern Napa cabernet, it actually feels like this is already drying out. Bitter oak tannin on the finish.
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2002 Château Pavie 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Surprisingly good, especially for the washout vintage. I guess not being able to push the ripeness as hard as possible meant that the estate could try and produce something a little more elegant. And for the most part, they succeeded. The oak still shows a distinct coconut/vanilla/lactone thing, and the palate is relatively hollow. But there's good acidity and grape as opposed to oak tannin. Drinks like a very nice bistro wine.
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2001 Chapelle d'Ausone 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Firm and structured, drinking quite youthfully at the moment, and really needing a lot of air to finally show more than just tannic structure on the palate. With that air though, there are more leathery elements, but a plush, black fruit profile starts to emerge. This shows the acidity and leaner, structural elements of the vintage in a backwards way.
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1999 Château Ausone 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Shows very ripe, with plenty of plummy notes on the nose and palate. The distinction between this at the 2001 Chapelle really is the texture -- whereas the Chapelle is a bit coarse, this has a full, silkiness on the palate that is really enjoyable. The tannins on the back end aren't yet fully resolved, but there's a velvety, almost dusty quality to them. To me this feels like it's just entered its secondary stage.
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2005 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse) 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
A little foursquare, but drinking very well for a 2005. This doesn't have the intense structure that so many others have, and there's a resolved, plummy, juiciness here. Not too complex or layered, but with a lot of those nice fruit layers on the palate making this readily accessible at such a young age.
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1995 Château Cheval Blanc 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Wow. A stunning wine right from the get-go, this was fully mature and drinking so well. Lovely silky texture on the palate, with that perfect balance of fruit, herbs, and leather on the nose. There's just the right amount of sweetness from the fruit on the palate too. So many left bank 1995s have been utterly charmless, dull wines, but this is something completely different. For me, this is comfortably showing mature, secondary characteristics, but you definitely get the sense that there's many more years to go here. I really like how the wines turned out at the estate in this era; this bottle is no exception.
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1989 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
I was really excited about trying this wine, but I don't think it lived up to my very high expectations. The nose shows a little dirty and unclean, with a slight hint of brett and a lot more leather and earthy tones than I'd have expected. The fruit is a little faded and not precise, and while the texture is silky like the 1995, this doesn't have the intensity and concentration of the younger wine. I'm thinking this may not have been a perfect bottle, and while it was good, this was overshadowed by both the 1989 Angelus and Troplong Mondot (yeah, right?!).
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1989 Château Angélus 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
One of my favourite wines tonight. Massively scaled on the nose, with plenty of ripe black fruit and leathery notes, this still feels almost slightly primary from it. On the palate, the ripeness makes this a little hot, and the bulkiness of the wine detracts a bit from its elegance. Nonetheless, this is a very impressive wine just for its power and how fresh it is showing for its age.
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1989 Château Troplong Mondot 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Today, this showed a little better than the 1989 Cheval Blanc! Like the Angelus, this is quite large-scaled with pleasant plummy fruit on the nose. In fact, this seems like a less-concentrated and complex version of the Angelus, where you just seem to get more fruit and ripeness while some of the tannins, leather, and other secondary accents are dialled back.
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1964 Château Ausone Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Extremely high amounts of volatile acidity. Red wine vinegar, acetone, Sharpie marker, the whole shebang.
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1966 Château Cheval Blanc 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Others liked this more than I did; for my palate I found this getting to be a little old, and certainly this didn't have any of the freshness that the 1964 two weeks ago did. There's a slight iron oxide note on the nose, but the fruit is still plummy, even if dried out a bit. This does have the Cheval Blanc silky texture, and is obviously fully resolved at this point. I would have liked more weight on the palate, but that's definitely asking for a lot for a wine of this age.
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1970 Château Ausone 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Again I think others appreciated this more than I did. There's a very small hint of volatility on the nose here, but like the 1966 Cheval Blanc, this is a wine with lots more red fruit than black (and again there is also some drying to the fruit). Overall, this has a bit of a thinning palate presence, which would make me think that this should be drank sooner than later.
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2000 Château Figeac 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
After a suspected bout of covid, I think my palate shifted towards riper, bigger wines, with more expressive fruit. Figeac, which I think I historically quite liked, no longer really fits the bill, as I found this a little too light and lean thanks to the pronounced pyrazines on the nose here. With food and air, this does fill out a bit (and I definitely enjoyed it more later on), but that relatively thin streak does detract from this wine.
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1996 Château Figeac 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Again I think others liked this more than I did; here this is a Bordeaux driven strongly by its acids. The tannins don't provide as much structure here either, and there's a lot of tart red fruit to supplement some modest green (but mature) pyrazine elements. There's also an unpleasant cigarette ash element that comes and goes. Like the 2000, better with food.
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1970 Château Cheval Blanc Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Maderized.
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1982 Château Figeac 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
A stellar bottle of Figeac, where you don't get as many of the outright ash/pyrazine notes. This is full-bodied and ripe, with a mix of red and black fruit, though more red than black. Slight leather notes, with a finer, more elegant texture for the fully resolved tannins. A bit of sweetness from the fruit. At a peak now, with plenty more gas in the tank thanks to the structure.
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1978 Château Figeac 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Impressive for its longevity, this is a wine that aged on its acids. For me, this is definitely thinning out and drying out, but the acidity has preserved enough fruit that this isn't hollowed. The tannic structure also feels a bit thin and light, as if really the only thing that kept this wine chugging along was just the acidity acting as a preservative.
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1982 Château Angélus Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Corked.
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1962 Château Figeac 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Smoky, lean and thin, with some initial bottle stink before it blows off. Modest brett notes emerge with air as well. There's a funkiness that is almost like TCA but is more like what happens when pyrazines age too much. Like the 1978, a wine that is surviving thanks to its acids, but I don't see the upside in holding bottles of this any longer. Drink up.
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1966 Château Figeac 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
I liked this a bit more than some of the other older examples. This does initially show a little thin, but there's a mix of red and black fruit here that doesn't make this seem like it's a wine fully aging on the acidity, because this has more of a tannic structure and fullness on the palate. However, like the 1962, better drank sooner than later.
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1970 Château Magdelaine 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Again a wine that drinks a little too old for me. An earthy, almost left-bank-like nose, with lots of pencil shaving notes as well. Old school with some rustic textures and flavours on the nose and palate. The fruit on the midpalate is hollowing out; can't help but think this isn't a perfect bottle of this wine and that there's more upside with other bottles.
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1982 Château Canon 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
What a treat to cross paths with this wine again. This is showing so well, with its silky, plummy textures on the palate. Mature red fruit here, with some dried herbal notes, but mostly a plush breadth on the palate that gives this wine really nice expressiveness. One of my favourites tonight, this is in the zone with just the right amount of maturity but also still so much expressively plush fruit.
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1982 Château Magdelaine 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
I think this lagged the other 1982s today, just because I'm finding myself not as enamoured of the Magdelaine style. Honestly, it drinks too much like a left-bank wine. Plenty of pencil shavings and dried figs on the nose; quite youthful and structured, but not as plush and giving with the fruit as the Canon or Figeac. Impressive for its freshness.
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1975 Château Magdelaine Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Corked.
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2001 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
From half-bottle. Pleasant enough Sauternes, but lacking a certain opulence, even as it ticks all the boxes. Unfortunately just not very exciting for me -- this doesn't have the same freshness and lightness of a riesling dessert wine, nor really the weight and density of a top-notch Sauternes.
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