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A Tribute to 30yrs of 1982 Left Bank Bordeaux

The Papies, Elizabeth St, London

Tasted May 5, 2012 by Papies with 791 views

Introduction

With our friends we bundled together a selection of 1982s as a tribute to 1982 hitting its 30yr anniversary.
Wines were served blind as not to have any influence over our verdict.
Wines were opened 1-1.5hrs before tasting and we decanted as we saw fit.

Flight 1 - To start the evening (1 note)

White
2005 E. Guigal Ermitage Blanc Ex-Voto France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
94 points
A serious and intense wine, from nose to palate to finish. Worthy of the title of "special cuvee". Opened and let it rest for 30 minutes but maybe we should hav edecanted. It does take a bit of time to open up.
Full and rich, dence an although young it is a joy to try it fresh. For sure we will wait a few years for the other bottle we have to let it mature. A truly unique and amzing wine. 94 for now but it has a long way to go and can easily go higher.

Flight 2 - With Fois Gras to start (1 note)

White - Sparkling
1982 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut France, Champagne
98 points
Wow! Needed about half an hour to open up and settle but post that it was in another dimension. Such is the life in this that the nose was still singing in the next morning as a bit of this nectar that managed to escape in the bottle.
Full rich, long nose. Yeasty, nutty. You can just keep smelling this wine. More of a really fine burgandy. On the palate has a fine mouthfeel, still very much alive and with a lovely density and length. An experience and a joy! 97-98

Flight 3 - Main Course - 12 hour slow cooked shoulder of pork (4 notes)

Red
1982 Château Lanessan France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
Auction bottle so not sure of how it was kept. Top shoulder and with a bittle cork.
The nose is classical, earth, leather, herbs. On the palate it is thin and short and feels past its good age. Definitely worse than the last bottle we had but it could be bottle quality rather than of the wine. on the night this was an 85 but we rated it 90 last time so not sure what to make of this wine.
Red
1982 Château Lagrange (St. Julien) France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
91 points
We concluded decanting would help and like a good 30mins did help. Good bottle in neck. Cork was brittle.
Classical nose , probably the highlight of the wine at this age, and people really liked it. Open, mild and very elegant. On the palate it was a bit austere to start but evolved nicely and made for nice drinking. Fully mature now. 91 from us.
Red
1982 Château Lynch-Bages France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
93 points
Wine was singing from the start so we chose not to decant.
Beautiful wine. Reserved yet pretty on the nose with, leather, light earth and all that goes with fully matured bordeaux. On the palate it is still alive and althought the tannins have mellowed it was quite vibrant and long. Nice fruit still lingers and a good finish. Great classical and well matured wine. 93-94 (Nicol's wotn)
Red
1982 Château Palmer France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
91 points
Felt it needed decanting and we did for abt 1 hour.
Good bottle just below neck. Brittle cork.
Colour shows it age for sure. The nose points directly to a well mature bordeaux. Minty ( for us a signature of palmer) , herby with light earth. On the palate it feels it has seen better years and although nice to drink it feels a bit short and light on the density and depth. Still very nice but best to drink this sooner than later. 91 at best.

Flight 4 - Cheeses (3 notes)

Red
1982 Château Léoville Poyferré France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
90 points
AAA bottle, in neck level, good solid cork.
Decanted for about an hour but didnt really help open up the wine. Not really singing and reading the notes below we feel like we didnt get the experience everybody else did. Classic and although mature it felt very reserved and for sure can last a few more years. Light on the nose, mild, restrained. Good palate presence, well round but lacked vitality. 90 from us.
Red
1982 Château Talbot France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
94 points
Another masterpiece from Talbot of the 1980s.
Decanted for about 1hr as on open it felt austere and acidic. Really helped as once the wine opened up it was excellent.
Colour definitely shows its age. On the nose its textbook classic cal mature bordeaux. Light earth, leather, tobacco open and beautiful. Just kept going back for more. On the palate it is spirited and alive although well round and fully mature. Lovely balance and really worth everybit of its money. easy 94 maybe more. (Andreas' wotn)
Red
1982 Château Cos d'Estournel France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
flawed
Very weird bottle. Youthfull cork (1982 clearly visible) super high fill (almost touching the cork). We wonder if it was tampered. Definitely it felt out of place and nothing to do with any Cos we have tried.

Flight 5 - Desert (1 note)

White - Sweet/Dessert
1982 Château Guiraud France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
92 points
Dark almost burnt caramel in colour. Still with a lot of life ahead of it but lovely to drink at this age. Caramel notes, candied aprocots. Lots of life and another great showing. 92.

Closing

At 30yrs of age there are no good wines only good bottles!
In general although we enjoyed most of the wines the feeling for this sort of range of wines was that we should be drinking them sooner than later. Quality was so and so. Granted we didint have any 1er wines but still.
Lynch and Talbot were singing!

Krug was an expirience like no other.

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