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Graves @ RSJ
RSJ, London
Tasted January 21, 2016 by SimonG with 433 views
Flight 1 (2 notes)
White
2007 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
92 points
Good colour, nicely pale. Waxy lanolin nose. A touch of lemon too. A nice underlying richness. The crisp lemon element comes out with air and is joined by gooseberry. Needs time. Beeswax and plenty of bite. ***(*)
White
1987 Château Laville Haut-Brion Blanc
91 points
Mid gold. Beeswax and furniture polish. Very rounded and nuanced. Seems a little richer and denser on the palate. Just a hint of volatility and dusty cobweb on the finish though this seems to lift. A pinch of smoke too. Lovely, but time to drink before it loses focus. ****
Flight 2 (3 notes)
Red
1979 Château Pape Clément
87 points
Mid to full garnet. A nicely savoury nose with a sense of sweetness. Fresh, good acidity. Just a bit of padding left through the middle but relatively linear. A touch green too and a Woody edg. In retreat. (*)**
Red
1983 Château Pape Clément
91 points
Fuller garnet with a good splash of ruby. Similar nose to the 79, just a bit fuller and denser, surprisingly rich. Nicely rounded, good acidity, smoky, tobacco-scented fruit. Mellow. ****
Red
2001 Château Pape Clément
88 points
Deep ruby to purple at the core. Plush nose. Plum and tobacco. Certainly padded, but no monstrosity. The tannins are quite dry and increasingly prominent with air though. After an hour in glass, sawdust on the nose. Drink on its youthful fruit before it dries out, I think. ***?
Flight 3 (3 notes)
Red
1995 Château Haut-Bailly
92 points
Nose a touch configured initially. Deep and lush. Rounded and still young. Starting to show a gravelly character on the finish. Classically proportioned. Getting there. ****
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Comment
Red
1996 Château Haut-Bailly
91 points
A little less dense and currently rounder than the 95. Starts off reminding me of classy Cali on the nose, but it does lose some exuberance and rein in to a more classical style with air. Lovely. ****
Red
2001 Château Haut-Bailly
91 points
Dense, quite plush but nicely balanced, certainly more so than the Pape. Young but promising. **(**)
Flight 4 (3 notes)
Red
1978 Domaine de Chevalier
91 points
Lovely nose, nicely fresh, slightly green 78 style. Lovely. Fresh with a sharp line. More about the vintage than the chateau, perhaps. Fresh and lively. A long distance runner rather than sprinter's physique. ****
Red
1989 Domaine de Chevalier
92 points
Mellow nose. Nicely rich. Padding and line. Just right. With a bit more air it starts to show a few cracks — a middling bottle of 89. Still very good, but not top flight. ****
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Comment
Red
1996 Domaine de Chevalier
92 points
Wow. Incredibly vanilla and oak nose. So much younger than previous bottles of this. So youthful. Light years from previous bottles. Blind I'd have guessed 01 Pape Clement from the nose. It does start to show more classically on the nose with some air, but this is a backward bottle. *(***)!
Flight 5 (2 notes)
White - Sweet/Dessert
1999 Château Climens
90 points
Obvious botrytis on the nose. Freshening up in the glass. There's a slightly medicinal edge, but quite bright and fresh in the coconut and barley sugar spectrum. ***1/2
White - Sweet/Dessert
1982 Château Rieussec
90 points
Obviously darker than the 99 Climens, a bit mellower and lower key. Medicinal. Desiccated coconut and barley sugar. Quite rich. ***1/2
Closing
Pretty consistent. A slight preference for DDC over HB, but little in it. The gap to PC on this showing a little greater. I think totally blind I would have struggled to get the Graves character, but from experience with some of these wines, that's atypical. An astoundingly youthful 96 DDC. RSJ seemed on good form, and excellent value. Thanks to the usual suspects for their wines, company and banter.