Rich, moderately cloudy gold color. Wide open, concentrated, and expressive. The palate shows ripe apricot, bread dough, and well-integrated buttery oak/vanilla. Lightly sweet. Lush, thick, and creamy in the mouth. Over 15% alcohol, but no overt heat.

Second time I've had this. Not up to the level of the previous bottle. We debated whether this might have been a bit oxidized, and I don't think it was. Mid-weight, with strong amaretto/almond flavors. Light- to medium-bodied, with light citrus fruit and minerals.

Breathtaking stuff. Deep, stunningly youthful brilliant maroon. Fantastically expressive nose that unfolds with waves of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, caramel, brown sugar, leather, graphite, smoke, tea, earth, and a zillion other flavors. Concentrated and intense, yet elegant and ethereally smooth on the mouth. The texture is like silk. Surprisingly, this improved steadily as it saw air, and came across as more youthful than the 62. One of the best wines I have ever had, and easily my WOTN. I would have guessed this was a 15-25 year old wine, not 87 years. This was a Vandermeulen bottle that Brad acquired from Acker, so we were all pretty confident that this was the real deal.

From half bottle. Quite a bit of VA on the initial nose that never quite blew off. Rich, high-toned blueberry fruit on the nose. The palate shows medium-weight, slightly dusty red fruits, minerals, and brown sugar, wrapped in a cocoon of Cheval silk. It was fascinating to taste this alongside the 1921, which was much more concentrated and youthful despite its advanced age. Like the 1921, this had a gorgeously silky texture and a wonderful sense of finesse and elegance.

Deep, dark maroon color. The nose is extremely tight, and already hinting at greatness. Grapey and primal at first, with a slight floral note on the nose. With some swirling, this reveals concentrated blackberry fruit, black truffles, flowers, cedar, and tobacco, all buried underneath a prodigious amount of structure. The signature Cheval silk is here too. Long finish with ripe tannins. Delicious stuff.

Second time I've tasted this. Seemed a touch closed down compared with the previous bottle. Nicely ripe dark berry fruit, black truffle, coffee, cedar, and lead pencil. Well-balanced with nice supporting minerality, and ripe fine tannins on the finish. Still young.

Third time I've tasted this. Double decanted about 2 hours before pouring. Soaring, complex nose that carries through to a dark palate of black cherries, coffee, pencil lead, meat juice, and smoke. Prodigiously concentrated and structured. Long, tannic finish. Really youthful and very impressive.

Black core, deep maroon to the rim. This started out very ripe, plump, and California-like, showing sweet, intense black fruit, flowers, earth, and milk chocolate. As this sat in the glass, a more interesting, minerally character emerged, and the wine took on an earthy character that I really liked. Sort of like a cross between a great CaliCab and a traditional St. Emilion, and a delicious one at that.

Served blind. I thought this was a 1990 Latour or Lafite... at least I got the region right this time! Slight VA on the initial nose. Complex, layered flavors of dark fruits, chocolate, earth, leather, and mushrooms. Classically structured and wonderfully textured, with a nice underlying streak of minerals from start to finish. Really delicious stuff.

Two 187ml bottles ordered off the list. Really fun stuff. Deep orange color. The palate is a refreshing blend of honey, diesel, and apricot juice, harmoniously supported by sweetness and acidity. Hedonistic and really good.

Corked.