From Magnum: Beautiful nose of tobacco, earth and leather which form a finely layered base. Ripe and on balance more red type of berry fruit but also with darker elements of plum, green herbal aromatics, cold smoke and sweet wooden notes. This could have been excellent if it wasn’t for the palate which was a tad thin resulting in an acidic imbalance. Even bigger issues were no mid-palate to speak of and a pretty short finish.

From Magnum: Already showed signs of beef juice unfortunately, but luckily also plenty of tobacco, smoke and leather along with ripe cherry fruit with a bit of plum in the mix. The palate lacked charm and structure with some directionless and unripe tannins floating around.

From Magnum: Ripe, still pretty primary profile with fruit of red and black currant, liquorish, sweet pipe tobacco, black tea and elements dried herbs. The palate was still fresh with decent structure even if not as velvety as I would have hoped. In the flight with Ausone and Margaux 1964 this was the easy winner.

From Magnum: Leather, underwood, tobacco, earth and mushrooms with a pure and sweet red berry fruit core. Mineral notes of graphite and elements of black chocolate. Fresh and outright juicy palate with good presence, tangible but expertly integrated tannin. A well-defined wine still at the top of its game.

From Magnum: A mostly mature aroma profile with plenty of leather, tobacco and dry earth. But also clear whiffs of beef juice which created an over-mature sensation. The fruit consists of both red and dark berries. The palate better, that is fresher, aromatically but with slightly coarse tannin and the also didn‘t feel entirely harmonious.

From Magnum: Concentrated and polished with ripe and still fully present fruit. A touch of Williams. Aromas of sweet spice add plenty of youthful sexiness, especially as aging notes were only really in background. Adds more menthol-like complexity with aeration. Youthful palate with plenty of structure, bold even, and now adding a ton of leather an tobacco. This is a fabulous Lynch Bages and absolutely comparable to the stars from 1982, 1989, 1990.

From Magnum: An aroma profile that is dominated by herbal notes, complemented by a bit of chocolate and red berry fruit. Nice so far, but rather narrow. The palate is super fresh with dominant acidity, but somehow this managed to pull it off with appearing too imbalanced. Served next to Unico 1965 and the latter was several leagues better.

From Magnum: Black coffee, milk chocolate, tobacco and dried herbs emerge first. The fruit includes hints of red berry but mainly presents more dark fruit of plum. The palate is beautifully fresh, adds more aging notes, long finish. This was outstanding and the best bottle of aged Unico to date.

From Magnum: Signature notes of green bell pepper, menthol and eucalyptus. Rather restrained fruit. Hardy any tertiary aromas. Nicely structured with a soft and velvety texture and cool mineral notes. This was in good shape and highly enjoyable, but I felt the ’74 from the day before (from 75cl bottle) was more complex and accessible.

From Magnum and tasted blind. Almost like an old sweet wine with malty notes, caramel and hazelnut. The was palate thin, dominated by caramel and not much more. Still holding it together somehow and with some intellectual appeal in view of the maturity here, but no pleasure.

From Magnum: A fine and elegant nose laced with tobacco, malty notes and on balance more red type of berries. A bit of spice and a mineral layer round off the picture. The palate was a bit thin and lacking of both structure and balance hence couldn’t maintain the quality of the nose.

From Magnum: Corked unfortunately and hard to qualify anything. The palate appeared still nicely fruity and fresh with good tension. A pristine bottle might be quite a banger.

From Magnum and tasted blind. Just to set the stage – as this was poured people around me started to murmurs Ah’s, Wow’s and Oh’s and more than one person immediately suggested that this was so far and is more than likely to remain the wine of the night. And I was one of them. Espresso, tobacco, sweet wooden flavors, meaty complexity, roasted coffee beans, toffee and a bit of malt. The fruit was still fresh and red berry in nature. An unexpectedly juicy and fresh palate with a satin texture that provides for a soothing mouthfeel. If the structure would have been just a bit firmer this would have definitely flirted with absolute perfection. Addendum: Some discussion around the table whether this was a fake or not (unlabeled cork). The provider however said there was a seal with a Vogüé mark and the bottles was supposedly recorked about 20 years ago.

From Magnum and tasted blind. A limited aroma palette, but what was there was precise and intense: Tobacco, leather and concentrated fruit of cassis and brambleberry. A juicy, fruit -forward palate with tangible, slightly mouthcoating tannin. Incredibly youthful and I would have guessed 80ies. We later on also had the 1982 and this was clearly superior.

From 6 liter Methuselah bottle and served as table wine with the food. Ripe, present and youthful. Red berry fruit but also some darker notes, but with dominant green herbs aromatics. The palate is fresh with good density and soft, almost velvety texture.

From Magnum: Corked unfortunately, or just very, very bad (there was some discussion on this). Green, cardboard, disintegrated.

From Magnum: A nicely detailed nose with hints of coffee, a diverse fruit profile leaning more towards red berries. The palate was juicy and fresh but not quite as balanced. I did prefer the 1950 we had earlier from the get go. What emerged with more time in the glass was what appeared to be a minor cork stain which probably didn’t help – but not enough to consider this flawed I think.

From Magnum: Intense and polished. Fine tobacco notes support a ripe and concentrated cherry fruit. Also herbal aromatics, fresh and green in style. Fresh palate, but felt slightly off-balance. This is still great, but not quite on the level of the last bottle a couple of years ago (from 75cl).

From Magnum: Forest honey and plethora of fresh herb, bee wax and marzipan. Citric top notes complement a fresh peach fruit and green raisins. Beautifully creamy with great freshness underneath. Maybe a tad short on the finish, but otherwise impeccable.

Annual Magnum Rarities Tasting in Zurich. From Magnum: Dried fruit of plum and raisins, black tea, Mon-Chérie fruit. Soft texture, but plenty of heat masking the rather modest aromatics.

From Magnum: Saffron spice, notes of fresh hay and a decent amount of caramel and burned sugar. Candid fruit, almonds and quince. There was also a touch of varnish or chemical-like notes which were distracting. A harmonious, nicely fresh palate with just a bit o cream left.