May 5, 2024 - brick, still with a core of fruit, currants, spice leather, tobacco, still very much alive and enjoyable
September 29, 2018 - Deep purple. Nose: musk, pepper. Mouth: kicks of youth, raisin, black currant, dark cherry cola. Finish: long lasting.
April 2, 2018 - In appearance, what could be called the personification of medium garnet fading to brick orange.
Demurely poignant nose of black and orange pekoe tea, blood orange, allspice and other spices gently whirled together, red fruits, smoke, black ash, cigar tobacco and cigar ash, earth, a gravelly soil tone quality, as well as fine floral fragrances and a touch of cedar.
Really quite fine here on the nose after some air. The black earth and gravelly soil appear more in the center of the aromas, wrapped by a very pleasant warm red earth quality. A bouquet to smell for a long time.
Easy drinking on the palate at 12% alcohol, the palate continues the wine's signature of warm red earth, gentle red fruits which are still fresh if not juicy (more in line with the aromas of fresh red fruits, rather than the flavor thereof). The ash and smoke signature is a bit more prominent here than on the nose (a bigger part of the palate picture), while the persimmon and other red-orange fruit markers linger.
Really quite elegant; a real treat tonight.
94
July 23, 2017 - My annual 1970 vintage birthday wine. 47 years old and unfortunately hasn't held up as well as I have. Took some work to get the cork out and it crumbled. Appears to have been stored well. No seepage/ullage, cork intact. Color is a pale brownish maroon. Aroma is sweet/stewed fruit, almost like balsamic vinegar. This won't end well...Poured a couple glasses and had a sip. Flavors of stewed berries, balsamic vinegar and tobacco. Drinkable, but just barely, and not too enjoyable after 2-3 sips. We marveled in it's uniqueness for a few minutes and then dumped it down the drain. I had high hopes for this one, but alas, it was not to be. This is far past it's drinking window, but still quite interesting to taste.
I need to start planning for a First Growth Bordeaux or something equally long-lived for my 50th in 2020.
March 3, 2014 - Alright I was really surprised by this. My late father had purchased this bottle upon release and I wasn't sure there was much left. The cork came out easily with a Durand. Color was a very light brown and the initial nose in the decanter was funk. I thought it was gone and kind of expected it to be. What we found was a beautiful floral nose, menthol, forest floor. Lots of secondary flavors. A silky mouthfeel. Also had a nice front mouth tongue tingling finish although not particularly long. It was probably better a few years ago.
December 1, 2012 - Not much going on with this bottle; it was pretty tannic and very little fruit; dissipated.
April 26, 2008 - Rusty brick color and quite cloudy. Somewhat reticent nose of red berries. Decent sweetness and acidity. Not bad really for almost 40 years old but defnitely past its peak. I doubt many 1970 claret is as good as this. Lots of sediment so you need to sit this wine for awhile before drinking.
March 31, 2007 - Simply wonderful. Still showing good color and depth of flavor, with leather and cocoa and a hint of mint.
August 13, 2006 - Bottle was not flawed. Drinkable, if a little thin. Nothing extraordinary at this point. Probably over the hill.
May 15, 2006 - San Francisco MONSTER Offline - 31 Notes, Pictures & Review of the Evening: Much lighter on the palate. No where near the same style as the others. Almost as though there was a change undergone or a different winemaker at hand.