May 2, 2024 - Lovely nose, blackberry, dark cherry along with a fan of tertiary notes; leather, truffle, french oak hint of unsmoked cigar and dried herbs.
Palate opened up beautifully over 90 mins showing a real concentration of dark fruits along with beautiful tertiary notes of forest floor, oak/cedar, some tobacco leaf and leather. Nice long finish showing the different layers.
EDIT: Wow, something happened after 3 hours in the decanter it opened up even further! So much complexity, balance and length. A real depth and concentration to the fruit and tertiary flavours. Very long. Absolutely stunning - gave it an extra point over my original score of 96!
April 11, 2024 - 2hr decant then drank over another 2 hours. Just fabulous. I had the 1996 last year and this bottle was similar. Still some layers of lovely fruit but bolstered with amazing tertiary notes. Very long and classy.
February 29, 2024 - On pop and pour it was dominated by cedar, tobacco, and other oak-driven notes, with some more red than dark fruit and a hint of spice. Very drying tannins, with moderate acidity.
After a couple of hours it integrated a bit more, the fruit was still muted and more red than dark, but was less disjointed with the cedar notes than it was initially.
A very fine wine with decent length, but it seems the fruit has gone into hiding and the strong secondary notes haven't shown up to the party yet.
February 4, 2024 - Didnt show as well as I expected. Opened for 75th birthday and it was surprisingly light and had lost some of its fruit. Secondary aspects had not come forward as much as I expected. Was stored for 20 years at 57 degrees and 70% humidity so I don't think provenance was an issue. Maybe my palate just likes younger wines. Had earlier bottle 3 yrs ago.
February 2, 2024 - Enjoyed at Gozu.
Nose: Bretty leather, forest floor, stewed berries, rosemary and thyme, saline
Palette: brambles of red fruit, tobacco, leather
Finish: not much acid, gentle, luxurious
Points detracted for the fruit softening a tad much. 4 years ago, this felt like a wine with more energy (unsurprisingly)
January 7, 2024 - decanted 30 minutes for sediment (and needed an hour). notable funk wins over the ususal haunting nose; nice mushroom and tobacco tertiary notes; the deep fruit is there and has great length; shows how well bordeaux wines can age
day two: funk mostly gone, much more clean earth and you notice the tannin; the fruit is still there
December 28, 2023 - From a half bottle: Blackberry, raspberry, leather, mushroom, forest floor, hints of tobacco; powerful and robust, but somewhat lacking in fruit, without all that much of the characteristic elegance of the chateau; good and distinctive, but not as pleasing as hoped
December 3, 2023 - Day after notes. An credible wine with decades left. Almost zero sediment. Ethereal notes of cedar, tobacco, eucalyptus and blackberry.
Round in the mouth, exceptionally balanced with a finish that never stops. I have one bottle left and wish it was eleven.
November 25, 2023 - Continuing to age in a positive direction the wine has added secondary nuances of leafy tobacco, cigar box, cedar, spice, and dried flowers to its core of blackberries and currants. Full-bodied, with a nice depth of flavor, and a structured, tannic backbone, giving it the ability to age for at least 2-3 more decades. Drink from 2023-2050.
November 21, 2023 - This is unabashedly left bank with significant tobacco and bell pepper notes while also having plenty of ripe, rich plum fruit of the vintage. Early peak drinking. Seemed to continue integrate and smooth out with air over the course of dinner.