October 7, 2023 - Found this bottle in the cellar when seeking wine for a deere sauce - decided to taste it and not to through it into the sauce; dark ruby color with orange shines and long legs - nose still fruty, berries and prunes - The taste is dominated by tannins, unfortunately the fruit is already too weak to provide a counterbalance - off to the sauce
February 25, 2022 - Drinking window recommendations say otherwise. But if you like mature wine, it still has plenty of life! Doesn't look like tired wine at all. Funky nose of meaty black cherries, barnyard with some plums and chocolate is to my liking, but you have to like funky farmyard style. Body is on high acid and firm tannins, with ripe fruit and bitter bit stemmy finish. I find it value deal (paid 21 eur in 2022) nowadays. Great food wine, as sipping one during cold weather as well.
June 16, 2017 - Ett vin jag bara provat ungt tidigare och aldrig uppskattat men idag levererar det och jag gissade blint på Bordeaux. väldigt gott vin i alla fall.
June 15, 2017 - On the nose: Smoked meat, sweet dark fruit,
On the palate: Dark berries with high acidity.
Long finish
July 5, 2015 - Completely mellowed, tannins have melted away leaving a wine that is really quite medium bodied.
Quite perfumey, the nose (full of fruit, oak and age-related smells, touch of cigar or cedar etc) is much more expressive than the palate, as is perhaps to be expected, and I felt that despite perceived wisdom to the contrary, Madiran and this bottle in particular are not suited to rare roast beef. Indeed, the previous pairing with ceps was much more complementary. Nevertheless, the lovely acidity leaves a nice mouth-watering feel.
Perhaps entering its twilight years, I would advise drinking up in the next couple of years, after which I suggest it'll become "interesting" rather than exciting.
April 19, 2014 - A private dinner (Restaurant London House, London, UK): Fully mature, a relatively light and elegant style (I wouldn't quite call it delicate, as the sommelier did, but I can relate to the comment), but I fear the rather forceful tannins will outlive the fruit. Good, sturdy Madiran, best with food, as ready as it will ever be.
October 14, 2013 - Très capiteux et agréable. Plein la bouche avec des grillades.
October 5, 2013 - Such a brilliant example of what hearty Madiran can (and should?) be.
Blood, meat, smokey bacon, hint of barnyard, some dark fruits, dense, dark, rich, good balance, still lashings of (tamed) tannins. I have to disagree with others that the Prestige is a 'better' wine - its probably more refined, but this transported me to Maumusson in an instant. To be fair to them both, I would call them different.
Went perfectly with fresh Ceps simply fried in butter with copious amounts of garlic, proving the old adage that most SW wines are food wines. And its probably got the legs to go for years.
December 8, 2011 - dark red-black color
heavy wood and black fruits aroma
heavy flavors, very dusty, dry, low fruits, some spices, too much 'woody' feeling. Inferior to the Cuvee Prestige.
November 22, 2010 - Great, fruity but not overbearing, complex and balanced, still with tannins, acids and fruit enough to make it last. Needs food and a few hours of decanting.