May 27, 2024 - Big strapping, plummy wine, brimming full of clay minerals, cassis, with undertones of incense, a sort of Pessac-like singed earth, a slug of oak, slightly burly tannins but a sunny disposition. Day 2 the tannins are even more foregrounded, with an intensity on the very impressive finish. Not quite as refined as when I had it a year ago as it sheds some of the baby fat, but I’m not sure many of these 2019s will shut down, as the quality of the fruit is so high.
May 25, 2024 - Dinner with 4 wines from Pauillac, 3 from 2019, 1 from 2020. Opened the wines on Sunday and the wines are to be consumed tonight, 7 days later.
-Pontet Canet, 2019: PC did not impress initially. "Sweet with heat", I would call it. Went back and forth, but never got the impression this was a great wine. 2017 was a lot better. 92 pts.
Update: PC really caught up as it was time for dinner. The wine of the night? Maybe: 95 pts.
-Lynch Bages, 2019: A very good wine. I was very impressed by the 2017, and I ask myself if this is a better wine? Probably in the long run. 94-96 pts (2017 - 96 pts).
-Pichon-Longueville Baron, 2019: Probably slight better than the Lynch Bages. This should be grand. 96-97 pts.
-Clerc Milon, 2020: A very solid, high quality no fuzz Pauillac. 94 pts, but could ad a point or two with bottle age. Slightly lighter than the other wines
May 6, 2024 - as with all great wines, a 1hour plus decant is required.
pure concentrated clean fruit, great balance, persistent finish.
really good, but they need to sit for a few more years as this has a long life ahead of it.
93++
May 5, 2024 - WOW, huge nose of cassis, lead pencil, cigar box, tobacco, very dark, mineral... Loads of bacon fat, sappy black cherries, mineral, black, length of 45 sec!!
May 3, 2024 - rich young purple red color, generous on the nose from the start settling into an elegant beauty after 4 hours in glass, cassis, plum, blackberry, a nice framing of spicy oak, relaxing and familiar, classic, on the palate young but surprisingly generous, primary blackberry and cassis fruit with firm spice notes from the oak, cloves, a bit of cedar, perfectly ripe but still with some classic restraint, abundant velvety tannins, excellent depth and a fine long finish with crushed berries on the tail end, this is somewhat reminiscent of the great 1985 and will hopefully have a similarly long life and generous drinking window.
(****)+, 2029++
April 17, 2024 - Lear garnet with a ruby core. Very clear. Cacophony of dark fruit scents with black blueberries and blackberries and bramble. Sweet blackberries, cinnamon, raspberries on the edges. Has at least three decades of life ahead of it.
February 23, 2024 - Super layered beautiful wine a little bit on the sweet side--dark raisin, dark rum, dark plum, purple inky and black....black currant, blackberry and plum
February 16, 2024 - I apologize to all those, who seem to know more about wine. This was my birthday present. It was not a wow experience, to me 160€ is a lot of money. The wine was a big disappointment like many wines I had above 100€. What disturbs me is the taste of alcohol, the wine is sharp at this state. No balance, no excitement.
January 14, 2024 - Great super layered wine--dark plum, blackberry
December 19, 2023 - Easy to drink, multi layered with depth. Tastes a little new world to me--dark plum, blackberry.