May 29, 2022 - Great; at peak
April 21, 2021 - wow. totally shocked by the combination of fruit and depth.. tasted blind with a group of 12 against a variety of comparable top-growth Bordeaux and the BV was a universal favorite of the evening.... how it maintained its fruit was stunning... Really incentivized me to find more old BV
September 20, 2019 - WX+ Meetup at The Marq with Brian Ball from Skipstone Vineyards (The Marq - Chicago, IL): This was killer. WOTN for me. Just as it should be showing at this stage. Still nice fruit with old leather saddle and tobacco box.
Anise, red autumnal leaves. Palate still had life and vibrancy. Excellent wine. Thanks Rami.
February 14, 2019 - In surprisingly good shape at 50 years old. Great colour, little sign of bricking and surprisingly little sediment in the bottle. Chose not to decant it, but it developed beautifully in the glass and so I think could comfortably take 30 mins in a decanter. The fruit is gone, but the wine is still rich and slightly chewy with great length.
January 21, 2019 - My wine, same bottle as Rocknroller and Galewskj. Beautiful nose of leather and wood, and early on I thought I picked up some soy too. Others mentioned mint. Iron and leather on the palate to start. Surprisingly to me, this really blossomed in the glass with some air. So fun to try these older bottles, and what a treat this one was. 93+, based on my notes, but I'm probably being stringy. My WOTN, and the competition was stiff.
January 21, 2019 - Jason's Guys Night - Bring Something You've Never Had Before (Jason's House): This really surprised me, although I didn't know what to think. Leather, cigar, cedar, dried cherry. My only complaint is there was a touch of sourness on the finish. This wine performed above my expectation.
January 17, 2019 - Guys Night Out: Bring Something You've Never Had (Jason P's, St. Paul, MN): Medium dark red to marroon color with a 15mm bricked margin, the color largely belies its age. PNP, drank a glass plus over 2 hours. Funny thing about these old BV wines (and old wines in general), and I've had a few now, if they're intact, then they really need at least 15 minutes or more to really open up. Don't be afraid to decant them gently. In this case, I found this getting better throughout the first hour. That's pretty darn impressive for a 50 year old wine. This is one of those wines, you know is older when you drink it, but I suspect not many would guess it this old either. This started off just full of mint in several variations. That seemed to dominate for 15 minutes and then the aromas just blossomed; earthy, dried earth, fine leather, savory, dried cherries and later a pretty black currant top note. The palate is at that wonderfully resolved point where things are so harmonious; cherry, woodsy, subtle and soft, medium body, elegant, mint and spices. It's a beautiful thing to drink a wine like this. Way to go James. 93+ to 94pts.
January 13, 2019 - Elegant claret type color soft tannins but yet still flavorful, most predominantly plum and tobacco hints
December 31, 2018 - Fabulous nose of currant and leather with textbook Rutherford dust, not quite as vibrant on the palate, but still quite alive. With air it rounds out and a little mint joins the party, fantastic and a real treat!
December 15, 2017 - At peak drinking, I agree it will not improve, yet has several years of nice drinking ahead. This was the wine of the night. Tasted alongside the 1970 which is in decline, 1965 Charles Krug which is late stage drinkability, 1968 Martin Ray "Cailfornia" which had nice taste, yet odd balsamic aroma and the 2002 Staglin which seemed so young next to the other wines.