So much fruit and acid and would not have guessed 1990. Definitely has a long life ahead of it. I was almost anguished tasting so much primary fruit but as it opened up I got a nice lick of graphite, some sous bois, and a fistful of cassis berries. Now I know why Bordeaux lovers geek out about this Chateau.
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Full garnet. Heavy cedar on the nose. Similar on the attack, mid red fruit with a good thwack of cedar. Too much cedar in fact, I think this is slightly corked. Previous note 15 years ago mentioned a drying finish, but this is a step beyond that. No.
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Brief taste. This was quite dark and coiled. Rich without being roasted but flavors were a bit muddled. I’ll look forward to more time with the next bottle.
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Maybe not the best bottle. Seemed like it might have seen some heat at the fruit was a little muddled and advanced. But the finish showed a terrific vibrancy and eucalyptus note.
Really turned around on night 2. So maybe I held this back by not decanting. It was overlooked due to overwhelming number of better offerings on night 1. More delineation oon night 2. Sharply focied fluit and palate. Nose was wlwgant ans juacned with tobacco and tea notes and lovely eucalyptus note.
Lesson learned. Score is from night 2
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Right bank Bordeaux: My third and last bottle of this that showed the best. Brought this for a friend, correctly identified in blind. Had a poise and serenity that previous bottles lacked, didn’t have the unpleasant plummy note as well. Probably on its plateau now. Think this was almost unanimously in everyone’s top 3, second on the night for me.
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Bordeaux Right Bank 70s to 2000s: Started a bit lean with a well defined medium body, integrated tannins, and good length. Picked up a touch of chocolate in the finish with more air. Guessed 1994 Pomerol. By a small margin WOTN by the group and had this as no.1 together with the 2001 L'Evangile as well.
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My favorite of an 11 vintage vertical tasting, followed by the '98, '00, and '82. I had no idea I'd be seated next to brilliant wine writer, John Gilman, and across from Mark Golodetz, a host, benefactor, and long time advocate of these intriguing wines, when I agreed to attend this tasting, a noble and important fundraiser for Ukraine Aid International. I did not read notes or reviews of vintages before the tasting, and made my own notes before hearing others. We are too often influenced by others' opinions, if we don't keep those blinders on! Magdelaine has too often been underappreciated in its youth, too lean and tight and old school. But John called this right early on; it has evolved into a glorious and iconic Saint- Emilion 30 years down the road. Steely, black granite, open, almost lush but with a firm tannic backbone and lifting acidity. Ripe red berries mingle with red cherry pits, cough drops, and Spring flowers. Subtly sweet briary red fruit carries through the long finish. At peak, with at least 15 years of great drinking ahead. An elegant lightness of being, Princess Leia brandishing a mean lightsaber. I rarely fail to find a suitable pairing; this is best appreciated as a solo date.
48x 1990 (37x Bdx, 6x Napa, 5x others): I’ve never had a Magdelaine before but I can see why people rave about this producer. It is so classic, fresh with tons of minerality and structure which sets this wine apart from so many other right banks. It’s not very complex but still fun to drink - although I liked it more than the rest of the group. 91 pts.
TN: Very particular nose with quite cool and fresh fruit, herbs, minerality. On the palate this show quite nice with, superb freshness, classic, minerality-driven. Lots of fun to drink. Classic. It doesn’t have depth of the big names, it doesn’t have the sexiness, but that classicism and coolness sets this wine apart.
Decanting: Quick double decant roughly 3 hours before the tasting which seemed enough to open the wine up.
Magdelaine vertical: Similar impressions to before. For the vintage I think this goes down as a disappointment, brilliant nose but the palate is rather plummy.
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Perfumed nose! Seductive wine as previously described. Wasn’t a stunner on the palate but has all the stuffing for immediate pleasure. It would be a good time to drink this up.
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1990 Bordeaux: A more seductive vintage of Magdelaine, much more hedonistic than any that I have tried before. Not the best bottle I think as the appearance was a little cloudy and bricking in colour. Lovely floral and lifted nose, not as much structure as I expected on the palate but it had a lovely red-fruited character and acid backbone. I popped and poured this but would definitely benefit from aeration, the fruit was riper and fuller with time.
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Drank blind next to the 1989 Château Magdelaine. Much more welcoming and richer than the 1989 tasted along side...cedar, raspberries, and mint coupled with cassis. Smooth and silky on the palate which makes this so easy to drink. Rich yet tart with wonderful balance. Drinking well right now with many years ahead
Nose: Beautiful layered nose of plum, blackberry, cocoa and some roasted herbs. Spices emerge and bits of truffle as well. Palate: Good weight on entry with plum, boysenberry and an chocolate nibs. Graphite and saline notes support. Finish: Good dark fruit impression, but not overly complex. Bit of clay and tobacco.
Consumed beside the 1971, and the character of the château is undeniable. Liked this quite a bit. Thank you EC for sharing this!
Lovely, big, warm, inviting nose full of boysenberry, ganache, cedar, and squab. Quite linear on the palate, perhaps not actually austere but surprising given the generosity of the nose. Seaweed, graphite, truffle palate.
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Everything Forceberry said and more. Insanely good wine. Buy if you can find. About as good as aged Bordeaux gets. Great value for money at €81. Highly recommended!!!! Will get another bottle ASAP.
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Normally a blend of Merlot (90%) and Cabernet Franc (10%).
Quite developed, slightly orange-hued garnet red color with pale bricking towards the rim. The nose feels quite restrained and subtle with nuanced, developed aromas of savory blackcurrants and red plums, some roasted smoky character, a little bit of dried cherry and a hint of tobacco. There's lovely elegance here, but the nose feels like it is lacking intensity. However, the things take a turn for the better on the palate: the wine comes across as full-bodied, complex and pretty substantial without feeling big in any way, with intense, complex and beautifully matured flavors of ripe blackcurrants and wizened dark fruits, some herbal bitterness, a little bit of moist pipe tobacco, a hint of dried leather and a subtle touch of minty character. The age has lended lovely, velvety mouthfeel to the wine and although the tannins start to feel pretty resolved at this point, the wine is still quite impressively structured with moderately high acidity and still ample and quite firm tannins. The finish is very long and complex with layered, intense and juicy flavors of tobacco, wizened blackcurrants, dried cherries, some sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of leather, a hint of prunes and a touch of petrichor and autumnal leafy character.
A wonderfully evolved, complex and still impressively structured Saint-Émilion with a lot of weight, fruit and life still left to the wine. The balance between the freshness, depth of fruit and more tertiary characteristics is impeccable here. In our tasting of 12 Bordeaux reds from 1982 to 2000, this was one of the biggest favorites of the night and easily among my top 3 wines. I can imagine there is still a little bit of room for further development and most likely the wine will keep at least a decade, if not longer. A superb wine and although not particularly affordable at 92,50€, it still manages to deliver for the price.
Right-Bank Classicals (Dobbs Ferry, Dale's House): This showed better than a previous tasting. Still early days here, ripe and deep but without any of the flabby/low acid pitfalls that some 1990 claret show. Classic Magdelaine nose here, with a minty note I often find akin to wintergreen. B+/A-
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Another winner from Magdelaine. Savoury and so complex, with an array of red and dark berried fruit, tobacco, graphite, and some more low-toned earthy and smoky notes all coming together on a medium weight frame. Time in the decanter brings out more depth and nuance, and it's drinking beautifully right now, though still showing some fine grained tannin on the back end.
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From a recent purchase, VTS fill. Cork breaks on removal, the color is worryingly brown at the rim. My fears seem justified upon tasting as there are some maderized notes. But after an hour of air, this snaps out of its death spiral and shows really lovely. The nose has big mint-wintergreen and black tea with some cassis reduction as well. The palate is sweet, spicy and suave, with good depth and a big hit of brown sugar. Comes across a little flat though. This is fun and delicious, despite a less than pristine bottle.
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its definitely a 90 and it seem liked the merlot and alcohol content were higher than the rest of the wines, but its rich, dark berried, chocolatey, silky, smooth and very tasty.
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1990-themed dinner (The American Club): 2nd-oldest (other than the '71) Magdelaine I've had, this was blinded together with the Dominus (both being Moueix properties). I certainly preferred this to the Dominus. Nice mature nose, plummy, earthly, chocolates, coffee. Palate was better too - it still had structure, was fresh, with plummy, both red & dark berries notes, 'cept it still didn't feel like it had the weight of a '90 Bord. Suppose most of my encounters had been wines that were bigger, fruitier in their youth. In anycase, still a nice wine!
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Initially closed on the nose, but this opened to show ripe red fruit, chocolate and a bit of iodine. The palate was very ripe--almost like Amarone. Full and round in the mouth. Mature now.
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mature, silky tannins. opened for half an hour and decanted...perfect... you can drink this wine, just for a quick decision...needs not a lot of decanting.....is very nice , but not great
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Bland and light, this fully mature, lean, St. Emilion wine was focused on red berries, tobacco and spice. Fully mature, there is no reason to hold this any longer.
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Ox Gdns Grouse lunch w SD, Dan & Liska: my ONLY bottle and what a gem. Plummscious merlot to the fore, ripe, juicy and very ample, VERY good balance, plenty of life, though i struggle to see this could ever taste better than it does on this tasting. Totally delicious.
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For one sec I thought this corked, but it blew away. Medium to full bodied, cassis and ripe cherries, leather, earth. Good length, still some tannins. B+/A-
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My wife and kids came back from an extra week of vacation yesterday, and I had planned to make grass-fed NY Strips with a red wine sauce for dinner (I am really trying to use that awful Tardieu Laurent Crozes Hermitage). What better wine to go with this dinner than my trusted 1990 Magdelaine. Although this was arguably the most backward and austere bottle of the three-pack I had acquired at auction, it was nevertheless fantastic. It's hard to describe just how elegant and finessed the style of this wine is. Cherry and chocolate, and lots of plum, earth, tobacco and autumnal leafy aromas and flavors. Finish goes on and on. Lovely silky texture that belies the assemblage of this wine. I am really sad this was my last bottle. Time to find more.
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So tannic that it needed three hours in the decanter before it smoothed out enough that you could call it pleasurable, but what it really needs is another decade or more of cellar time. At first it was so fiercely tannic that it tasted more Left Bank than Right, but after a few more sips that revealed a fruit density every bit as powerful as the tannin it struck me as not so much like Left Bank Bordeaux but more like an old-school Napa cab. It's not candied fruit and there is also an intense iron-like, rusty minerality, but it has that density and up-front sweetness that seems New Worldish. Still the material is impressive and the tannin got a sophisticated texture once it calmed down, but what it really needs is time, time, time.
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This wine was stunningly good. Opened this with Valentine's Day dinner of 30-day dry aged Ribeye. Dark color for its age, a nose to die for that screams black truffle and tertiary earth notes. Incredible precision, focus, elegance, but also richness on the palate with plum sauce, black currants and blackberries, a touch of sweet cigar and a cured smoky taste. Finish goes on forever. It's as good as the 1990 Montrose, the 1990 Tertre Roteboeuf, and 1990 Jaboulet La Chapelle I've had in the last few years. An epiphany wine for me that reminded me of two things...one, I love this hobby...and two...aged Bordeaux can be magical. If I had a case of this, it still wouldn't be enough. Nowhere near decline.
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Chateau Magdelaine with Edouard Moueix (Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London): Medium garnet core. Slightly baked, very 1990, red fruit nose with spice and a hint of coffee. More baked red fruit on the palate, even slightly figgy, rich, mellow and mature with ripe tannins, moderate (but sufficient) acidity and a very good length lingering finish.
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UK Wine Forum 'Vintage Pairs' Offline (Le Colombier, London): Both a good garnet colour and taste mature. This one sweet fruit on the atatck, then drying finish. Quite mellow and nuanced. Smooth and a sense of warmth to it - somewhere from the SW or Provence? I plump for Collioure. ***1/2
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'89 & '90, not '82. Austria, Alsace, Bordeaux, CDP, Germany, Loire. (Suba.): Wow, what a gorgeously decadent wine. Bill describes it as a Snickers bar and that's a pretty good description as it was chock full of chocolate, roasted peanuts and nougat with a surprising intense minerality on the nose and palate. I wouldn't have expected such a strong mineral presence given those other characteristics. The fruit started off black in profile, but with air the wine took on a much more perfumed character and developed lovely cherry notes. That said, the air also made the wine tighter and it clearly had the most formidable structure of any of the '90's that night. Wonderful stuff that could really benefit from further aging. A/A-.
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Nice dark red and slightly brownish color. Big nose with ripe berries, toast. Taste is very vivid and intense. Some notes of plums and raisins and dust (tasted blind, my guess was Pomerol).
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Deep, red colour. Again a little brown at the rim. Lots of peppar on the nose and a touch of vanilla. Perhaps not quite as broad and wide on the palate as could be desired. But a shining example nonetheless. Very powerful on it's journey through the mouth but seems to dry out, and maybe the power isn't produced from fruit ripeness. Hmm. Dries out.
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2/14/2024 - rawdealbuffy Likes this wine:
So much fruit and acid and would not have guessed 1990. Definitely has a long life ahead of it. I was almost anguished tasting so much primary fruit but as it opened up I got a nice lick of graphite, some sous bois, and a fistful of cassis berries. Now I know why Bordeaux lovers geek out about this Chateau.
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12/23/2023 - SimonG wrote: flawed
Full garnet. Heavy cedar on the nose. Similar on the attack, mid red fruit with a good thwack of cedar. Too much cedar in fact, I think this is slightly corked. Previous note 15 years ago mentioned a drying finish, but this is a step beyond that. No.
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11/7/2023 - jviz wrote:
Brief taste. This was quite dark and coiled. Rich without being roasted but flavors were a bit muddled. I’ll look forward to more time with the next bottle.
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11/4/2023 - Nutty08 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Maybe not the best bottle. Seemed like it might have seen some heat at the fruit was a little muddled and advanced. But the finish showed a terrific vibrancy and eucalyptus note.
Really turned around on night 2. So maybe I held this back by not decanting. It was overlooked due to overwhelming number of better offerings on night 1. More delineation oon night 2. Sharply focied fluit and palate. Nose was wlwgant ans juacned with tobacco and tea notes and lovely eucalyptus note.
Lesson learned. Score is from night 2
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3/17/2023 - melvinyeowq wrote: 92 Points
Right bank Bordeaux: My third and last bottle of this that showed the best. Brought this for a friend, correctly identified in blind. Had a poise and serenity that previous bottles lacked, didn’t have the unpleasant plummy note as well. Probably on its plateau now. Think this was almost unanimously in everyone’s top 3, second on the night for me.
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3/17/2023 - pavel_p Likes this wine: 92 Points
Bordeaux Right Bank 70s to 2000s: Started a bit lean with a well defined medium body, integrated tannins, and good length. Picked up a touch of chocolate in the finish with more air. Guessed 1994 Pomerol. By a small margin WOTN by the group and had this as no.1 together with the 2001 L'Evangile as well.
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10/14/2022 - OenoEd Likes this wine: 95 Points
My favorite of an 11 vintage vertical tasting, followed by the '98, '00, and '82. I had no idea I'd be seated next to brilliant wine writer, John Gilman, and across from Mark Golodetz, a host, benefactor, and long time advocate of these intriguing wines, when I agreed to attend this tasting, a noble and important fundraiser for Ukraine Aid International. I did not read notes or reviews of vintages before the tasting, and made my own notes before hearing others. We are too often influenced by others' opinions, if we don't keep those blinders on! Magdelaine has too often been underappreciated in its youth, too lean and tight and old school. But John called this right early on; it has evolved into a glorious and iconic Saint- Emilion 30 years down the road. Steely, black granite, open, almost lush but with a firm tannic backbone and lifting acidity. Ripe red berries mingle with red cherry pits, cough drops, and Spring flowers. Subtly sweet briary red fruit carries through the long finish. At peak, with at least 15 years of great drinking ahead. An elegant lightness of being, Princess Leia brandishing a mean lightsaber. I rarely fail to find a suitable pairing; this is best appreciated as a solo date.
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4/24/2022 - Cailles wrote: 91 Points
48x 1990 (37x Bdx, 6x Napa, 5x others): I’ve never had a Magdelaine before but I can see why people rave about this producer. It is so classic, fresh with tons of minerality and structure which sets this wine apart from so many other right banks. It’s not very complex but still fun to drink - although I liked it more than the rest of the group. 91 pts.
TN: Very particular nose with quite cool and fresh fruit, herbs, minerality. On the palate this show quite nice with, superb freshness, classic, minerality-driven. Lots of fun to drink. Classic. It doesn’t have depth of the big names, it doesn’t have the sexiness, but that classicism and coolness sets this wine apart.
Decanting: Quick double decant roughly 3 hours before the tasting which seemed enough to open the wine up.
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1/1/2022 - melvinyeowq wrote:
Magdelaine vertical: Similar impressions to before. For the vintage I think this goes down as a disappointment, brilliant nose but the palate is rather plummy.
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8/9/2021 - Dibbs Likes this wine: 93 Points
Perfumed nose! Seductive wine as previously described. Wasn’t a stunner on the palate but has all the stuffing for immediate pleasure. It would be a good time to drink this up.
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8/8/2021 - melvinyeowq wrote:
1990 Bordeaux: A more seductive vintage of Magdelaine, much more hedonistic than any that I have tried before. Not the best bottle I think as the appearance was a little cloudy and bricking in colour. Lovely floral and lifted nose, not as much structure as I expected on the palate but it had a lovely red-fruited character and acid backbone. I popped and poured this but would definitely benefit from aeration, the fruit was riper and fuller with time.
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5/11/2021 - MattTM wrote:
Drank blind next to the 1989 Château Magdelaine. Much more welcoming and richer than the 1989 tasted along side...cedar, raspberries, and mint coupled with cassis. Smooth and silky on the palate which makes this so easy to drink. Rich yet tart with wonderful balance. Drinking well right now with many years ahead
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12/29/2020 - RockinCabs wrote:
Nose: Beautiful layered nose of plum, blackberry, cocoa and some roasted herbs. Spices emerge and bits of truffle as well. Palate: Good weight on entry with plum, boysenberry and an chocolate nibs. Graphite and saline notes support. Finish: Good dark fruit impression, but not overly complex. Bit of clay and tobacco.
Consumed beside the 1971, and the character of the château is undeniable. Liked this quite a bit. Thank you EC for sharing this!
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12/28/2020 - englishman's claret wrote: 92 Points
Lovely, big, warm, inviting nose full of boysenberry, ganache, cedar, and squab. Quite linear on the palate, perhaps not actually austere but surprising given the generosity of the nose. Seaweed, graphite, truffle palate.
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7/24/2020 - Hanibal Likes this wine: 93 Points
Cigar box, truffle, tobacco and dark berries. Very smooth
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1/27/2019 - danckie wrote: 94 Points
Still going strong. Absolute joy to drink. Sadly this was my last bottle.
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6/19/2018 - danckie Likes this wine: 94 Points
Everything Forceberry said and more. Insanely good wine. Buy if you can find. About as good as aged Bordeaux gets. Great value for money at €81. Highly recommended!!!! Will get another bottle ASAP.
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1/24/2018 - forceberry wrote: 95 Points
Normally a blend of Merlot (90%) and Cabernet Franc (10%).
Quite developed, slightly orange-hued garnet red color with pale bricking towards the rim. The nose feels quite restrained and subtle with nuanced, developed aromas of savory blackcurrants and red plums, some roasted smoky character, a little bit of dried cherry and a hint of tobacco. There's lovely elegance here, but the nose feels like it is lacking intensity. However, the things take a turn for the better on the palate: the wine comes across as full-bodied, complex and pretty substantial without feeling big in any way, with intense, complex and beautifully matured flavors of ripe blackcurrants and wizened dark fruits, some herbal bitterness, a little bit of moist pipe tobacco, a hint of dried leather and a subtle touch of minty character. The age has lended lovely, velvety mouthfeel to the wine and although the tannins start to feel pretty resolved at this point, the wine is still quite impressively structured with moderately high acidity and still ample and quite firm tannins. The finish is very long and complex with layered, intense and juicy flavors of tobacco, wizened blackcurrants, dried cherries, some sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of leather, a hint of prunes and a touch of petrichor and autumnal leafy character.
A wonderfully evolved, complex and still impressively structured Saint-Émilion with a lot of weight, fruit and life still left to the wine. The balance between the freshness, depth of fruit and more tertiary characteristics is impeccable here. In our tasting of 12 Bordeaux reds from 1982 to 2000, this was one of the biggest favorites of the night and easily among my top 3 wines. I can imagine there is still a little bit of room for further development and most likely the wine will keep at least a decade, if not longer. A superb wine and although not particularly affordable at 92,50€, it still manages to deliver for the price.
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12/9/2017 - blanquito wrote:
Right-Bank Classicals (Dobbs Ferry, Dale's House): This showed better than a previous tasting. Still early days here, ripe and deep but without any of the flabby/low acid pitfalls that some 1990 claret show. Classic Magdelaine nose here, with a minty note I often find akin to wintergreen. B+/A-
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12/5/2017 - RayOB wrote: 91 Points
Drank at 67
Incredible how young the '90s are tasting. Still fresh and vibrant with a long life ahead.
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11/14/2015 - salil wrote: 93 Points
Another winner from Magdelaine. Savoury and so complex, with an array of red and dark berried fruit, tobacco, graphite, and some more low-toned earthy and smoky notes all coming together on a medium weight frame. Time in the decanter brings out more depth and nuance, and it's drinking beautifully right now, though still showing some fine grained tannin on the back end.
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11/12/2015 - blanquito wrote: 92 Points
From a recent purchase, VTS fill. Cork breaks on removal, the color is worryingly brown at the rim. My fears seem justified upon tasting as there are some maderized notes. But after an hour of air, this snaps out of its death spiral and shows really lovely. The nose has big mint-wintergreen and black tea with some cassis reduction as well. The palate is sweet, spicy and suave, with good depth and a big hit of brown sugar. Comes across a little flat though. This is fun and delicious, despite a less than pristine bottle.
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3/1/2015 - ricknat1 wrote: 93 Points
its definitely a 90 and it seem liked the merlot and alcohol content were higher than the rest of the wines, but its rich, dark berried, chocolatey, silky, smooth and very tasty.
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2/27/2015 - etyc Likes this wine:
1990-themed dinner (The American Club): 2nd-oldest (other than the '71) Magdelaine I've had, this was blinded together with the Dominus (both being Moueix properties). I certainly preferred this to the Dominus. Nice mature nose, plummy, earthly, chocolates, coffee. Palate was better too - it still had structure, was fresh, with plummy, both red & dark berries notes, 'cept it still didn't feel like it had the weight of a '90 Bord. Suppose most of my encounters had been wines that were bigger, fruitier in their youth. In anycase, still a nice wine!
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7/6/2014 - johnh1001 wrote: 90 Points
Initially closed on the nose, but this opened to show ripe red fruit, chocolate and a bit of iodine. The palate was very ripe--almost like Amarone. Full and round in the mouth. Mature now.
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6/25/2013 - favorito Likes this wine: 89 Points
mature, silky tannins. opened for half an hour and decanted...perfect... you can drink this wine, just for a quick decision...needs not a lot of decanting.....is very nice , but not great
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6/3/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 88 Points
Bland and light, this fully mature, lean, St. Emilion wine was focused on red berries, tobacco and spice. Fully mature, there is no reason to hold this any longer.
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10/2/2011 - sooper65 wrote: 94 Points
Ox Gdns Grouse lunch w SD, Dan & Liska: my ONLY bottle and what a gem. Plummscious merlot to the fore, ripe, juicy and very ample, VERY good balance, plenty of life, though i struggle to see this could ever taste better than it does on this tasting. Totally delicious.
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5/5/2011 - Ary wrote: 90 Points
Angelus and Right Bank Dinner at Frits house with exceptional pirate (Amsterdam): Thick ripe red and dark fruits, minerals on the nose. Thick and smooth on the palate. Nice classic Right Bank style.
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12/23/2010 - Haut Brion Likes this wine:
****
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7/20/2010 - DaleW wrote:
For one sec I thought this corked, but it blew away. Medium to full bodied, cassis and ripe cherries, leather, earth. Good length, still some tannins. B+/A-
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7/19/2010 - MRichman wrote:
1990 Bordeaux Right Bank (Public Restaurant, NYC): Round, broad with a bit of sweetness. Solid, well built, cohesive. Very nice.
A-
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9/29/2009 - steffenpelz wrote:
My wife and kids came back from an extra week of vacation yesterday, and I had planned to make grass-fed NY Strips with a red wine sauce for dinner (I am really trying to use that awful Tardieu Laurent Crozes Hermitage). What better wine to go with this dinner than my trusted 1990 Magdelaine. Although this was arguably the most backward and austere bottle of the three-pack I had acquired at auction, it was nevertheless fantastic. It's hard to describe just how elegant and finessed the style of this wine is. Cherry and chocolate, and lots of plum, earth, tobacco and autumnal leafy aromas and flavors. Finish goes on and on. Lovely silky texture that belies the assemblage of this wine. I am really sad this was my last bottle. Time to find more.
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7/4/2009 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 88 Points
So tannic that it needed three hours in the decanter before it smoothed out enough that you could call it pleasurable, but what it really needs is another decade or more of cellar time. At first it was so fiercely tannic that it tasted more Left Bank than Right, but after a few more sips that revealed a fruit density every bit as powerful as the tannin it struck me as not so much like Left Bank Bordeaux but more like an old-school Napa cab. It's not candied fruit and there is also an intense iron-like, rusty minerality, but it has that density and up-front sweetness that seems New Worldish. Still the material is impressive and the tannin got a sophisticated texture once it calmed down, but what it really needs is time, time, time.
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2/14/2009 - steffenpelz wrote:
This wine was stunningly good. Opened this with Valentine's Day dinner of 30-day dry aged Ribeye. Dark color for its age, a nose to die for that screams black truffle and tertiary earth notes. Incredible precision, focus, elegance, but also richness on the palate with plum sauce, black currants and blackberries, a touch of sweet cigar and a cured smoky taste. Finish goes on forever. It's as good as the 1990 Montrose, the 1990 Tertre Roteboeuf, and 1990 Jaboulet La Chapelle I've had in the last few years. An epiphany wine for me that reminded me of two things...one, I love this hobby...and two...aged Bordeaux can be magical. If I had a case of this, it still wouldn't be enough. Nowhere near decline.
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2/3/2009 - Paul D wrote:
Chateau Magdelaine with Edouard Moueix (Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London): Medium garnet core. Slightly baked, very 1990, red fruit nose with spice and a hint of coffee. More baked red fruit on the palate, even slightly figgy, rich, mellow and mature with ripe tannins, moderate (but sufficient) acidity and a very good length lingering finish.
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6/20/2008 - SimonG wrote:
UK Wine Forum 'Vintage Pairs' Offline (Le Colombier, London): Both a good garnet colour and taste mature. This one sweet fruit on the atatck, then drying finish. Quite mellow and nuanced. Smooth and a sense of warmth to it - somewhere from the SW or Provence? I plump for Collioure. ***1/2
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12/13/2007 - BradKNYC wrote:
'89 & '90, not '82. Austria, Alsace, Bordeaux, CDP, Germany, Loire. (Suba.): Wow, what a gorgeously decadent wine. Bill describes it as a Snickers bar and that's a pretty good description as it was chock full of chocolate, roasted peanuts and nougat with a surprising intense minerality on the nose and palate. I wouldn't have expected such a strong mineral presence given those other characteristics. The fruit started off black in profile, but with air the wine took on a much more perfumed character and developed lovely cherry notes. That said, the air also made the wine tighter and it clearly had the most formidable structure of any of the '90's that night. Wonderful stuff that could really benefit from further aging. A/A-.
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5/25/2006 - gorm wrote: 94 Points
Nice dark red and slightly brownish color. Big nose with ripe berries, toast. Taste is very vivid and intense. Some notes of plums and raisins and dust (tasted blind, my guess was Pomerol).
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2/13/2006 - Russell Faulkner wrote: 90 Points
"Barbara Burlingame" Offline (Rotisserie Jules, London): Much deeper, black/ruby than the 1997, a more tannic core, darker fruits and licorice. Good but I am not sure how much this has to come.
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2/9/2006 - Rani wrote: 89 Points
Offline with Barbara Burlingame (Rotisserie Jules, South Kensington): Ruby colour, no signs of aging. Lots of berries on the nose, raspberry jam and licorice. Quite a light-bodied wine, with fine tannins and medium length. Enjoyable and elegant.
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3/16/2005 - IanL wrote:
Christie's Wine Department Open Evening & Tasting (Old Brompton Road, London): Dark ruby core, with a light ruby rim. Hints of spice, cedarwood and plums. Smooth tannins. Nice. Drinking well now.
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5/3/2004 - MRichman wrote:
St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Tasting (Morrell's Restaurant, NYC): Iron. Well concentrated. Metallic. Some herb behind. Meaty, concentrated, punchy.
B+
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4/1/2002 - Joe Belmaati wrote: 93 Points
Deep, red colour. Again a little brown at the rim. Lots of peppar on the nose and a touch of vanilla. Perhaps not quite as broad and wide on the palate as could be desired. But a shining example nonetheless. Very powerful on it's journey through the mouth but seems to dry out, and maybe the power isn't produced from fruit ripeness. Hmm. Dries out.
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