For it's age it very much impressed my non Bordeaux fans it maintained significant fruit and definitely evolved over the 3 hours of charcuterie and meal of Italian pot roast with veggies, sautéed in malbec. Actually tasted along with a 1994 Quilceda creek Washington cab, which was also impressive.
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What a beautiful wine. Drank with Vito and Nancy over chocolate, parmesan, and steak. So many layers. Leather, earth, mushroom, forest floor, soy, worcestershire sauce. Decanted for 2 hours and then drank over 3 hours. it continued to nicely evolve the whole time. Sad this was my last and only bottle. It's drinking perfectly but is far from the end of its life.
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This medium/full bodied claret was mature and quite luscious with rich round complex fruit, some depth as well as decent acidity and backbone. Not quite jammy, popular round the table and very good.
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As absolutely delicious as my last note would indicate but this time with a more pronounced sweet vs dryish persistent licorice note on the finish. Really nice and in a great place right now.
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Finally a cooler day and looking for something with a little zip to go with a steak salad: Deep, dark purple colored; very open , fragrant nose of classic Bord with plummy secondary fruit aromas wrapped in cedar, lead pencil, leather and tobacco. A cigar lover's dream. Very balanced and savory on the palate with soil-inflected mature Cab qualities oozing out on the fairly long finish. A very nice surprise!
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Forest fruits, tobacco, then dark cherry and plum on the nose. A very silky mouthful of dark cherry, blackberry and plum, with a touch of mint. There's a refreshing crispness from the acidity which tightens the grip, giving the wine a sense of nobility lacking in so many 98s, for example. This is much better than it should be!
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Monthly Tasting Group HWS #044; Bordeaux 1999 (By me): Creamy, butter, metal and eucalyptus in the bouquet. Beautiful concentrated cassis and blackberry juice in the mouth. Good tannin, long finish. Young maturity stage now. No hurry.
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An excellent wine. Expressive of time and place (i.e., vintage and terroir). Fully mature now. A full, sweet-tobacco nose of pure, fresh fruit. The mid palate keeps this wine from entering the 90+ "outstanding" category; but the generous, smooth, round finish guarantees the "excellent" rating. Recommended. Easily as good as some '99s that are two-and-three times the price, which makes this a real value at $27/bottle.
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Slightly smoky bouquet with cassis fruit as well. Juicy cassis on the palate. Good tannin. Some complexity. Ready now, but no hurry at all; it will stay on this level the next 2 or 3 years.
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Unsure of the provenance of this bottle, but it presented well. Smokey, dark fruit - plum, black currant. Tobacco and forest floor, medium fruit on the palate finishes with some smooth tannins. Drinking well now, unlikely to improve. Drink up.
After my last experience I though I should get to this one sooner rather than later. Dark red color, pretty opaque. The nose keeps changing- first it's smokey and charred, then I get more forest or mushrooms, then I get tobacco. There is definitely a good ripe fruity side. This has some body, showing strong dark fruit, slight earthyness, with good acidity and soft tannins. It finishes well, probably too well in that I can see myself finishing this bottle alone tonight (13% abv). This bottle is right in its drinking window. I thought the last one was over-the-hill while this one shines right now. For 1999 this is a real treat- showing good fruit, not too much austerity, while displaying great character.
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Medium color. Lots of sediment. Rich fruity nose atypical for the vintage with a ton of plum and a baked quality as well as a slight smokyness. At first this one had a little pucker left but over the course of the night this wine presented itself as fully mature and integrated. The fruit was ripe and sweet, with dark qualities, but by the end of the bottle I was feeling like this had gone completely soft. I don't know if this is typical of all of these bottles or just this one. Still this was a pleasure to drink, however I'll open my other one pretty soon.
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I haven't had a bottle of this in a couple of years, but given the relatively positive reviews I've seen lately I thought I'd go ahead and pop open my last bottle. This wine has not aged as well as I had hoped it would. It still shows a youngish color in the glass, and the nose has evolved to show some interesting notes of peanut sauce and flowers, but there's just not enough fruit on the palate to really balance out the aditity and tannins so it finishes a little harsh. It's not a bad bottle, but it's not the 90+ point wine I'd hoped it would turn into. If I had more of these I'd plan to drink them over the next year or two. It's probably not going to start fading for several more years, but neither is it likely to improve much.
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wow did this bottle age nicely. clean clear ruby purple hue. huge fruit bomb, plenty of tannin, structure and a long euphoric rolling finish. wow again. one of my favorites and for what i paid for it, by far the best wine deal i have ever gotten. so sad i only have one bottle left.
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Ahhh Bordeaux... Mmm, Merlot... Sweet, juicy, and loaded with dusty tobacco. I look forward to watching this unfold. This was very nice on day 1, tight, a bit thin on the mid-palate, yet eminently drinkable albeit a bit tight. DAY 2: This has unfolded well with a night of air. Tart red fruit has eased up a bit to show more exotic black and red fruit with nice acid and loads of silky, dusty tannins on the lush finish. The score is consistent with my last tasting (87 day 1, 89 day 2), and this is a spectacularly pleasuable wine at $25.
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Ahhhh...much better. Very clear that the other bottle just wasn't right. Subtle and restrained, this wine had a smooth finish. Muted flavors of chocolate and blackberry, but overall very held back. This wine is just opening up.
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At home with turkey pot-pie made from Thanksgiving leftovers (darned good pie!). Upon popping this wine open it was showing fairly tart, red fruit on the nose with a hint of tobacco in the background. This was not extremely powerful on the palate but not dilute either. The finish was marked by fairly chewy tannins and distinct acidity. With time the fruit moved more towards towards black-currant and the palate actually tightened up a bit. Despite this, I really liked this wine and found it quite approachable. It is definitely not your traditional Bordeaux, but it is not Napa either, as there is a hint of earthiness underneath all of that fruit. I started at around 89 points and then clicked back a couple of notches. That said, this is darned enjoyable juice at 87 points, and more flattering than this tasting note would suggest.
DAY 2: Upgrade to 89. This is still tight, but now it shows lush black cherry and blackberry on the nose and intense minerality on the palate. It is definitely showing more earthy, dusty Bordeax character as well. A really nice drink!
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12/11/2022 - VAVintner Likes this wine: 92 Points
Nice. Big blackberry and cassis fruit. Med tannin. Still aging well. Has not peaked yet.
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4/23/2022 - morgenmonster Likes this wine: 94 Points
For it's age it very much impressed my non Bordeaux fans it maintained significant fruit and definitely evolved over the 3 hours of charcuterie and meal of Italian pot roast with veggies, sautéed in malbec. Actually tasted along with a 1994 Quilceda creek Washington cab, which was also impressive.
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11/27/2019 - Maine wine guy Likes this wine: 93 Points
What a beautiful wine. Drank with Vito and Nancy over chocolate, parmesan, and steak. So many layers. Leather, earth, mushroom, forest floor, soy, worcestershire sauce. Decanted for 2 hours and then drank over 3 hours. it continued to nicely evolve the whole time. Sad this was my last and only bottle. It's drinking perfectly but is far from the end of its life.
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8/11/2019 - eboracum Likes this wine: 90 Points
This medium/full bodied claret was mature and quite luscious with rich round complex fruit, some depth as well as decent acidity and backbone. Not quite jammy, popular round the table and very good.
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2/26/2018 - pilot360 wrote:
Overall a very good St Emelion experience at 23$!
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6/26/2017 - jmoore431 wrote: 92 Points
As absolutely delicious as my last note would indicate but this time with a more pronounced sweet vs dryish persistent licorice note on the finish. Really nice and in a great place right now.
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4/20/2017 - Vicmarech Likes this wine: 92 Points
Excellent
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9/19/2016 - jmoore431 wrote: 91 Points
Finally a cooler day and looking for something with a little zip to go with a steak salad: Deep, dark purple colored; very open , fragrant nose of classic Bord with plummy secondary fruit aromas wrapped in cedar, lead pencil, leather and tobacco. A cigar lover's dream. Very balanced and savory on the palate with soil-inflected mature Cab qualities oozing out on the fairly long finish. A very nice surprise!
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8/16/2013 - Julian Marshall Likes this wine: 91 Points
Forest fruits, tobacco, then dark cherry and plum on the nose. A very silky mouthful of dark cherry, blackberry and plum, with a touch of mint. There's a refreshing crispness from the acidity which tightens the grip, giving the wine a sense of nobility lacking in so many 98s, for example. This is much better than it should be!
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12/19/2011 - G_H wrote: 85 Points
Drank out of a Melchior, which definitely helps this wine. Classic BDX but with leather and a bit of dust, rather light though.
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2/10/2010 - Zweder wrote: 89 Points
Monthly Tasting Group HWS #044; Bordeaux 1999 (By me): Creamy, butter, metal and eucalyptus in the bouquet. Beautiful concentrated cassis and blackberry juice in the mouth. Good tannin, long finish. Young maturity stage now. No hurry.
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11/20/2009 - THA wrote: 89 Points
An excellent wine. Expressive of time and place (i.e., vintage and terroir). Fully mature now. A full, sweet-tobacco nose of pure, fresh fruit. The mid palate keeps this wine from entering the 90+ "outstanding" category; but the generous, smooth, round finish guarantees the "excellent" rating. Recommended. Easily as good as some '99s that are two-and-three times the price, which makes this a real value at $27/bottle.
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11/7/2009 - Zweder wrote: 88 Points
Slightly smoky bouquet with cassis fruit as well. Juicy cassis on the palate. Good tannin. Some complexity. Ready now, but no hurry at all; it will stay on this level the next 2 or 3 years.
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2/10/2009 - DavidK wrote: 89 Points
No formal notes. Went well with lamb during Christmas.
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7/16/2008 - ksmith wrote: 90 Points
Unsure of the provenance of this bottle, but it presented well. Smokey, dark fruit - plum, black currant. Tobacco and forest floor, medium fruit on the palate finishes with some smooth tannins. Drinking well now, unlikely to improve. Drink up.
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5/16/2008 - grossie wrote: 91 Points
After my last experience I though I should get to this one sooner rather than later. Dark red color, pretty opaque. The nose keeps changing- first it's smokey and charred, then I get more forest or mushrooms, then I get tobacco. There is definitely a good ripe fruity side. This has some body, showing strong dark fruit, slight earthyness, with good acidity and soft tannins. It finishes well, probably too well in that I can see myself finishing this bottle alone tonight (13% abv). This bottle is right in its drinking window. I thought the last one was over-the-hill while this one shines right now. For 1999 this is a real treat- showing good fruit, not too much austerity, while displaying great character.
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4/16/2008 - grossie wrote: 89 Points
Medium color. Lots of sediment. Rich fruity nose atypical for the vintage with a ton of plum and a baked quality as well as a slight smokyness. At first this one had a little pucker left but over the course of the night this wine presented itself as fully mature and integrated. The fruit was ripe and sweet, with dark qualities, but by the end of the bottle I was feeling like this had gone completely soft. I don't know if this is typical of all of these bottles or just this one. Still this was a pleasure to drink, however I'll open my other one pretty soon.
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5/6/2006 - mikecase00 wrote: 87 Points
I haven't had a bottle of this in a couple of years, but given the relatively positive reviews I've seen lately I thought I'd go ahead and pop open my last bottle. This wine has not aged as well as I had hoped it would. It still shows a youngish color in the glass, and the nose has evolved to show some interesting notes of peanut sauce and flowers, but there's just not enough fruit on the palate to really balance out the aditity and tannins so it finishes a little harsh. It's not a bad bottle, but it's not the 90+ point wine I'd hoped it would turn into. If I had more of these I'd plan to drink them over the next year or two. It's probably not going to start fading for several more years, but neither is it likely to improve much.
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4/21/2006 - cormyr wrote: 93 Points
wow did this bottle age nicely. clean clear ruby purple hue. huge fruit bomb, plenty of tannin, structure and a long euphoric rolling finish. wow again. one of my favorites and for what i paid for it, by far the best wine deal i have ever gotten. so sad i only have one bottle left.
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4/22/2005 - Eric wrote: 89 Points
Ahhh Bordeaux... Mmm, Merlot... Sweet, juicy, and loaded with dusty tobacco. I look forward to watching this unfold. This was very nice on day 1, tight, a bit thin on the mid-palate, yet eminently drinkable albeit a bit tight.
DAY 2: This has unfolded well with a night of air. Tart red fruit has eased up a bit to show more exotic black and red fruit with nice acid and loads of silky, dusty tannins on the lush finish. The score is consistent with my last tasting (87 day 1, 89 day 2), and this is a spectacularly pleasuable wine at $25.
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1/15/2005 - EricBe wrote: 88 Points
Ahhhh...much better. Very clear that the other bottle just wasn't right. Subtle and restrained, this wine had a smooth finish. Muted flavors of chocolate and blackberry, but overall very held back. This wine is just opening up.
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1/15/2005 - EricBe wrote: flawed
corked or otherwise gone bad...
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12/2/2003 - Eric wrote: 89 Points
At home with turkey pot-pie made from Thanksgiving leftovers (darned good pie!). Upon popping this wine open it was showing fairly tart, red fruit on the nose with a hint of tobacco in the background. This was not extremely powerful on the palate but not dilute either. The finish was marked by fairly chewy tannins and distinct acidity. With time the fruit moved more towards towards black-currant and the palate actually tightened up a bit. Despite this, I really liked this wine and found it quite approachable. It is definitely not your traditional Bordeaux, but it is not Napa either, as there is a hint of earthiness underneath all of that fruit. I started at around 89 points and then clicked back a couple of notches. That said, this is darned enjoyable juice at 87 points, and more flattering than this tasting note would suggest.
DAY 2: Upgrade to 89. This is still tight, but now it shows lush black cherry and blackberry on the nose and intense minerality on the palate. It is definitely showing more earthy, dusty Bordeax character as well. A really nice drink!
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