1947 Château Beychevelle

Community Tasting Notes

Community Tasting Notes (5) Avg Score: 91.5 points

  • 16 Mature Bordeaux Magnums 1945/47/55/59 (+Unico): Three 1947s, all from magnum. Clear winner was the Cos d‘Estournel (95+ pts). Full of life, complex, seductive and sensual. The most complete wine. The bouquet was easily on a 97 pts level, the palate showed a touch less layered, but still, this was superb. Beychevelle (92 pts) and Pichon Lalande (91 pts) were a few steps behind. The Beychevelle had more substance but was missing a bit of elegance. The PLL, of course, had all that elegance but not enough aromatic pressure and complexity. Still, all three 1947s were successes.

    TN: The wine jumped out of the glass with intense dark ripe fruit, some brett notes, black truffles, wet earth and crushed rocks. Quite enchanting. With time the nose lost a bit of its initial strength but was still on a good level. On the palate this shows much lighter with fine red berries, some brighter dark berries, some brett notes, some tertiary aromas. With time more coffee and malty notes. The tannins show still one or the other edge but are of good wuality, the acidity, however, is quite high and not perfectly integrated (I was surprised how much acidity all 3 1947s showed, given the hot year), and hence the balance was not perfect. Nevertheless, this was a quite great.

    Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before the tasting.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Richter Magnum Rarity Tasting (Zunfthaus zur Waag, Zurich): Tasted at a grand magnum rarities tasting hosted by a merchant and collector in Zurich. Most bottles were Bordeaux from the 40s and 50s. The top 3 wines 1. Cheval Blanc 1955 (98), 2. Ausone 1959 (97), 3. Haut-Brion 1955 (95). Full list of wines sorted by score and additional observations included in the tasting story.

    Tasting notes
    There is an intriguing sweetness to the red berry fruit. Only light aging notes of leather, cedar wood and tobacco. This has its allure, but does come across a bit tired. Palate with nice fruit, but mostly acidic with otherwise little structure left.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Annual Richter All-Magnum Extravaganza: Medicinal, red berries, nice texture and mouthfeel with just the right amount of supporting acidity.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Madeira. tant pis.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Charity Auction Dinner with Ancient French Rarities--1924 to 1979 (RN 74, San Francisco): Lighter than La Conseillante but still not fully mature looking. High toned nose with a hint of VA and lots of cedar. Elegant Cabernet based wine with a trace of the sweetness of its fruit but finishing lean and quite dry. Past its best by many years, but I greatly preferred its stylishness and "distillate of aged Bordeaux" character to the rather dull La Conseillante from the same vintage.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

What Do You Think? Add a Tasting Note

×
×