Decanted one hour. Medium bodied. Almost Burgundian. Delightful subtle nose.. Black cherry, smoke, and underbrush come through. Relatively short on the finish. One of the better 1999s. Drink up.
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Decanted for two hours. The decanting really helped open up the wine. Medium to full bodied. Black cherry, blackberries, mocha and earth come through. Round and enjoyable.
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Note: I use the recommended scale 85 is a very good wine.
Given the other reviews of this wine I will confess that this bottle disappointed me a bit. Following the good advice of others, I decanted it for a few hours (2-3). and it went from tight upon opening to much more accessible. For the first hour or so after this it was drinking very nicely, but then it started to fade, hence the lower score. I have another, and I hope that I read my own TN before drinking it. I will probably simply let it breathe for the same amount of time without decanting.
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Disappointing at first—but after 2 hours in the decanter it shed its rather monolithic sullen fruit and showed some lift. Can franc took some time to show—but eventually this had nice aromatics with leafy herbal notes, with hints of cedar and mild pepper spice. After some air, fruit was nuanced, with mix of leather and herbal spice notes. Still vibrant and young. Definitely decant this.
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Popped and poured. Not surprisingly this was a little tight at first. Over time it lets off a lovely almost Burgundian floral bouquet of raspberry, olives and herbs. On the palate it’s very approachable, medium to full bodied with flavors of plums, leather and olives. There is a bit of a lack of concentration here but this is a delicious ready to drink wine.
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One hour slow ox. Very nice nose of plums and herbs. The palate is medium bodied, pretty well balanced and fully mature. The palate is subtle and pretty but a bit underpowered and hollow in the mid palate. Flavors of cherries, plums, leather and herbs come though. Overall this is fully mature and won’t be a long laster. I would drink this over the next five years.
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Unfortunately a slightly corked bottle. Beneath the TCA taint, there is a serious Bordeaux despite the rather cool and wet vintage. Dark layered fruit, medium tannins. Should be around 92 from a correct bottle.
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Dense, dark fruit, tannins angular though. Nose showed hints of cork. Could not get a second pour after some areation to see if this dissipated. Probably not a representative bottle from the initial poor I had. NR
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Decanted for a good hour. Needed. This wine is made up of a 94 nose ( such a beauty) and a 90 palate. Dark fruited, expressive nose from start, herbaceous, light oaky touches but really open and expressive. On the palate it has a few dry touches, harsh edges that don't follow through the beauty of the nose but still a formidable and very pretty effort. Very well made wine and makes the best of what was available in 99. Solid 92.
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With a developed nose of tobacco, cigar box, earth and plums, the wine is medium bodied, soft, expressive and focused on its fresh, spicy, red fruit character. This is drinking at full peak today.
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JB @ 28-50 (28-50 Marylebone): Blind. Quite dark and full. A dark red to blue-black fruit profile. A touch of licorice too. Quite a full, subdued right bank profile. Maybe VCC. Hints of flair, but it does remain quite dry and surly and with air shows increasingly dry. Needs food. There's lots to be interested in here, but it does keep itself slightly hidden. A touch surly. A difficult phase, or a case of under-fruited with fury tannins? ***
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As Denis Durantou suggested, opened in the morning and without decanting drinking it in the evening. Very nice (not great) bottle of wine that is in it's window of drinking. In the glass the wine came together so next time I try it the old fashoined way of decanting 2 hours in advance.
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Bring your best you paid under $100- double blind (Norcross, GA): At the end of the evening when palates were shot but this wine was dark, was not very giving almost closed, some thought it was corked but I knew it was the aged characteristics and soil, very earthy, also very tannic- was not given much of a decant but then again not sure it would have helped.
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Dinner with Andy Bro (Country Club Island Room): nose of espresso and dark chocolate. more exotic and modern than previous bottle. somewhat tight on the finish. needs more cellar time and certainly should've had it decanted.
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Nose had initially banana, toast, later on some nice fruit and liquorice came up to the surface. The palate was quite edgy and later on got even tighter. However, the finish was very long and powerfull. After some time the nose closed/was less expressive. I am not going to rate this one because there are some questions about this bottle. Is this in an akward phase, our just too young, or a odd bottle???? It's just that the nose and the palate are contrary to the finish which was the best of all wines that evening. This bottle was 90-91 but I am sure that the next one will give much more pleasure. Based on the palate: wait 2-4 years more
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Impromptu tasting @ Peter Z. (Belgium): Still very youthful. Uncorked 9 hours before tasting. Very earthy, fur notes, widely expanding in the mouth. Rich but still holding back a little. Classic Pomerol. Lovely.
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Charity tasting at CWC (Raleigh, NC): Dark plum to ruby. Tobacoo-ey plum fruit on the nose, very Cab Franc in character. Big and low in acid on the palate with some firm tannins. Some nice fruit makes its appearance on the finish, but overall this seems far too young and a touch monolithic.
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Pétrus vs. Le Pin - Matchplay 1996-2002 - with pirates (Fribourg): Tasted blind. Closed nose revealing hints of dark fruit and some wood, very reductive. On the palate medium bodied with some granular tannins. Needs more time but will probably never be a good wine.
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7/11/2023 - jviz wrote: flawed
Same bottle as Nutty08. This bottle had gotten a little cooked somewhere along the way
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7/8/2023 - Nutty08 wrote: flawed
Probably heat damaged
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3/24/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted one hour. Medium bodied. Almost Burgundian. Delightful subtle nose.. Black cherry, smoke, and underbrush come through. Relatively short on the finish. One of the better 1999s. Drink up.
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2/3/2023 - 559Cheers wrote: 92 Points
Drinking good, but I think it would need at least five more years in bottle. Pomerol and seems like still developing.
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4/3/2022 - mclanew Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted for two hours. The decanting really helped open up the wine. Medium to full bodied. Black cherry, blackberries, mocha and earth come through. Round and enjoyable.
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2/1/2022 - onboisduvin Likes this wine: 93 Points
Integrated tannin, tertiary aroma and the glory in its late peak. Great timing, great wine.
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11/25/2021 - John Nezlek wrote: 89 Points
Note: I use the recommended scale 85 is a very good wine.
Given the other reviews of this wine I will confess that this bottle disappointed me a bit. Following the good advice of others, I decanted it for a few hours (2-3). and it went from tight upon opening to much more accessible. For the first hour or so after this it was drinking very nicely, but then it started to fade, hence the lower score. I have another, and I hope that I read my own TN before drinking it.
I will probably simply let it breathe for the same amount of time without decanting.
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11/3/2021 - Nutty08 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Disappointing at first—but after 2 hours in the decanter it shed its rather monolithic sullen fruit and showed some lift. Can franc took some time to show—but eventually this had nice aromatics with leafy herbal notes, with hints of cedar and mild pepper spice. After some air, fruit was nuanced, with mix of leather and herbal spice notes. Still vibrant and young. Definitely decant this.
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12/29/2020 - mclanew Likes this wine: 92 Points
Popped and poured. Not surprisingly this was a little tight at first. Over time it lets off a lovely almost Burgundian floral bouquet of raspberry, olives and herbs. On the palate it’s very approachable, medium to full bodied with flavors of plums, leather and olives. There is a bit of a lack of concentration here but this is a delicious ready to drink wine.
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11/3/2020 - mclanew wrote: 91 Points
One hour slow ox. Very nice nose of plums and herbs. The palate is medium bodied, pretty well balanced and fully mature. The palate is subtle and pretty but a bit underpowered and hollow in the mid palate. Flavors of cherries, plums, leather and herbs come though. Overall this is fully mature and won’t be a long laster. I would drink this over the next five years.
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3/8/2020 - hargy Likes this wine: 92 Points
this bottle was lovely - very pomerol, mature with the tannins well integrated although it is good for some years yet and may well improve
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2/8/2020 - hargy wrote:
this also was corked
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4/20/2019 - pavel_p Likes this wine:
Unfortunately a slightly corked bottle. Beneath the TCA taint, there is a serious Bordeaux despite the rather cool and wet vintage. Dark layered fruit, medium tannins. Should be around 92 from a correct bottle.
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4/20/2019 - Collector1855 wrote: flawed
Dense, dark fruit, tannins angular though. Nose showed hints of cork. Could not get a second pour after some areation to see if this dissipated. Probably not a representative bottle from the initial poor I had. NR
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1/31/2019 - hargy Likes this wine: 91 Points
clearly a well made wine but seemingly lacking in complexity - difficult to see where it will go from here but may well improve with more time
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4/24/2018 - Papies wrote: 92 Points
Decanted for a good hour. Needed.
This wine is made up of a 94 nose ( such a beauty) and a 90 palate. Dark fruited, expressive nose from start, herbaceous, light oaky touches but really open and expressive. On the palate it has a few dry touches, harsh edges that don't follow through the beauty of the nose but still a formidable and very pretty effort. Very well made wine and makes the best of what was available in 99. Solid 92.
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5/14/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 90 Points
With a developed nose of tobacco, cigar box, earth and plums, the wine is medium bodied, soft, expressive and focused on its fresh, spicy, red fruit character. This is drinking at full peak today.
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7/2/2014 - SimonG wrote: 88 Points
JB @ 28-50 (28-50 Marylebone): Blind. Quite dark and full. A dark red to blue-black fruit profile. A touch of licorice too. Quite a full, subdued right bank profile. Maybe VCC. Hints of flair, but it does remain quite dry and surly and with air shows increasingly dry. Needs food. There's lots to be interested in here, but it does keep itself slightly hidden. A touch surly. A difficult phase, or a case of under-fruited with fury tannins? ***
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5/16/2014 - MGrange Likes this wine: 92 Points
As Denis Durantou suggested, opened in the morning and without decanting drinking it in the evening. Very nice (not great) bottle of wine that is in it's window of drinking. In the glass the wine came together so next time I try it the old fashoined way of decanting 2 hours in advance.
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3/28/2014 - Rezy13 wrote: 87 Points
Bring your best you paid under $100- double blind (Norcross, GA): At the end of the evening when palates were shot but this wine was dark, was not very giving almost closed, some thought it was corked but I knew it was the aged characteristics and soil, very earthy, also very tannic- was not given much of a decant but then again not sure it would have helped.
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4/15/2013 - Lord Rayas Does not like this wine: 87 Points
not sure what to make of it. somewhat awkward. lacks coherence and finesse.
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1/5/2011 - Lord Rayas wrote: 90 Points
Dinner with Andy Bro (Country Club Island Room): nose of espresso and dark chocolate. more exotic and modern than previous bottle. somewhat tight on the finish. needs more cellar time and certainly should've had it decanted.
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8/30/2010 - Lord Rayas wrote: 91 Points
Nice pomerol made in a traditional style. Elegant yet powerful. Notes of blackberries and sweet earth.
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8/29/2010 - wurzel68 wrote: flawed
Heavily corked!!!
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12/6/2009 - wir wrote:
Nose had initially banana, toast, later on some nice fruit and liquorice came up to the surface. The palate was quite edgy and later on got even tighter. However, the finish was very long and powerfull. After some time the nose closed/was less expressive.
I am not going to rate this one because there are some questions about this bottle. Is this in an akward phase, our just too young, or a odd bottle???? It's just that the nose and the palate are contrary to the finish which was the best of all wines that evening. This bottle was 90-91 but I am sure that the next one will give much more pleasure. Based on the palate: wait 2-4 years more
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9/24/2009 - jkoenen wrote:
Impromptu tasting @ Peter Z. (Belgium): Still very youthful. Uncorked 9 hours before tasting. Very earthy, fur notes, widely expanding in the mouth. Rich but still holding back a little. Classic Pomerol. Lovely.
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6/27/2009 - Jeff Leve wrote: 90 Points
Light in style. This medium bodied wine is already mature. This is a wine that is best enjoyed on the young side.
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5/2/2009 - jkoenen wrote: flawed
Heavily corked.
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9/16/2007 - jlm wrote:
Charity tasting at CWC (Raleigh, NC): Dark plum to ruby. Tobacoo-ey plum fruit on the nose, very Cab Franc in character. Big and low in acid on the palate with some firm tannins. Some nice fruit makes its appearance on the finish, but overall this seems far too young and a touch monolithic.
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3/12/2007 - Collector1855 wrote: 86 Points
Pétrus vs. Le Pin - Matchplay 1996-2002 - with pirates (Fribourg): Tasted blind. Closed nose revealing hints of dark fruit and some wood, very reductive. On the palate medium bodied with some granular tannins. Needs more time but will probably never be a good wine.
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11/20/2004 - TGHaddon wrote:
Ripe, soft, gamey Merlot nose. Soft ripe style on the palate, seems rather new world. Full and well made but ultimately a bit dull.
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