Top Bordeaux over 50 years old is incomparable, and this was no exception. That initial sensory rush of beef blood, old leather and full tertiary notes, combined with residual cedar and sweet tannin is overwhelming, and in itself, merits a perfect rating. Likewise, the mouthfeel is is exquisite, and is liquid velvet. However, the Pichon Lalande does not quite have the complexity end palate and on the finish of the heavy hitters from 1966, such as the Palmer. But, hell what a privilege! That by itself is worth another point.
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From a pristine bottle this was just stellar. Subtle Paulliac notes of pencil and gravel mixed with more St Julien notes of cedar and ash (blind I might have actually called St Julien). Pure rich red fruit albeit smooth (lighter weight). Wonderful with slow roasted rosemary chicken. Supreme elegance and it held for over 2hrs without any decline. In a wonderful window and continues a run of excellent 66 Bordeaux (which are now drinking superbly). Lacks complexity, depth and power for a higher score but this is a very fun bottle of Bordeaux that wowed people. 95pts
Expected more, even though clearly very old. Thin and acidic; first 2+ hours had tons of odd notes (plus some oxidation of course); eventually improved, but only slightly. Disappointing. UPDATE. Bottled up the extra at the end of the evening (air evacuated). Tried 2 nights later and it was a different wine! Now some red fruit, lots of leather/tobacco/etc on the nose. Almost as good 2 nights later (4 days after initial open). So this baby needs a LOT of time and air!!
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The 1966 Pichon Lalande is medium garnet in color and moderately transparent. This wine is singing as a pop-and-pour, with the nose showcasing aromas of graphite, cigar box, forest floor, truffle, and peppercorn followed by faint redcurrant, cranberry, dried violet, and green herbs in the background. On the palate, I get notes of pencil shavings, dried tobacco leaf, leather, black tea leaf, underbrush, gravel, and mushroom with cassis and redcurrant poking through. This is still medium-bodied with lively medium acidity, medium (-) dusty tannins, and a medium (+) length finish. Best during the first 1-1.5 hours, but honestly didn’t fall apart too much slightly beyond hour 2 (when it was gone).
Wine was properly stored from purchase upon release until consumed. Beautiful classic Bordeaux bouquet - big cassis, berries, stunning. Amazing it is 54 years old and still wonderful. Time to drink if you are lucky enough to have and left.
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Route 66 - Bordeaux Exploration (Vaucluse Townhouse): Pauillac A: Another wine that really punched above it's reputation. In a line-up with a lot of heavy hitters and this could easily have been my wine of that flight. It's nice and bright and grips you early. Some good red fruits. Some good spice. Well integrated. Drinking very nicely.
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Still drinking well, but has clearly peaked a few years ago. At this point, i would hesitate to decant this wine. Very light bodied, but neautiful finesse, cigar box and earthy character. classic Pauillac in this dying form. Drink soon.
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Heidi's Redux: More Heavy Hitters (St. Genevieve, Mpls, MN): My apologies to Chablis28 for my note's tardiness. But, I do have to pay for this habit and sometimes work gets in the way :). Frankly, I'm not sure I can add anything more profound than Craig's note already so beautifully and accurately delineated. I carefully checked this with the Coravin vintage needle in the late afternoon to be sure it was ok. Well, the smile on my poker face would surely have given away that this was more than just intact and good - it was fantastic.
As an aside - I'm always really cautious when using the Coravin on these old bottles - even with the thinner vintage bottle needle -as I've had cases where the cork is loose enough that it can be dislodged and driven into the bottle. If you're not ready to drink it, that is a disaster. So I watch closely to see if the cork moves at all as I insert it and abort if so. I also used a tight sealing tape to seal the cork after removing the needle as the cork does not always reseal immediately.
Dark red color, 1.5cm transitionally bricked margin. Opened with a Durand, the cork was saturated about 90 percent, but still pretty solid. Drank a glass plus over 2 hours. I love this nose, it is filled with smoke, cigar ash, and minerals. But it doesn't stop there, there's lovely red fruits here and a dried flower, forest floor and leather perfume. As it evolves the pencil lead comes forth on both the palate and nose. The palate still really has pretty remarkable structure to it, the tannins are still there, but are silky and polished, this has medium body with red raspberry and cassis fruits, cigar ash, pencil lead, leather, beef blood. The palate really does take on that ethereal essence and I can't argue with Craig's score as the pleasure this brings is simply divine. My second and last bottle, both of which were wonderful. I feel awfully darn fortunate right now. 97 to 98pts.
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Same btl as Brad E & R&Rler ( if he ever gets around to writing a note). This was my personal wine of the night! This took about 15 minutes to collect itself in my glass and then boom it was like Mt Vesuvius erupted as the glass exploded with volcanic ash aromatics! Kevin more accurately referenced cigar ash but I've never smelled a BDX with this much of it, in a better than good way! Along with the killer nose this baby still had uber vibrant, focused red fruit along with mineral, lead pencil, cedar, spice and more tobacco leaf. Truly amazing stuff! As a kid in my dad's store in the 60s & 70s and seeing first hand how wines of that era were handled, its utterly amazing this was not only NOT DOA but killer fresh, deep and fully alert! The cork totally looked 52yrs old but it was in great shape. BTW, this would have sold for less than $12 back then. Bet Kevin might have paid a little more for it recently :). Great find & thanks Kevin. Now write the dam note!
A nice surprise, the blend of truffle, herbs, tobacco, cedar and plums gets you going. Silky, soft, but not quite refined on the palate, the wine has enough sweet, red pit fruits remaining to go another decade, if well stored.
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Leather with blackberry nose; the cork crumbled; sweet elegant fruit with complexity; still supporting tannins showing youth; long earthy blackberry finish.
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Very true to the region, and in remarkably fine shape for a half bottle (fill was still in the neck, despite a very crumbly cork which thankfully came out fine with a butler's thief). Still quite strikingly youthful blackcurrant, leafiness and a little tobacco, but with air the complexity came through well, all in a pleasingly (but not excessively) lean structure.
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Beautiful example of a classic Pauillac even if it's clearly a few years past its prime. Remarkably little sign of browning and excellent clarity. Pure aged Medoc character with the cigar box, spicy and earthy notes. No tannins remaining and it has probably lost a little of its texture already. At this point, I would decant just prior to serving. Great vintage; reinforced every time I have a chance to taste wines from 1966
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1966 birthday vertical at Domaine de Chevalier (Domaine de Chevalier - actually on 2 December 2016): Exuded both floral and cigar box notes so typical of old Cabernet Sauvignon, but a certain delicate aspect (due to the Merlot?) made some of us, including myself, think that it could have been the Château Palmer, the third wine served. While the Pichon had quite a bit of structure, the Palmer was denser, making some of us think of it almost as a Pauillac. However, over time in glass, the slightly austere structure of the Pichon (again perhaps picked a bit too early, said Olivier Bernard) felt more and more “Pauillac-like” in an “old school” manner. Whatever the case, it was great stuff.
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With bottles like this, I wonder why I don't more often drink Baron and Lalande side by side. How naturally they complement one another; the Lalande's silky elegance beside the Baron's rumbustiousness, the Lalande's red cherry and flowers beside the Baron's black fruit and smoke. The initial green notes (really more capsicum rather than unripeness) smoothed with half an hour in the decanter. Accents of pencil add to the aromatic profile, though I didn't find this as complex as the Baron. There's no doubt that this was a very fine wine; the subtle acetone notes signaling that it's time to enjoy these.
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Nose: Fireworks! This just soared out of the glass with gorgeous red cherry, graphite and a beautiful PLL floral and spice notes. A few hours into dinner some more demure blackberry, ink and herb notes came through, however much of the night this was a real attention grabber. Palate: Just a silken payload of red cherry, red berries and coconut oak hit the palate with an explosion of the floral/spice note. Finish: Complex layers of red and black fruit with a great spice/pencil note. Quite penetrating for a 50-yo wine.
This was a pristine 66 PLL from a one owner cellar and I could not be happier with the way it showed. It was perfectly characteristic of the chateau and had lots of sweet Paulliac topicity. A bit one note, but boy did it sing that note well.
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Big Bordeaux XI (Kevin and Vicki's house): A 2.5 ounce pour at a tasting. I do not usually make note of the color, but this wine was noticeably cloudy. It had a fantastic Bordeaux nose. The palate was lush and well-integrated. Forest floor, flowers, mushroom.
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Big Bordeaux XI (Kevin's House): Nose: Very secondary w/ phenol, smoke, beef blood, mushroom and hints of red fruits underneath. Palate: The phenol and red fruit hints show in a medium length finish. Pretty cool to have a wine almost my age that can still be drunk, but my preference is to have wines that exhibit more fruit and youth so this only goes to 91 points for me. Of course 91 is still a solid score in particular for a 50 year old wine.
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Big Bordeaux XI with a Twist (Rocknroller's (Kevin & Vicki's Place)): Dark red color, cloudy, significant bricking, but still quite saturated. Splash decanted off sediment. Drank 1 glass over 3 hours. Wow, this was in such good shape at 50 years. The nose is riveting with secondary and tertiary character dominating, though there was still ample red fruits here. The nose starts with beef blood, bone marrow, leather, wet horse, earth, forest floor. The palate is aged, integrated, elegant, medium bodied, very fine, very lively, red cherry, dried red berries, horse saddle, beef broth, savory, perfectly integrated tannins. Fantastic, classic, old Bordeaux and everything I'd hoped it would be. This was a joy to drink for me. I love wines like this.
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From notes I found . My last bottle and quite magnificent. Translucent red, vigorous. Soaring nose fresh vibrant classic. Great energy depth persistence . Astonishing at 50. Great great bottle.
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I would never have guessed this was 50 years old from the colour and the nose. Lovely nose with remarkably fresh blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. Amazingly vibrant, lively palate. Bright, clean. Remarkable. Silky texture. Astonishing palate. Such a perfect bottle. Entrancing.
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Tired, maybe a bit corked; bought at auction 15 years ago cork disintegrated & top shoulder fill. Disappointing, decanted for 2 hours, felt it was striggling to open up but never did.
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Pichon Lalande Tasting: BN fill. Fruit, minerals, forest, some black pepper; pleasant and fresh wine, decent fruit left, but lacks the charms and sensuality of most PL 66. This comes across as quite structured, resembling a -86.
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bottle, fill and cork all excellent - this was one of the best wines in a long tasing vertical of Pichon. A lovely claret that needed about an hour to blossom. The ususal elegant Pichon style with earth, flowers and dust. It had enough structure to remain vigorous over several hours. Great wine.
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This wine was in a deep sleep at the start of Jorge Cano's B'Day tasting at my home. When it awoke about an hour into the tasting it was fantastic. The nose at first was closed but then it open up with scents of roses and carnations and wild cherrys and cherry jam. The palate was bombarded with flavors of cherry cobler, black cherry jam, a hint of cedar, wild mushroom and a touch of anise and mint. My oh my what an exquisite wine with many more years left to its life.
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Rubber and tar with cigar box; mature and well integrated; earthy, clay and nice texture with some manura; concentrated with notes of chocolate; nice finish.
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Pichon-Lalande Vertical Tasting (Mark Allen): Black-red fruits, dry cherry, delicate pot-pouri and dried leaves, light, elegant, almost no tannins left with low acid but balanced considering the weight, and lets a little sweet cherry fruit poke its head out; very charming, easy to enjoy. A touch of cedar and hay in there as well. Past its prime, but not gone at all. (RP 88)
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I was prepared for disappointment so had laid on a younger bottle but the level (still above shoulder) was reassuring. A crumbling cork necessitated some surgery and filtering to get at the wine but it emerged a lovely vigorous and quite deep red with very little rusting at the rim. The nose was ethereal with fragrance, still some primary red fruit and hints of cedar and pencil; just a faint porty touch makes me think that I should not delay too much in opening my remaining two bottles. The palate was medium weight, classically shaped and mouth filling with a gentle crescendo towards the finish and long fragrant tail and still showed lively fruit and acidity with gentle but present backbone. This harmonious yet lively bottle gave no impression of its age and could have fooled me as coming from the mid-80s, perhaps 1985 with its great elegance. Outstanding!
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5 Decades of Chateau Pichon Lalande, with Richard Brazier (Handford Wines, London): Much like the 1976 we had before this was a very healthy wine full of class and elegance that would put a huge grin on any classic Bordeaux lover. And we did have a huge grin! Not as good as the 76 but still very enjoyable, properly earthy in character. Loved the balance. Very enjoyable to have now but be aware that it does lack weight and depth of fruit. It is a 1966 after all. 92-93
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Nice in colour, brownish garnet. Lots of spices, tobacco, mocha and cedar on the nose. Good presence still, complex, impeccable balance and elegant fruit, good length, but a bit tired. Superb. Drink now.
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Rheingau Gourmet Festival "Weinraritätenlunch Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande" (12 PLC vintages), late Feb 2013: pale rubin color; fresh bread, caramel, tabac and tar; light body; round texture; well-balanced, old-style claret.
3rd flight: 1966 - 1975 - 1981 - 1997
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opened with Dan and Sheri (gift from them on my 50th bday last year), pretty dark with slight bricking around the edges, great - and big - nose right out of the bottle with both fruit and a touch of spice, dense palate experience right away with mostly tobacco / leather and nice acid, just the barest tannin left which was nice touch, over next hour the blue / black fruits came forward and this thing rounded out and turned into a true classic... awesome bottle of wine, a real beauty at 47 years of age
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K&L Top Bordeaux Tasting (K&L, Redwood City): Vegetable soup, but decent; a bit faded and not distinctive; nice finish. Nice overall but probably should have been drunk much earlier. Still enjoyable but it lost what made it unique. 87-88
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Best of Bordeaux, Including 1966 Pichon Lalande (K&L Wines, Redwood City, California): Pale with orange border. Not entirely clean nose with a touch of bret and some VA, but interesting citrus as well. Light body with some spiky acidity and dry tannins still present. Neither completely ameliorated nor entirely harmonious, it's certainly not great, but still quite alive and interesting (much more so than the '82 Palmer). Good finish, which may be its best attribute now.
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Very good fill level. Very dark burgundy color with only hints of brick around the edges. Very ripe fruit aromas with a bit of menthol. Tons of fruit on the palate with plum, strawberry, and blueberry in the foreground. Develops some floral and tea character in the glass. This is a really youthful, fruit-forward wine with great acidity and balance that should continue to drink well for at least another decade. This is like a Lamborghini 350 GT from the same year: muscular and austere on an elegant frame. Much more fruit than '66 Montrose but the same elegance and opulence.
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Martin Weiner's Magnificent Ch. Latours (1934-2002) Plus the Best of ths Grand Cru Neighbors (Martin Weiner): This bottle was in incredible shape. Fill level was bottom of the neck. The color was a little lighter and plum in color. The rim went from pink toward the core through peach and then orange and ended with a small clear rim at the very edge. The wine was bright and clear. Nose had a little lemon and citrus along with pine, sweet oak, and a light floral notes. Great depth and each time I inhaled the aroma it seemed to change. There was an incredible amount of fruit in this wine. Cherry and raspberry layers along with sweet tobacco and leather notes. It was a little bit sweet. Minimal tannins left. I would have guessed that this was 20 years younger (at least).
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Dinner with James Mead (Taste Paradise, Ion Orchard): My favourite wine of the night - this was a really nice Lalande, and boy, it was stunningly young and fresh. There was a certain Merlot softness to the wine that made me guess it was right-bank at first, but when I was told it was a leftie, I called it a 1986 Lalande! 20 years off the mark. On reflection, the nose was quite classic Pauillac, classic Lalande too I would say, with long gentle pulls of leather and tobacco, earth and wet leaves, with a little touch of sweet incense - almost like smoking a cigar. Wonderful. Palate was rich, lush, plush, with that little Merlot softness I spoke about earlier and lovely flavours of wet tobacco leaves, sweet cassis, cherries and stewed tea. Amazingly juicy acidity kept the wine fresh and supple throughout. This was just a wonderful example of mature claret, where every part of the wine, from the nose to the palate, the structure, the acid and the flavours were all perfectly integrated. The only less than stellar part of the wine was probably the finish. Not great length, but it certainly had decent legs for a 40+ year old wine, with a glide of velvety tannins and a long pull of cigar box and some cedar, a touch of and a final kiss of mouthfilling perfume. What a lovely wine.
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Bordeaux North to South (My house): Dark fruit with some old drawer; lovely and long with still some fruit, fresh, forest floor. Complex and intense. A contestant for WOTN.
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Stale, tired, never recovered even after hours of decanting and tasting every 30 min or so. Retained a mossy quality, with distinct pencil shavings. But no fruit to be found. Possibly flawed, but I doubt it - it's just too old. Stored in perfect conditions for 35+ years, cork was disintegrating but not moldy.
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A warm amber color along the edges, characteristic of a wine of its age. Earthy and complex nose with a symphony of scents including hazelnuts, mushroom, and subtle smoke. The enchanting nose was the highlight, but unfortunately the wine was in obvious decline, leaving some disjointed, unpalatable acidic elements on the tongue.
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This wine is still phenomenal. The nose is gigantic and open with scents of roses and black cherries with a hint of truffle. The taste is just starting to fade a bit but still complex and beautiful.
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Beautiful, aged example of Lalande. Bottle was in good but not pristine condition, but the wine was singing. Great grip and sweetness of fruit. Long finish. Very nice!
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Unfortunately this wine is 5-7 years past its prime. Cork was completely oxidized and crumbled. Wine was double decanted but only had marginal flavours. You could tell that this wine has once been a powerhouse but had definitely lost its lustre.
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We had this wine to celebrate Jim’s 39th birthday. The nose is still full of peppery ripe cherries, with a hint of tobacco and earthy overtones. The taste is fully in balance. This wine is at its peak. There are earthy, ripe black and red cherries with some casis and cigar box. This is a beautiful wine and we all enjoyed it to the max.
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Historic note (recorded Aug 06). Showing some age on decanting though a decent red core. Scent of cherries and chocolate at first. Better after an hour in the decanter decent red fruits but this is a bit old. Chocolate and plums rather than cassis. I had a better bottle of this in the mid-90s.
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Hollywood Wine Seminar. Darker color than the ‘70. Cool and aristocratic. Concentrated and intense. Good acidity. Juicy, not drying out at all. Years to go. Surprisingly good. Very fine. Clive Coates: “more cultured than the ‘70, absolutely delicious”
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i suspect that we did this as a blind tasting with keith since the price sticker is defaced. i remember liking it better than parker's review. wish we could go back to these simpler days.
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3/30/2024 - johnh1001 wrote: 90 Points
Mid shoulder. Nice color. Faded fruit and mainly earth. Pleasant enough. Not the best bottle
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2/27/2024 - djhammond Likes this wine: 96 Points
Top Bordeaux over 50 years old is incomparable, and this was no exception. That initial sensory rush of beef blood, old leather and full tertiary notes, combined with residual cedar and sweet tannin is overwhelming, and in itself, merits a perfect rating. Likewise, the mouthfeel is is exquisite, and is liquid velvet. However, the Pichon Lalande does not quite have the complexity end palate and on the finish of the heavy hitters from 1966, such as the Palmer. But, hell what a privilege! That by itself is worth another point.
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10/1/2023 - JulianSkeels wrote: 95 Points
From a pristine bottle this was just stellar. Subtle Paulliac notes of pencil and gravel mixed with more St Julien notes of cedar and ash (blind I might have actually called St Julien). Pure rich red fruit albeit smooth (lighter weight). Wonderful with slow roasted rosemary chicken. Supreme elegance and it held for over 2hrs without any decline. In a wonderful window and continues a run of excellent 66 Bordeaux (which are now drinking superbly). Lacks complexity, depth and power for a higher score but this is a very fun bottle of Bordeaux that wowed people. 95pts
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1/29/2023 - asteff Likes this wine: 92 Points
Nicely alive. Lots of red fruits. Tertiary flavors nice finish.
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1/15/2023 - wgilbert3 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Expected more, even though clearly very old. Thin and acidic; first 2+ hours had tons of odd notes (plus some oxidation of course); eventually improved, but only slightly. Disappointing.
UPDATE. Bottled up the extra at the end of the evening (air evacuated). Tried 2 nights later and it was a different wine! Now some red fruit, lots of leather/tobacco/etc on the nose. Almost as good 2 nights later (4 days after initial open). So this baby needs a LOT of time and air!!
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8/26/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 93 Points
Leather and cedar; cassis; resolved; smooth and silky; moderate finish.
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7/28/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 94 Points
A hint of pungent, musty, damp basement; fully integrated; smooth blackberry; complex sweet finish.
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7/19/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 95 Points
Leather and earth; mature with melted tannin; light coffee with sweet supple soft cherry-raspberry and blackberry; long smooth sweet finish.
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12/25/2020 - paulst Likes this wine: 96 Points
Robust and youthful; still some tannin; semi-sweet blackberry and currant; hints of cedar and tart; robust and full bodied with long elegant finish.
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11/1/2020 - paulst Likes this wine: 90 Points
Mature; cedar and some corked taint; soft and round with semi-sweet light cassis.
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7/31/2020 - paulst Likes this wine: 87 Points
Offending nose with musty basement; beat up and run down with some light blackberry and earth.
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5/1/2020 - bensony Likes this wine: 92 Points
The 1966 Pichon Lalande is medium garnet in color and moderately transparent. This wine is singing as a pop-and-pour, with the nose showcasing aromas of graphite, cigar box, forest floor, truffle, and peppercorn followed by faint redcurrant, cranberry, dried violet, and green herbs in the background. On the palate, I get notes of pencil shavings, dried tobacco leaf, leather, black tea leaf, underbrush, gravel, and mushroom with cassis and redcurrant poking through. This is still medium-bodied with lively medium acidity, medium (-) dusty tannins, and a medium (+) length finish. Best during the first 1-1.5 hours, but honestly didn’t fall apart too much slightly beyond hour 2 (when it was gone).
45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 8% Petit Verdot; 13% ABV
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4/11/2020 - JR1575 wrote: flawed
Dead on Arrival
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3/27/2020 - Wine_Bear Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wine was properly stored from purchase upon release until consumed.
Beautiful classic Bordeaux bouquet - big cassis, berries, stunning. Amazing it is 54 years old and still wonderful. Time to drink if you are lucky enough to have and left.
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5/29/2019 - MC2 Wines wrote:
Route 66 - Bordeaux Exploration (Vaucluse Townhouse): Pauillac A: Another wine that really punched above it's reputation. In a line-up with a lot of heavy hitters and this could easily have been my wine of that flight. It's nice and bright and grips you early. Some good red fruits. Some good spice. Well integrated. Drinking very nicely.
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4/27/2019 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still drinking well, but has clearly peaked a few years ago.
At this point, i would hesitate to decant this wine.
Very light bodied, but neautiful finesse, cigar box and earthy character.
classic Pauillac in this dying form.
Drink soon.
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4/18/2019 - jmoore431 wrote: 94 Points
Classic older bord profile; no one guessed it to be this old! Savory and delicious. 94+
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3/28/2019 - BradE wrote:
This showed much more backbone than typical bottles of 1966 bdx (even well stored ones). In perfect shape and a joy to drink.
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3/27/2019 - rocknroller wrote: 98 Points
Heidi's Redux: More Heavy Hitters (St. Genevieve, Mpls, MN): My apologies to Chablis28 for my note's tardiness. But, I do have to pay for this habit and sometimes work gets in the way :). Frankly, I'm not sure I can add anything more profound than Craig's note already so beautifully and accurately delineated. I carefully checked this with the Coravin vintage needle in the late afternoon to be sure it was ok. Well, the smile on my poker face would surely have given away that this was more than just intact and good - it was fantastic.
As an aside - I'm always really cautious when using the Coravin on these old bottles - even with the thinner vintage bottle needle -as I've had cases where the cork is loose enough that it can be dislodged and driven into the bottle. If you're not ready to drink it, that is a disaster. So I watch closely to see if the cork moves at all as I insert it and abort if so. I also used a tight sealing tape to seal the cork after removing the needle as the cork does not always reseal immediately.
Dark red color, 1.5cm transitionally bricked margin. Opened with a Durand, the cork was saturated about 90 percent, but still pretty solid. Drank a glass plus over 2 hours. I love this nose, it is filled with smoke, cigar ash, and minerals. But it doesn't stop there, there's lovely red fruits here and a dried flower, forest floor and leather perfume. As it evolves the pencil lead comes forth on both the palate and nose. The palate still really has pretty remarkable structure to it, the tannins are still there, but are silky and polished, this has medium body with red raspberry and cassis fruits, cigar ash, pencil lead, leather, beef blood. The palate really does take on that ethereal essence and I can't argue with Craig's score as the pleasure this brings is simply divine. My second and last bottle, both of which were wonderful. I feel awfully darn fortunate right now. 97 to 98pts.
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3/27/2019 - chablis28 wrote: 98 Points
Same btl as Brad E & R&Rler ( if he ever gets around to writing a note). This was my personal wine of the night! This took about 15 minutes to collect itself in my glass and then boom it was like Mt Vesuvius erupted as the glass exploded with volcanic ash aromatics! Kevin more accurately referenced cigar ash but I've never smelled a BDX with this much of it, in a better than good way! Along with the killer nose this baby still had uber vibrant, focused red fruit along with mineral, lead pencil, cedar, spice and more tobacco leaf. Truly amazing stuff! As a kid in my dad's store in the 60s & 70s and seeing first hand how wines of that era were handled, its utterly amazing this was not only NOT DOA but killer fresh, deep and fully alert! The cork totally looked 52yrs old but it was in great shape. BTW, this would have sold for less than $12 back then. Bet Kevin might have paid a little more for it recently :). Great find & thanks Kevin. Now write the dam note!
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9/21/2018 - Jeff Leve wrote: 91 Points
A nice surprise, the blend of truffle, herbs, tobacco, cedar and plums gets you going. Silky, soft, but not quite refined on the palate, the wine has enough sweet, red pit fruits remaining to go another decade, if well stored.
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2/20/2018 - paulst Likes this wine: 97 Points
Layered; tar and lead pencil; deep balance; nice tannic backdrop with long cedar sweet blackberry finish.
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1/19/2018 - paulst Likes this wine: 95 Points
Leather with blackberry nose; the cork crumbled; sweet elegant fruit with complexity; still supporting tannins showing youth; long earthy blackberry finish.
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1/1/2018 - kaggibson Likes this wine: 90 Points
My birth year wine. Medium with kirsch, dried fruits and black fruits on the nose. Similar on the palate with extra charred wood. Overall very good.
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12/30/2017 - Ian S wrote:
Very true to the region, and in remarkably fine shape for a half bottle (fill was still in the neck, despite a very crumbly cork which thankfully came out fine with a butler's thief). Still quite strikingly youthful blackcurrant, leafiness and a little tobacco, but with air the complexity came through well, all in a pleasingly (but not excessively) lean structure.
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4/16/2017 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 92 Points
Beautiful example of a classic Pauillac even if it's clearly a few years past its prime. Remarkably little sign of browning and excellent clarity. Pure aged Medoc character with the cigar box, spicy and earthy notes. No tannins remaining and it has probably lost a little of its texture already. At this point, I would decant just prior to serving. Great vintage; reinforced every time I have a chance to taste wines from 1966
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1/3/2017 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine: 93 Points
1966 birthday vertical at Domaine de Chevalier (Domaine de Chevalier - actually on 2 December 2016): Exuded both floral and cigar box notes so typical of old Cabernet Sauvignon, but a certain delicate aspect (due to the Merlot?) made some of us, including myself, think that it could have been the Château Palmer, the third wine served. While the Pichon had quite a bit of structure, the Palmer was denser, making some of us think of it almost as a Pauillac. However, over time in glass, the slightly austere structure of the Pichon (again perhaps picked a bit too early, said Olivier Bernard) felt more and more “Pauillac-like” in an “old school” manner. Whatever the case, it was great stuff.
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12/10/2016 - englishman's claret wrote: 94 Points
With bottles like this, I wonder why I don't more often drink Baron and Lalande side by side. How naturally they complement one another; the Lalande's silky elegance beside the Baron's rumbustiousness, the Lalande's red cherry and flowers beside the Baron's black fruit and smoke. The initial green notes (really more capsicum rather than unripeness) smoothed with half an hour in the decanter. Accents of pencil add to the aromatic profile, though I didn't find this as complex as the Baron. There's no doubt that this was a very fine wine; the subtle acetone notes signaling that it's time to enjoy these.
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12/9/2016 - RockinCabs wrote: 95 Points
Nose: Fireworks! This just soared out of the glass with gorgeous red cherry, graphite and a beautiful PLL floral and spice notes. A few hours into dinner some more demure blackberry, ink and herb notes came through, however much of the night this was a real attention grabber. Palate: Just a silken payload of red cherry, red berries and coconut oak hit the palate with an explosion of the floral/spice note. Finish: Complex layers of red and black fruit with a great spice/pencil note. Quite penetrating for a 50-yo wine.
This was a pristine 66 PLL from a one owner cellar and I could not be happier with the way it showed. It was perfectly characteristic of the chateau and had lots of sweet Paulliac topicity. A bit one note, but boy did it sing that note well.
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11/6/2016 - galewskj wrote: 94 Points
Big Bordeaux XI (Kevin and Vicki's house): A 2.5 ounce pour at a tasting. I do not usually make note of the color, but this wine was noticeably cloudy. It had a fantastic Bordeaux nose. The palate was lush and well-integrated. Forest floor, flowers, mushroom.
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11/5/2016 - Mattshank wrote: 91 Points
Big Bordeaux XI (Kevin's House): Nose: Very secondary w/ phenol, smoke, beef blood, mushroom and hints of red fruits underneath. Palate: The phenol and red fruit hints show in a medium length finish. Pretty cool to have a wine almost my age that can still be drunk, but my preference is to have wines that exhibit more fruit and youth so this only goes to 91 points for me. Of course 91 is still a solid score in particular for a 50 year old wine.
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11/5/2016 - rocknroller wrote: 94 Points
Big Bordeaux XI with a Twist (Rocknroller's (Kevin & Vicki's Place)): Dark red color, cloudy, significant bricking, but still quite saturated. Splash decanted off sediment. Drank 1 glass over 3 hours. Wow, this was in such good shape at 50 years. The nose is riveting with secondary and tertiary character dominating, though there was still ample red fruits here. The nose starts with beef blood, bone marrow, leather, wet horse, earth, forest floor. The palate is aged, integrated, elegant, medium bodied, very fine, very lively, red cherry, dried red berries, horse saddle, beef broth, savory, perfectly integrated tannins. Fantastic, classic, old Bordeaux and everything I'd hoped it would be. This was a joy to drink for me. I love wines like this.
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6/11/2016 - redders Likes this wine: 96 Points
From notes I found .
My last bottle and quite magnificent. Translucent red, vigorous. Soaring nose fresh vibrant classic. Great energy depth persistence . Astonishing at 50. Great great bottle.
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6/11/2016 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 96 Points
I would never have guessed this was 50 years old from the colour and the nose.
Lovely nose with remarkably fresh blackcurrant and blackberry fruit.
Amazingly vibrant, lively palate.
Bright, clean. Remarkable.
Silky texture. Astonishing palate. Such a perfect bottle.
Entrancing.
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5/14/2016 - firstgrowth wrote: 84 Points
Tired, maybe a bit corked; bought at auction 15 years ago cork disintegrated & top shoulder fill. Disappointing, decanted for 2 hours, felt it was striggling to open up but never did.
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4/19/2016 - LWI wrote: 92 Points
Pichon Lalande Tasting: BN fill. Fruit, minerals, forest, some black pepper; pleasant and fresh wine, decent fruit left, but lacks the charms and sensuality of most PL 66. This comes across as quite structured, resembling a -86.
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11/9/2015 - Markus IWC wrote: 93 Points
Vertikal provning Pichon Lalande, 12 årgångar 66-90. 1966: krämig, syltig, övermogen frukt, plommon, ceder, tobak, kristallig, spiskummin, gräddig. Top 3 ikväll.
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4/12/2015 - vindictive wrote:
bottle, fill and cork all excellent - this was one of the best wines in a long tasing vertical of Pichon. A lovely claret that needed about an hour to blossom. The ususal elegant Pichon style with earth, flowers and dust. It had enough structure to remain vigorous over several hours. Great wine.
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10/22/2014 - johnwine Likes this wine: 94 Points
This wine was in a deep sleep at the start of Jorge Cano's B'Day tasting at my home. When it awoke about an hour into the tasting it was fantastic. The nose at first was closed but then it open up with scents of roses and carnations and wild cherrys and cherry jam. The palate was bombarded with flavors of cherry cobler, black cherry jam, a hint of cedar, wild mushroom and a touch of anise and mint. My oh my what an exquisite wine with many more years left to its life.
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8/30/2014 - paulst Likes this wine: 94 Points
Leather and balanced; elegant and smooth; perfectly matured; sweet soft finish.
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6/23/2014 - paulst Likes this wine: 93 Points
Rubber and tar with cigar box; mature and well integrated; earthy, clay and nice texture with some manura; concentrated with notes of chocolate; nice finish.
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5/29/2014 - peternelson wrote: 88 Points
Pichon-Lalande Vertical Tasting (Mark Allen): Black-red fruits, dry cherry, delicate pot-pouri and dried leaves, light, elegant, almost no tannins left with low acid but balanced considering the weight, and lets a little sweet cherry fruit poke its head out; very charming, easy to enjoy. A touch of cedar and hay in there as well. Past its prime, but not gone at all. (RP 88)
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4/29/2014 - eboracum Likes this wine: 95 Points
I was prepared for disappointment so had laid on a younger bottle but the level (still above shoulder) was reassuring. A crumbling cork necessitated some surgery and filtering to get at the wine but it emerged a lovely vigorous and quite deep red with very little rusting at the rim. The nose was ethereal with fragrance, still some primary red fruit and hints of cedar and pencil; just a faint porty touch makes me think that I should not delay too much in opening my remaining two bottles. The palate was medium weight, classically shaped and mouth filling with a gentle crescendo towards the finish and long fragrant tail and still showed lively fruit and acidity with gentle but present backbone. This harmonious yet lively bottle gave no impression of its age and could have fooled me as coming from the mid-80s, perhaps 1985 with its great elegance. Outstanding!
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2/20/2014 - never oenough wrote: 96 Points
This was an amazing bottle of wine and a true joy to share with friends on my wife's birthday. Lots of life left in spite of being 47+ years old.
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10/17/2013 - Papies wrote: 93 Points
5 Decades of Chateau Pichon Lalande, with Richard Brazier (Handford Wines, London): Much like the 1976 we had before this was a very healthy wine full of class and elegance that would put a huge grin on any classic Bordeaux lover. And we did have a huge grin! Not as good as the 76 but still very enjoyable, properly earthy in character. Loved the balance. Very enjoyable to have now but be aware that it does lack weight and depth of fruit. It is a 1966 after all. 92-93
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10/17/2013 - rossi.wine wrote: 93 Points
Nice in colour, brownish garnet. Lots of spices, tobacco, mocha and cedar on the nose. Good presence still, complex, impeccable balance and elegant fruit, good length, but a bit tired. Superb. Drink now.
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2/24/2013 - Fatty Cat wrote: 91 Points
Rheingau Gourmet Festival "Weinraritätenlunch Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande" (12 PLC vintages), late Feb 2013: pale rubin color; fresh bread, caramel, tabac and tar; light body; round texture; well-balanced, old-style claret.
3rd flight: 1966 - 1975 - 1981 - 1997
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1/25/2013 - WoodieBayArea wrote: 94 Points
opened with Dan and Sheri (gift from them on my 50th bday last year), pretty dark with slight bricking around the edges, great - and big - nose right out of the bottle with both fruit and a touch of spice, dense palate experience right away with mostly tobacco / leather and nice acid, just the barest tannin left which was nice touch, over next hour the blue / black fruits came forward and this thing rounded out and turned into a true classic... awesome bottle of wine, a real beauty at 47 years of age
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8/19/2012 - Mackmoo wrote: 92 Points
Drinking very well. Had this together with the 1996. The 66 had a more complex taste. Quite impressed.
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11/19/2011 - aagrawal wrote: 87 Points
K&L Top Bordeaux Tasting (K&L, Redwood City): Vegetable soup, but decent; a bit faded and not distinctive; nice finish. Nice overall but probably should have been drunk much earlier. Still enjoyable but it lost what made it unique. 87-88
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11/19/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Best of Bordeaux, Including 1966 Pichon Lalande (K&L Wines, Redwood City, California): Pale with orange border. Not entirely clean nose with a touch of bret and some VA, but interesting citrus as well. Light body with some spiky acidity and dry tannins still present. Neither completely ameliorated nor entirely harmonious, it's certainly not great, but still quite alive and interesting (much more so than the '82 Palmer). Good finish, which may be its best attribute now.
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8/1/2011 - eric@cwm wrote: 96 Points
Very good fill level. Very dark burgundy color with only hints of brick around the edges. Very ripe fruit aromas with a bit of menthol. Tons of fruit on the palate with plum, strawberry, and blueberry in the foreground. Develops some floral and tea character in the glass. This is a really youthful, fruit-forward wine with great acidity and balance that should continue to drink well for at least another decade. This is like a Lamborghini 350 GT from the same year: muscular and austere on an elegant frame. Much more fruit than '66 Montrose but the same elegance and opulence.
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4/29/2011 - Grenik wrote: 96 Points
Martin Weiner's Magnificent Ch. Latours (1934-2002) Plus the Best of ths Grand Cru Neighbors (Martin Weiner): This bottle was in incredible shape. Fill level was bottom of the neck. The color was a little lighter and plum in color. The rim went from pink toward the core through peach and then orange and ended with a small clear rim at the very edge. The wine was bright and clear. Nose had a little lemon and citrus along with pine, sweet oak, and a light floral notes. Great depth and each time I inhaled the aroma it seemed to change. There was an incredible amount of fruit in this wine. Cherry and raspberry layers along with sweet tobacco and leather notes. It was a little bit sweet. Minimal tannins left. I would have guessed that this was 20 years younger (at least).
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11/18/2010 - Paul S wrote: 93 Points
Dinner with James Mead (Taste Paradise, Ion Orchard): My favourite wine of the night - this was a really nice Lalande, and boy, it was stunningly young and fresh. There was a certain Merlot softness to the wine that made me guess it was right-bank at first, but when I was told it was a leftie, I called it a 1986 Lalande! 20 years off the mark. On reflection, the nose was quite classic Pauillac, classic Lalande too I would say, with long gentle pulls of leather and tobacco, earth and wet leaves, with a little touch of sweet incense - almost like smoking a cigar. Wonderful. Palate was rich, lush, plush, with that little Merlot softness I spoke about earlier and lovely flavours of wet tobacco leaves, sweet cassis, cherries and stewed tea. Amazingly juicy acidity kept the wine fresh and supple throughout. This was just a wonderful example of mature claret, where every part of the wine, from the nose to the palate, the structure, the acid and the flavours were all perfectly integrated. The only less than stellar part of the wine was probably the finish. Not great length, but it certainly had decent legs for a 40+ year old wine, with a glide of velvety tannins and a long pull of cigar box and some cedar, a touch of and a final kiss of mouthfilling perfume. What a lovely wine.
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8/20/2010 - LWI wrote: 94 Points
Bordeaux North to South (My house): Dark fruit with some old drawer; lovely and long with still some fruit, fresh, forest floor. Complex and intense. A contestant for WOTN.
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7/25/2010 - JasonG Does not like this wine: 80 Points
Stale, tired, never recovered even after hours of decanting and tasting every 30 min or so. Retained a mossy quality, with distinct pencil shavings. But no fruit to be found. Possibly flawed, but I doubt it - it's just too old. Stored in perfect conditions for 35+ years, cork was disintegrating but not moldy.
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5/22/2010 - gsa wrote: 92 Points
What a gorgeous nose - beguiling - wine is in a slow decline, but still provided suxh pleasure - gorgeous
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11/8/2009 - Chaz Bham wrote:
A warm amber color along the edges, characteristic of a wine of its age. Earthy and complex nose with a symphony of scents including hazelnuts, mushroom, and subtle smoke. The enchanting nose was the highlight, but unfortunately the wine was in obvious decline, leaving some disjointed, unpalatable acidic elements on the tongue.
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7/15/2009 - johnwine wrote: 92 Points
This wine is still phenomenal. The nose is gigantic and open with scents of roses and black cherries with a hint of truffle. The taste is just starting to fade a bit but still complex and beautiful.
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4/15/2009 - JLeader wrote: 93 Points
Beautiful, aged example of Lalande. Bottle was in good but not pristine condition, but the wine was singing. Great grip and sweetness of fruit. Long finish. Very nice!
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12/17/2008 - Rupert wrote: 92 Points
31 Vintages of Pichon Lalande 1928-2005; 12/16/2008-12/17/2008 (IOD, London): Smooth, sweet, mellow and restrained, but a lovely silky texture - rather beautiful
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9/8/2007 - Evil Homer wrote: 85 Points
Unfortunately this wine is 5-7 years past its prime. Cork was completely oxidized and crumbled. Wine was double decanted but only had marginal flavours. You could tell that this wine has once been a powerhouse but had definitely lost its lustre.
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9/4/2005 - johnwine wrote: 90 Points
We had this wine to celebrate Jim’s 39th birthday. The nose is still full of peppery ripe cherries, with a hint of tobacco and earthy overtones. The taste is fully in balance. This wine is at its peak. There are earthy, ripe black and red cherries with some casis and cigar box. This is a beautiful wine and we all enjoyed it to the max.
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3/1/2002 - kevin h wrote: 88 Points
Historic note (recorded Aug 06). Showing some age on decanting though a decent red core. Scent of cherries and chocolate at first. Better after an hour in the decanter decent red fruits but this is a bit old. Chocolate and plums rather than cassis. I had a better bottle of this in the mid-90s.
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3/1/1997 - sdr Likes this wine: 93 Points
Hollywood Wine Seminar. Darker color than the ‘70. Cool and aristocratic. Concentrated and intense. Good acidity. Juicy, not drying out at all. Years to go. Surprisingly good. Very fine.
Clive Coates: “more cultured than the ‘70, absolutely delicious”
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2/1/1996 - sdr wrote: 84 Points
Good color. A bit of pruney over-ripeness, but still has fruit. Not too hard. Finishes well. A success for the vintage.
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1/1/1990 - bacchus wrote: 90 Points
i suspect that we did this as a blind tasting with keith since the price sticker is defaced. i remember liking it better than parker's review. wish we could go back to these simpler days.
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