Winapalooza VI; 9/2/2022-9/4/2022 (Atlanta): Our first wine of day 2! I did not know what to expect with this wine, my birth year, but I always enjoy old wines even just for the experience. Luckily, this turned out to be decent to drink too. Bought at auction. Cork fully intact but soaked to the top. Moldy under the capsule. Label was stained, fill was good. Translucent garnet and brownish tinge in color with golden rim. Beautiful nose even at pnp. On first sip there was a metallic off taste but this blew off after about 20 min. Still some fruit, somewhat stewed in nature, but overall very pleasant. But we soon moved on to dinner and younger wines. Saved 8oz for day 3 and wow!!!! The fruit woke up and seemed younger, fresher, red berries, leather, tobacco. Would never have guessed the age. And would never have thought this would hold up and even improve. Old wines never cease to amaze.
DQ's birth year wine she was so gracious to share with me this afternoon. The Durand brought the entirely saturated (from head to toe cork) out in one nice solid piece. Pnp'd into a glass carefully due to prodigious sediment.
The nose alone is a 94 for me. Wonderful aged Bdx fruit, maybe a hint of raisin, stewed plums and the requisite leather, mushroom, etc.
The palate is maybe an 88 for me. The wine has excellent clarity when sediment is handled carefully. It's nice and clean in the glass, definitely bricky. There's fading fruit with a hint of a tart ending. Still some light tannins present and a modicum of acidity. Thanks so much for sharing this one with me Jen!
Epic Bordeaux for an Epic Birthday!; 9/1/2021-9/12/2021 (Paris & Bordeaux): There was some initial concern on this wine mostly because it had quite the trip to make it to this table (including a back and forth between London and Paris twice although thankfully when the weather was on the cooler side). Perhaps it's a bit tossed up as a result, but honestly I still thought it was lovely. There's just a touch of that plushy, more red velvet that I associate with Margaux. A strong showing and a wine I'd happily order again.
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While the shrinking cork dropped into the bottle some time ago, the foil sealed this bottle perfectly as demonstrated by the bottom neck fill with no sign of leakage. Transparent garnet without browning, on the palate however very light, reflecting the very challenging 69 vintage, light dried fruit, well integrated acidity, some forest floor, tannins melted, short finish. Held up quite well over 90 min it took us to finish the bottle, and did not fall apart. I think this bottle was correct despite the cork issue.
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2nd time had this and still as good as the 1st bottles. Even on Margaux website stated 69 should be bye bye already but to our surprise both bottle we’re drinking fabulously. Lovely complex aromas of Chalk, graphite, violet, black currant. Soft elegant on the palate. Still possesses decent acidity and fruits. Fully matured and integrated, light spiciness tailing at the end. This has amazing transparency and purity. Long and engaging. Again proved that there is not great wine but great bottle at this age.
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Found half case of this in Agues-Vives France for my wife's 50th. Not the greatest vintage for Margaux so my expectations were low - but all of the bottles where excellent. They all had their own character but not a stinker in the bunch. Double decanted for roughly 1.5 hours before drinking. A couple of bottles had strong nail-polish on the nose but the finish was all Margaux. One was heavy on the earth, but still had a pleasurable amount of fruit on the palate. Three were excellent through the entire vertical. It felt like a home run.
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For such a terrible vintage, the wine was quite solid. A touch medicinal with tea leave, earth and plums. Over the peak but there was still some fruit left to enjoy. Condition was very good for this bottle.
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Erstaunlich viel Tanine und Frische, Caramellenoten, The wine looks ruby colored. The legs are fast. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like chocolate and honey. The body is light/medium. The wine has smooth texture. The wine finishes short. The wine has low acidity.
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Drank over 4 hours. Initially this was only showing a bit of old faded fruit, but this actually took on more sweetness and weight with time in the glass. A nose of dried fruit, wet bandaids, iodine and earth. It was a little flat in the mouth and had a short finish but a fine example of a great old BDX from a tough vintage.
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2011 Special Session 4 - Wine bash of 2011 (Jade Palace Seafood Restaurant, The Forum Shopping Mall, Orchard Road): Popped and poured. Medium ruby core with brick rim. The level is good, corked was a bit soaked through, but generally the condition is excellent. Indeed, the wine showed really well, so much so that the quality of this wine from such a weak vintage impressed everyone. Lively, with the amazing perfume aromas that only Margaux is capable to offer: sweet cassis, violet, cedar, tobacco, soft cigar box all wrapped in a highly focus and captivating aromas profile. While this is a little bit lean, this is still bright and drinking very nicely. Elegance on the palate with amazing liveliness and medium complexity of blackberry, floral, earth, mushroom and salted plum with medium length, juicy finish. Never thought this is showing so well! The magic of 1st growth Terroir?
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Wine Bash of the Year 2011 (Jade Palace): This was the bonus of the night. None of us were expecting much, but it turned out to be supremely pleasurable. It had a beautiful nose as would be expected, with gentle drifts of tobacco, a waft of dried flowers, some earth and beautiful cassis notes beinging up the rear. Classic Margaux, and just wonderful. It was the palate that was stunning for a 1969 though. It was obviously not from the strongest vintage given its distinctly mid-weight feel, but it was drinking wonderfully, with velveteen tannins wrapped around super-pure, bright flavours of dark cherries and blackberries and ringed by a lovely, floating halo of dried flowers. Wonderfully integrated, perfectly balanced and beautifully elegant, this was the surprise of the night. It finished with a delicious little pucker of black tea. While lighter weight in the mouth than usual, it must be said that the wine had no problem at pairing with a smoky roast of lamb shoulder. A beautiful wine, especially when you consider the off vintage.
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Wines before the dawn of points (Chez Dave): The bottle was splotched and abused, with the capsule corroded with a film of decaying metal and mold. As we placed the ah-so into the bottle, the cork began to crumble like paper mache. While about ¼ of an inch or so at the bottom was somewhat solid, the rest of it was veritable dead. We had to submerge the cork in the bottle and filter through cheese cloth. The wine itself was singing right on the initial pour. It has that beautiful pitch and tonality that I simply adore in older Bordeaux. Where else does one find these elements in a wine?
As the wine fleshed out a bit in glass, it had wonderful notes of sweet tobacco, sous bois and balsamico. While it lacks the hallmark floral intensity of great Ch. Margaux, it is still a lovely nose, albeit perhaps not first growth. On the palate, lovely sweet but dark cherry with tobacco and just faint hints of tobacco. It finishes lithe on the palate as elegant as a lovely aged actress. Throughout the evening, it began to dissipate, but immense pleasure was already extracted from the experience. Spoofilated, this was not. Superlative, it does not try to be. A perfect dinner wine, nonetheless. Hard to assign it points and no need to in my book!
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Drunk over a white truffle dinner with David and Sue French at Toscana in Hong Kong. An interesting wine but clearly past its prime. It is like a 70 year old woman who must have been very pretty still even when she was 50. Rather Madeirised but interesting enough to drink. Actually it proved much better when finished with some super Italian cheese and white truffle oil....even though we had drunk the sublime Margaux '83 with the in-between courses.
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9/3/2022 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine: 93 Points
Winapalooza VI; 9/2/2022-9/4/2022 (Atlanta): Our first wine of day 2! I did not know what to expect with this wine, my birth year, but I always enjoy old wines even just for the experience. Luckily, this turned out to be decent to drink too.
Bought at auction. Cork fully intact but soaked to the top. Moldy under the capsule. Label was stained, fill was good.
Translucent garnet and brownish tinge in color with golden rim. Beautiful nose even at pnp.
On first sip there was a metallic off taste but this blew off after about 20 min. Still some fruit, somewhat stewed in nature, but overall very pleasant. But we soon moved on to dinner and younger wines.
Saved 8oz for day 3 and wow!!!! The fruit woke up and seemed younger, fresher, red berries, leather, tobacco. Would never have guessed the age. And would never have thought this would hold up and even improve. Old wines never cease to amaze.
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9/3/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 91 Points
DQ's birth year wine she was so gracious to share with me this afternoon. The Durand brought the entirely saturated (from head to toe cork) out in one nice solid piece. Pnp'd into a glass carefully due to prodigious sediment.
The nose alone is a 94 for me. Wonderful aged Bdx fruit, maybe a hint of raisin, stewed plums and the requisite leather, mushroom, etc.
The palate is maybe an 88 for me. The wine has excellent clarity when sediment is handled carefully. It's nice and clean in the glass, definitely bricky. There's fading fruit with a hint of a tart ending. Still some light tannins present and a modicum of acidity. Thanks so much for sharing this one with me Jen!
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9/11/2021 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Epic Bordeaux for an Epic Birthday!; 9/1/2021-9/12/2021 (Paris & Bordeaux): There was some initial concern on this wine mostly because it had quite the trip to make it to this table (including a back and forth between London and Paris twice although thankfully when the weather was on the cooler side). Perhaps it's a bit tossed up as a result, but honestly I still thought it was lovely. There's just a touch of that plushy, more red velvet that I associate with Margaux. A strong showing and a wine I'd happily order again.
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8/23/2020 - pavel_p wrote: 85 Points
While the shrinking cork dropped into the bottle some time ago, the foil sealed this bottle perfectly as demonstrated by the bottom neck fill with no sign of leakage. Transparent garnet without browning, on the palate however very light, reflecting the very challenging 69 vintage, light dried fruit, well integrated acidity, some forest floor, tannins melted, short finish. Held up quite well over 90 min it took us to finish the bottle, and did not fall apart.
I think this bottle was correct despite the cork issue.
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9/8/2019 - Sleepy Dave wrote:
2nd time had this and still as good as the 1st bottles. Even on Margaux website stated 69 should be bye bye already but to our surprise both bottle we’re drinking fabulously. Lovely complex aromas of Chalk, graphite, violet, black currant. Soft elegant on the palate. Still possesses decent acidity and fruits. Fully matured and integrated, light spiciness tailing at the end. This has amazing transparency and purity. Long and engaging. Again proved that there is not great wine but great bottle at this age.
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6/29/2019 - Brolawa wrote: 92 Points
Found half case of this in Agues-Vives France for my wife's 50th. Not the greatest vintage for Margaux so my expectations were low - but all of the bottles where excellent. They all had their own character but not a stinker in the bunch. Double decanted for roughly 1.5 hours before drinking. A couple of bottles had strong nail-polish on the nose but the finish was all Margaux. One was heavy on the earth, but still had a pleasurable amount of fruit on the palate. Three were excellent through the entire vertical. It felt like a home run.
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3/1/2019 - Burgnick wrote: 90 Points
For such a terrible vintage, the wine was quite solid. A touch medicinal with tea leave, earth and plums. Over the peak but there was still some fruit left to enjoy. Condition was very good for this bottle.
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6/27/2016 - Sean Tay wrote:
Nose of tea, earth, spices and toast. Medium bodied and medium acidity and tannin.
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1/20/2016 - danielk168 wrote:
really not much left and not my cup of tea, these old wines
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5/24/2014 - Spichi Likes this wine: 88 Points
Erstaunlich viel Tanine und Frische, Caramellenoten,
The wine looks ruby colored. The legs are fast. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like chocolate and honey. The body is light/medium. The wine has smooth texture. The wine finishes short. The wine has low acidity.
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2/18/2013 - johnh1001 wrote: 88 Points
Drank over 4 hours. Initially this was only showing a bit of old faded fruit, but this actually took on more sweetness and weight with time in the glass. A nose of dried fruit, wet bandaids, iodine and earth. It was a little flat in the mouth and had a short finish but a fine example of a great old BDX from a tough vintage.
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12/27/2011 - Sleepy Dave wrote: 91 Points
2011 Special Session 4 - Wine bash of 2011 (Jade Palace Seafood Restaurant, The Forum Shopping Mall, Orchard Road): Popped and poured. Medium ruby core with brick rim. The level is good, corked was a bit soaked through, but generally the condition is excellent. Indeed, the wine showed really well, so much so that the quality of this wine from such a weak vintage impressed everyone. Lively, with the amazing perfume aromas that only Margaux is capable to offer: sweet cassis, violet, cedar, tobacco, soft cigar box all wrapped in a highly focus and captivating aromas profile. While this is a little bit lean, this is still bright and drinking very nicely. Elegance on the palate with amazing liveliness and medium complexity of blackberry, floral, earth, mushroom and salted plum with medium length, juicy finish. Never thought this is showing so well! The magic of 1st growth Terroir?
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12/27/2011 - Paul S wrote: 93 Points
Wine Bash of the Year 2011 (Jade Palace): This was the bonus of the night. None of us were expecting much, but it turned out to be supremely pleasurable. It had a beautiful nose as would be expected, with gentle drifts of tobacco, a waft of dried flowers, some earth and beautiful cassis notes beinging up the rear. Classic Margaux, and just wonderful. It was the palate that was stunning for a 1969 though. It was obviously not from the strongest vintage given its distinctly mid-weight feel, but it was drinking wonderfully, with velveteen tannins wrapped around super-pure, bright flavours of dark cherries and blackberries and ringed by a lovely, floating halo of dried flowers. Wonderfully integrated, perfectly balanced and beautifully elegant, this was the surprise of the night. It finished with a delicious little pucker of black tea. While lighter weight in the mouth than usual, it must be said that the wine had no problem at pairing with a smoky roast of lamb shoulder. A beautiful wine, especially when you consider the off vintage.
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10/17/2010 - Faryan wrote:
Wines before the dawn of points (Chez Dave): The bottle was splotched and abused, with the capsule corroded with a film of decaying metal and mold. As we placed the ah-so into the bottle, the cork began to crumble like paper mache. While about ¼ of an inch or so at the bottom was somewhat solid, the rest of it was veritable dead. We had to submerge the cork in the bottle and filter through cheese cloth. The wine itself was singing right on the initial pour. It has that beautiful pitch and tonality that I simply adore in older Bordeaux. Where else does one find these elements in a wine?
As the wine fleshed out a bit in glass, it had wonderful notes of sweet tobacco, sous bois and balsamico. While it lacks the hallmark floral intensity of great Ch. Margaux, it is still a lovely nose, albeit perhaps not first growth. On the palate, lovely sweet but dark cherry with tobacco and just faint hints of tobacco. It finishes lithe on the palate as elegant as a lovely aged actress. Throughout the evening, it began to dissipate, but immense pleasure was already extracted from the experience. Spoofilated, this was not. Superlative, it does not try to be. A perfect dinner wine, nonetheless. Hard to assign it points and no need to in my book!
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4/12/2009 - mvkajsk wrote:
Unfortunately madierized but still worth it for the novelty.
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2/8/2009 - dschneersohn wrote: flawed
Bottle was below shoulder level
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12/21/2004 - Goldstone wrote: 89 Points
Drunk over a white truffle dinner with David and Sue French at Toscana in Hong Kong. An interesting wine but clearly past its prime. It is like a 70 year old woman who must have been very pretty still even when she was 50. Rather Madeirised but interesting enough to drink. Actually it proved much better when finished with some super Italian cheese and white truffle oil....even though we had drunk the sublime Margaux '83 with the in-between courses.
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5/24/2002 - jusuf wrote: flawed
Over the lifetime. Wine had a nice perfumed complex nose, but Palate was red water. Nothing there. Not even grape juice taste. Pitty.
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5/1/1987 - sdr wrote: flawed
DOA. Sickly brown, grey rim. Strong iodine metallic odor.
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