1995 Château de Pibarnon Bandol

Community Tasting Notes (10) Median Score: 92 points

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  3/15/2024 - Outplaying Likes this wine:

  We brought this back from the winery a couple of years ago. I don't have any experience with older Bandol wines, but this was delicious. There is a nice balance of darker toned fruit, some mellow, aged savory notes, and an overall elegance to the wine. I only brought back one of this vintage, unfortunately, but I am looking forward to trying some of the other vintages.

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  11/25/2017 - forceberry wrote: 93 Points

  Quite pale and obviously rather developed figgy color with mature mahogany hue and pale, brick-orange rim. The nose feels very developed and somewhat oxidized with rather sweet aromas of molasses, raisins, some wizened dark fruits, a little bit of ripe cassis, a nutty hint of tawny port and touches of prunes and raisins. On the palate the wine feels ripe, suave and full-bodied with very smooth mouthfeel. There are quite aged flavors of ripe plummy fruits and prunes, some raisiny character, a little bit of leather, an umami hint of meat stock and a touch of smoky character. The wine is moderate in acidity, but the tannins start to feel fully resolved and very soft, not contributing much to the structure nor to the texture. The complex finish is smooth and aged with nuanced, mature flavors of raisiny fruit, some caramelly Tawny Port character, a little bit of prune, a hint of leather and a sappy touch of leafy sous-bois.
  
  Better to drink up. The wine is obviously at the end of its life and although it is still very classic and enjoyable as an old Bandol, it is starting to slip slowly down from its plateau of maturity. The difference between this and the much younger Pibarnon 1996 that was drunk alongside was remarkable. Fortunately this wine pulled itself together after a few moments in a glass: the wine felt very tired and almost dead at first right after pouring, but once the fruit and other tertiary aromas woke up and started to show their head, the wine came back to life and turned out to be very enjoyable. Fortunately this wine was drunk now and not in the future - there's really nothing to be gained in further aging.

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  9/22/2014 - Fatty Cat wrote: 86 Points

  Late Sep 2014: decanted; full violet-red; no bouquet, even after prolonged waiting time; minor fruit flavors in the mouth; medium/full body; smooth texture.
  
  Where have all the flavors gone. Long time passing?

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  2/22/2013 - ggormezano Likes this wine: 92 Points

  drink up.

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  2/1/2013 - whits Likes this wine: 92 Points

  deep in color but bricking around the edges, complex bouquet involving ash, wet tree bark, flowers and cherry, dry, tannins have softened but the masculine palate still goes into beast mode, iron, beef blood, dried herbs and a hint of plum sauce, achieves character as well as being delightful to drink, look for gamey red meat to match

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View all 10 Community Tasting Notes

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