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Community Tasting Notes (14) Avg Score: 92.4 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: On the nose ripe dark fruit, crushed stone and some tobacco and wet earth in the background. The palate showed dark berries, some dark red fruit, herbs and minerality. Some additional faint coffee and malty notes. All in all, quite nice but the aromatic intensity and precision on the nose and palate were subpar. The highlight is clearly the structural frame. Very fine, silky tannins, good medium+ acidity, good tension. Highly elegant and light, superb balance with the right amount of creaminess.

    Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before the tasting.

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  • 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
    Amazing intensity here with blue berry fruit. A thick layer of herbal or rather vegetal aromas add good splash of freshness to the bouquet. Espresso, dark chocolate and also tobacco. The intensity drops quickly with aeration and aromatics change a bit, reducing the vegetal angle. Palate is juicy still even if only by a whisker, but overall rather acidic with a slightly rustic and austere finish.

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  • Annual Richter All-Magnum Extravaganza: Beautiful clear nose of milk chocolate and cherries balanced with a great sweetness, a tad intense acidity in the palate.

    Pleasure to drink.

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  • 15 Mature Bordeauxs Magnums (with Heitz MV in the mix): From magnum. The wine showed brilliantly, full of life and tension and with lots of that ripe 1947 fruit. It is so powerful and concentrated, one would never guess this to be an almost 75 years old wine. Super intriguing and round and a lot of fun to drink. It might not have the complexity of the best wines of the vintage but this superbly clean bottle was drinking on a 95 point level today.

    TN: Highly expressive nose displaying lots of dense, dark, ripe fruit along meaty notes, fine herbs, some dough, menthol and with time more tertiary aromas, especially tobacco. Complex, well-defined and intriguing. Very powerful and concentrated on the palate with lots of ripe dark fruit, minerality, mostly graphite, tobacco. Not super complex but well delineated and focused. Still a strong, much younger feeling structure with loads of melted tannins and a good freshness. Creamy texture and a long finish. Quite complete and very exciting.

    Decanting: Not decanted, a short decant would be enough.

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  • Magnum rarities tasting; 7/2/2021-7/3/2021 (Zunfthaus zur Waag, Zurich): Magnum rarities tasting hosted by a merchant and collector. The headline line-up of the main event featured 18 aged red wines from magnum which was preceded by warm-up tasting of a dozen aged reds. The highlights across both days were Chris Ringland 1998 (99), Montrose 1990 and Yquem 1948 (both 98). Also strong were Palmer 1989 (97), Cheval Blanc 1985 (97) and Léoville Poyferré 1990 (96). None of the wines were decanted prior to serving.

    Tasting note:
    From magnum. Fine, elegant, detailed, humble – that's the headlines here. Red cherry fruit, blueberry, iodine, floral overlay, aging notes really just around the edges. Developing lots of minty base notes and minerality. Later also darker berries. A fresh, balanced palate, maybe just a bit too fuzzy on the texture and not that much weight left - but this is complaining on a very high level. Drinking very nicely with some nice leathery elements framing the finish. One of the highlights of the tasting. Easily mastered the 70+ years of bottle age, presenting itself in astonishing shape, especially when compared to others several decades younger.

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View all 14 Community Tasting Notes

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  • By Neal Martin
    Two Imaginary Boys: Pichon-Lalande (Aug 2019), 8/1/2019, (See more on Vinous...)

    (Pichon-longueville Comtesse De Lalande Pichon-longueville Comtesse De Lalande Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

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