1983 Château L'Evangile

Community Tasting Notes (32) Avg Score: 90.1 points

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  1/16/2024 - DaleW wrote: flawed

  An old fave, but I thought a bit muted (as did Cathleen). Still, the table seemed to enjoy. But during cleanup I retasted, and became pretty sure it was actually corked. NR

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  9/16/2023 - SpenceP wrote: 92 Points

  This is a wine that needs some time in the glass (or the decanter). Immediately after opening this seemed extremely unpleasant and dismayingly too old, dominated by a harsh blast of wet cardboard and camphor. But, after about ten or fifteen minutes in the glass, it began to come to life with mint, baked plums, dried cherries, roast fatty duck, decaying leaves, and earth. A touch of mild bitterness. After a little less than an hour, licorice got added to the mix. The wet cardboard went away completely, while the camphor gradually morphed over the course of a bit more than an hour into leather. Four decades after the harvest, this wine still has some tannins. An exceptionally long and complex aftertaste. You have to enjoy old wines to enjoy this, but if you do this becomes quite appealing. To my own taste, this wine is at its best after about 50 minutes in the glass, and then stays there until around the two hour mark, when it starts to thin out and lose complexity.
  
  I'd expect this wine to remain in this stage for at least another 5 years--depending on your attitude to old wines, this is already too late or else there's no hurry at all. I gave this bottle a full week upright for the massive sediment to settle out. Tasted over more than two hours from the Jancis Robinson glass. This started out with a very low score--the rating represents the wine after about (very very approximately) an hour in the glass.

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  9/24/2022 - hprphf wrote: 92 Points

  Blind. Evident pyrazine but with smoky and, as two friends describe, Pauillac characters. I insisted on Pomerol, very silky tannin, so a friend joked whether it could be l'Evangile. Light but delicious. 92

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  4/10/2020 - RonniePiemonte wrote: 92 Points

  Initial nose a hint of vegetal. Iron and medicinal palate upon opening, time brought on the fruit and sticky tannins. Nose opened up too.
  Plenty of lift. great with Roast Chicken and Asian tempura vegetables.

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  3/11/2020 - curtr Likes this wine:

  I was surprised by this wine. I agree with a comment made earlier by Keith Levenberg who said that this tasted more like a cabernet sauvignon based wine. This is holding up well and showing a lot of tertiary character.

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