2013 Château La Peyre St. Estèphe

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 89.6 points

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  12/16/2023 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 91 Points

  2/11. Decanted clear with ~1 oz. remaining of mixed density. NOSE: it's all that I could hope for in delicate, alluring sensations reminiscent of violets, graphite, rinsed stone, berry, spice, cacao, and maduro cigar wrappers. MOUTH: bright, active, tumbled bodies of inky berry fruit, utterly transparent in dryness. Fine, cool stone-textured, and determined tannins rest intermittently on savory black salts and iodine evergreen. It's a pleasure to drink immediately, and it's clear that some aeration will help it along. I wouldn't hesitate to forget about the remaining bottles, even for a few years.
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  SUMMARY: it was an amazing pork steak from McElroy Farms, and though I'm not a fan of pairing pork with claret, it worked well, on account, I suppose, of the strength of each component. The last few drinks from the bottle, three hours later, are the best of them. The mineral profile firmed up and gained transparency. This had the effect of drawing in loose threads of rare, scented botanicals. The saps are more attenuated, The iodine and balsam are laced tight. It represents a logical extreme of three maximums: seriousness, drinkability, and lunchpail universalism.

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  7/23/2023 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 91 Points

  1/11. (I was able to locate a case before one bottle broke on delivery.)
  . I hope you'll bear with me when I say this is close to my ideal of light, uncomplicated red drinking wine—suitable beverage service for my antiquated stereotypes of educated English on a quiet weekend. It's sociable, and very dry; these facts hang together in a balance, internally moderating its own pace while optimizing flavor satisfaction. There are many different sorts of wines that I love to drink, but few of them work like this.
  . It's 2pm on a Sunday. I've chosen my evening meal (beef burritos) and taken steps to prepare it. In an unusual stroke of common sense, I decide to open and decant the wine. I have no intention of taking a taste until, well, gee, wouldn't it be useful if I did. And there it is. An unexpected splash of aroma and flavor paradoxically advances its appealing notion of compulsive restraint. The fruit is saturated with deep red and purple and dotted with luminescence. The tannins are brittle, gnarled strands, elegantly arranged to mark the familiar geometry of communion. The way it lingers would seem disordered and astringent until it emerges stiffly appointed in minimalist grace. Pencils and preserves. Very fresh. A model of authenticity. It's almost entirely rid of primary aromas and flavors, though I'm still allowing aeration to improve it. I expect to be done with the remaining ten bottles by 2033.

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  5/17/2021 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 91 Points

  I wish to thank vintage shoppers for leaving this for me! Boney, dry black perfumes of violets. Young bouquet, there’s even a trace of cedar shingle scented reduction. Something animal and groomed is at the core. Complete. Ripe. The bouquet is not exactly pushing its way out of the glass. But it is composed and inviting, and uncommonly balanced. Later, as I drink the bottle, it becomes impossible to ignore fragrant plumes of mint and black jams. The volume of smell increased steadily. Severe grip, with high-toned, piney black berries, and then a fleeting moment of relaxation for the juniper, cassis, and blackberry to set the lure. Then, yow! Dry, cocoa-espresso tannins perform their delightful little act of domination. All of this action is remarkably holistic; mutually emergent.

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