2016 Domaine Labranche-Laffont Madiran

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 89.3 points

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  3/1/2024 - stamperb Likes this wine: 88 Points

  Nose: All dirt with some spent fireworks, charred dark cherries, faintest hint of blue cotton candy. Palate: Gritty bay leaf, sandy tannins that mask, dirty dark cherries and smoked blueberries. Tried this next to the 2017 and this was much thicker, balanced, and enjoyable. On day two, the dark weightiness gives way to spiced red plum and a mildly tangy tomato puree. Preferred on day one.

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  6/21/2022 - Paul852 Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Well based on past experience, and needing to drink down my cellar, I tried decanting this about 19 hours before drinking.
  
  As a result what we have is a rather smooth deep, dark wine; dark blue fruit on the nose and the palate, tannins now pretty much in balance, although this is still a "dry" food wine, not a ripe fruity one. All very clean, but now to my palate all just a bit thin.
  
  I'm still not sure what best to do with this wine - maybe 8 hours or so would have been ideal. It's still very good, and very decent QPR at ~ US$17. But still not what I had hoped.

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  12/3/2021 - Paul852 Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Another 9 months on this bottle got 9 hours in the decanter and still it was best towards the end. Excellent dark red fruit. In line with my previous note from February, but a little smoother and with perhaps less tannin.
  
  Looking forward to seeing how my remaining couple of bottles evolve over the next year or two.

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  2/8/2021 - Paul852 Likes this wine: 89 Points

  18 months on from my last note I think this is now in a better place.
  
  Decanted for 5 hours.
  The nose is dark: blackberry, leather, blood, but also somehow a touch of menthol.
  The palate is mouth-filling with rich smooth tannins ("jaw-clapping" perhaps), a mixture of dark fruits, some leather, a little vegetation, acidity in good balance. It all hangs together well.
  The finish is long, drying, and meaty in some way.
  
  This is a wine that requires food, preferably of an umami-rich type; it is far too robust to drink on its own.
  And at ~US$17 it is pretty good value.
  
  EDIT (28/2/2021): another bottle tells me that 2-3 hours air is not enough - this still really needs 5+ hours of air.

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  1/19/2021 - stamperb Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Dark purple. Nose: Tart blackberry and bramble, vanilla, leather, maybe even blood? Green leaf. Palate: blackberry, tart black cherries. Quite balanced for a younger tannat/cab franc blend, and very reasonably priced ($14)

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View all 9 Community Tasting Notes

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