20 Top Wines of the 1983 Vintage: Three whites. The Laville Haut Brion (96 pts) is incredibly impressive: so young and vibrant, with a perfect balance, intense and expressive, all centered around a rainbow of highly precise fresh tropical fruit notes. This seems to be an immortal wine, highly impressive but would need a bit more complexity to reach the next level. The Y d‘Yquem 1985 (94+pts) was added to the 1983 lineup as we were one white short, and it didn‘t disappoint. A complex dry Sauternes, with all the telltale aromatics and lots of freshness, missing just a bit of a cleaner, more expressive nose to reach an even higher score. The Pavillon Blanc (92pts) is more evolved than the others and shows less precise and clean but has a good acidic spine and lots of minerality giving additional lift.
Decanting: Not decanted, no decanting necessary
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1983 vintage horizontal with >20 wines, mostly from Bordeaux. Key observations: 1/ Acceptable vintage for Champagne with DP over-delivering, 2/ Laville Haut Brion is a masterpiece among the whites, 3/ Bordeaux is going strong at 40 years of age with stand-outs Latour and Margaux. 4/ No need to chase any Napa’s from the vintage, 5/ off-piste Italians kept up impressively with Soldera an undisputed medalist.
Tasting note: Quite some oxidative flavors along with aging notes indicate advanced age. Baked pear fruit. Still nice intensity with a peppery element. The palate still exhibits fresh acidity, but also shows signs of fatigue and by now lacks the structure.
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Very impressive how this has aged. Still quite fresh with tingly acidity to match the crisp flavors of grapefruit and melon. Finishes complex with notes of grasses and complex minerals and a slightly honeyed texture.
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Well aged nose with pear, green apple, and a high note sweetness with time. A pleasing musty backdrop. Asian pear and melon with great acid and depth of flavor on the palate.
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12/31/2023 - Cailles wrote: 92 Points
20 Top Wines of the 1983 Vintage: Three whites. The Laville Haut Brion (96 pts) is incredibly impressive: so young and vibrant, with a perfect balance, intense and expressive, all centered around a rainbow of highly precise fresh tropical fruit notes. This seems to be an immortal wine, highly impressive but would need a bit more complexity to reach the next level. The Y d‘Yquem 1985 (94+pts) was added to the 1983 lineup as we were one white short, and it didn‘t disappoint. A complex dry Sauternes, with all the telltale aromatics and lots of freshness, missing just a bit of a cleaner, more expressive nose to reach an even higher score. The Pavillon Blanc (92pts) is more evolved than the others and shows less precise and clean but has a good acidic spine and lots of minerality giving additional lift.
Decanting: Not decanted, no decanting necessary
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11/25/2023 - G_H wrote: 90 Points
40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Yellow fruit, perfectly pleasant although acidity is a bit low
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11/25/2023 - sirpat00 wrote: 88 Points
1983 vintage horizontal with >20 wines, mostly from Bordeaux. Key observations: 1/ Acceptable vintage for Champagne with DP over-delivering, 2/ Laville Haut Brion is a masterpiece among the whites, 3/ Bordeaux is going strong at 40 years of age with stand-outs Latour and Margaux. 4/ No need to chase any Napa’s from the vintage, 5/ off-piste Italians kept up impressively with Soldera an undisputed medalist.
Tasting note:
Quite some oxidative flavors along with aging notes indicate advanced age. Baked pear fruit. Still nice intensity with a peppery element. The palate still exhibits fresh acidity, but also shows signs of fatigue and by now lacks the structure.
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3/14/2015 - dream Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very impressive how this has aged. Still quite fresh with tingly acidity to match the crisp flavors of grapefruit and melon. Finishes complex with notes of grasses and complex minerals and a slightly honeyed texture.
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3/12/2015 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 93 Points
Well aged nose with pear, green apple, and a high note sweetness with time. A pleasing musty backdrop. Asian pear and melon with great acid and depth of flavor on the palate.
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