AWSEC Great Bordeaux Tasting
AWSEC, Hong Kong
Tasted Saturday, June 18, 2011 by DonalOB with 594 views
Introduction
Wine-tasting at the AWSEC school. Interesting as it had a few supposedly precious first growths which mostly did not perform.
Flight 1 (8 Notes)
Closing
This tasting reinforced for me the truism of the overriding importance of vintage in regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy. If forced to choose, buy the cheaper chateau from the better vintages.
1994 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
A broader rim than the '96. Some fruit but savoury with smokey notes. On the palate it has little fruit with med+ acid. Some licorice and fine-grained tannins. A little drying and hollow.
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1970 Château Lafite Rothschild 86 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Brown and cloudy. Slight green tinge. Looks well gone.
Surprisingly floral nose. Slight oxidation with some caramel.
Clearly past it's peak, although some fruit still there. Acidity still in place - in fact this is quite prevalent due to the faded fruit. And it still has some tannins. Interesting but not very enjoyable.
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1996 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Some age evident but not a lot. Perfumed nose with violets. Graphite and savoury flavours on the palate. Riper in style than the '94. Great length.
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1967 Château Mouton Rothschild Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
The bottle had a mid-shoulder ullage. Very tawny in colour.
Mushroom on the nose. Savoury and smokey on the palate. Neither tannin nor fruit remain. Short aftertaste.
Well gone. Just goes to show, it's all about the vintage not the vineyard for Bordeaux and Burgundy.
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1998 Château Margaux 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Dark with a small pale rim.
Clean nose of fresh fruit with sweet spice and smoke. Very nice on the palate with licorice, oak and med- acid. Ripe tannins but a little drying. Medium length.
Not from a top vintage but not bad. Needs another couple of years.
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1995 Château Latour Grand Vin 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Still purple in the glass. Hardly any rim.
Great nose - cassis, leather and cedar.
Amazing on the palate. Dry tannins but with strong fruit. Lower alcohol and good acidity. Very good balance. Nice length.
With the amount of tannins and fruit this has left this can evolve and age well.
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1993 Château d'Yquem 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
This was not a great year for Sauternes. It looks quite dark - orange even. Very thick and glycerin.
A bit funky on the nose with truffles and a little acetone.
Not great - especially compared to the Rieussec. Wood very obvious. Slightly buttery note.
Again this shows the value of the vintage.
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1996 Château Rieussec 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Light gold with no rim and heavy tears.
Great aroma of orange, honey, citrus, apricots and peaches. Quite intense.
Same on the palate - lighter style of acidity but with great length.
This showed much better than the Yquem - again a triumph of vintage over vineyard.
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