Bordeaux Tasting

Four Bordeaux and one Napa cab for comparison.

• 1990 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A fascinating wine. I struggled to find food analogies to compare the aromas and flavors of this wine. A strong mushroomy/fungal flavor dominated. No fruit to speak of. This is odd, but I kept thinking of the smell of plain pasta. As the hours passed, the other 4 bottles in this tasting faded, but this one got stronger! Nothing new happened, just a deeper expression of the same mushroom/pasta nose. To be honest, I am not sure if I liked it, but it was surely a beautiful wine that I am glad I experienced.

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• 2010 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 97 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Stunning. Like a jar of warm jam dumped on my face (I like that).
  
  So many other reviews of this wine say it is "asleep" and will be great someday. Seriously, wine writers are so annoying. This thing is wide awake and kicking ass. Sure, the tannins are a bit too strong, but everything else is perfect. I'm going to put it to bed in my mouth, not my cellar.

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• 1996 Château Léoville Las Cases 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  I had high expectations for this wine and it failed me. No fruit, no oak. Smelled like a freshly opened plastic toy. At least the tannins were well balanced after 18 years.

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• 2000 Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru) 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  First accessed with the Coravin in May. At that time, I had been drinking mostly Pinots, and this Bordeaux blew me away with its contrast. On accessing again, all of the oaky vanilla notes were gone, the fruit was weak. Maybe I just didn't notice it as much since I've been drinking a lot of Bordeaux lately, or maybe 5 months of sitting in an argon bath ruined it. Still, it was the weakest of the 5 bottles in this tasting.

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• 2007 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  So delicious. My clear favorite in this tasting (sorry, Bordeaux!)
  
  Strong on oak in the vanilla/caramel department. Super smooth going down! No bite from lips to stomach, almost like there was no alcohol. Immediately bought more at auction before I had even finished the bottle.

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