Superb cork for a change. Gave this a four hour decant, which turned out to be a very good move. Initially it was very reticent, but with time it filled out beautifully.
Showing its age somewhat- translucent with a little bricking. On the nose blackberries, tobacco, soy sauce, plums, damp earth, molasses, graphite. A saline component which freshens things up a bit. A tinge of bonfire and even eucalyptus. Plenty going on, but not a powerhouse.
Like the '53 though, this is remarkably sweet and rich in the mouth. It's not a heavy wine, so in the end it's nicely poised despite the sweetness. Tannins are fully resolved, but perhaps drying out a little. Finishes with a subtle kiss of acidity which lingers for perhaps a fraction less time than I would like.
Overall though this is a class act, but it needs drinking now. I will be tasting the other four Premiers Crus over the next few months, so it will be interesting to see how they compare.
Quite a dense color, with only a hair's width of brick to betray its age. Candied raspberry and eucalyptus nose with a tinge of Mouton spice. Earthy mushroom undertone. A touch of balsamic vinegar. The bouquet has that endless fascination that only the greatest wines seem to be able to provide.
Nicely integrated tannins, but just a fraction lacking in concentration compared to its peers. It's a light wine in style, but it still feels a fraction empty as it rolls across the tongue.
That's really nitpicking though. The finish is still long and delicious, with impeccable balance, and though intellectually I know that the Lafite is richer, the Latour has more power, and the Margaux is off the charts, right now I wouldn't trade this wine for anything in my cellar. YUM!
Part of a very slow first growth horizontal of 1983 which at this rate will be finished in about 50 years. Each wine has been so memorable though that it's as if I drank them yesterday.
Decanted for an hour and a half or so. Nice fill and a perfect cork. Color neither especially youthful nor especially advanced by comparison with others of this vintage.
The nose absolutely explodes out of the bottle, and gets even more potent with air. Signature Pessac burnt ash and tar profile. Some dark fruit and orange zest. Notes of chocolate and tobacco.
Medium bodied with a fairly sweet mouthfeel; a little drier in flavor on the finish. Nice balance and structure, and surprisingly robust tannins for the vintage. Everything's in nice harmony, and it's hard to point to a weakness, unlike the Lafite and the Mouton. Doesn't have the sheer power of the Latour or the all around brilliance of the Margaux in this vintage though.
Nonetheless, this is one of the best HBs I have had, and it's in the perfect place for drinking right now.
Mind-blowing. Such a fascinating nose. Staggering power and intensity. As soon as I pulled the cork I was transported to when I last had this nine years ago.
No detailed note (again- I'm getting lazy), but you cannot mistake this for anything other than a great First Growth. It's just a masterpiece.
Disclaimer; I am aware of how terribly pretentious this wine review may seem. But there are some wines which are beyond conventional description. To merely list some flavors would be a disservice all round. ======================
There is a scent. A truly marvellous scent. It's what I spend most of my life chasing. Every bottle bought, every cork unpopped, from the lowliest supermarket wine to the most decadent Premier Cru- every single time there's a part of me that is hoping to find it. If I can't find it I'll settle for being reminded of it.
I often get echoes of it from elderly Californian bottlings. The odd Barolo here and there has a bit too. Like being shown a photo of a loved one, they bring back happy memories. But there's only one commune which can give you the real thing, and that's Margaux.
Almost all Margaux wines of any quality show this character to some extent, just as the St-Juliens have their own unique aromas which others doubtless crave. But for me the Margaux wines' unique character is what I'm looking for. And the zenith is reached at Chateau Margaux.
To stick your nose in a glass of Chateau Margaux in a decent (or even half-decent) year is to experience the essence of this flavor; its most distilled form. And 1983 is the greatest year in Margaux in the last half-century.
So I'm expecting great things from this, right?
Well, this bottle decided to play a little trick on me and keep me waiting. After a two hour decant I poured a glass and tasted a superb wine; deliciously balanced and poised, youthful but complex and complete, and concentrated and long. All very nice, but not worth four times the price of the 1986 Dunn Howell Mountain from the previous night. Hopes dashed, and gnashing of teeth.
And then, suddenly, after a further hour, everything is there. And I do mean everything.
The first word that sprang to mind at that point was NARNIA. The moment we all imagined when you burst out of the wardrobe-tunnel into the forest. The Margaux scent is all around as you stop to smell every wildflower. Violets and roses. The trees drip with dew, lending a vegetal air; the damp bracken adds a background of freshness and openness.
Every now and then the nose forks off in another direction; soy sauce, lamb jus (a recurring theme) and similar meaty aromas; cedar and graphite and similar Lafite-ish tones; sherbet and chocolate, and similar candied treats. But in the end we return to the elusive Margaux character.
The concentration is absurd, the balance impeccable and the finish sublime. But none of that really matters. It's almost a waste to let this wine into your mouth; it just means tearing your nose away.
This is what I buy wine for. Every wonderful wine I taste is colored with the tiniest tinge of sadness because it wasn't like this. But every new bottle fills me with anticipation, for perhaps I will taste the echos of this perfect bouquet.
To score this seems almost absurd- to score it less than 100 even more so.
=================
I have two more bottles. I'm going to open the next one much earlier. I am down to my last glass and new things are starting to happen.....
1983 Château Lafite Rothschild 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
(6/11/2016)
Superb cork for a change. Gave this a four hour decant, which turned out to be a very good move. Initially it was very reticent, but with time it filled out beautifully.
Showing its age somewhat- translucent with a little bricking. On the nose blackberries, tobacco, soy sauce, plums, damp earth, molasses, graphite. A saline component which freshens things up a bit. A tinge of bonfire and even eucalyptus. Plenty going on, but not a powerhouse.
Like the '53 though, this is remarkably sweet and rich in the mouth. It's not a heavy wine, so in the end it's nicely poised despite the sweetness. Tannins are fully resolved, but perhaps drying out a little. Finishes with a subtle kiss of acidity which lingers for perhaps a fraction less time than I would like.
Overall though this is a class act, but it needs drinking now. I will be tasting the other four Premiers Crus over the next few months, so it will be interesting to see how they compare.
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1983 Château Mouton Rothschild 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
(10/8/2016)
Part two of my 1983 horizontal. Half hour decant.
Quite a dense color, with only a hair's width of brick to betray its age. Candied raspberry and eucalyptus nose with a tinge of Mouton spice. Earthy mushroom undertone. A touch of balsamic vinegar. The bouquet has that endless fascination that only the greatest wines seem to be able to provide.
Nicely integrated tannins, but just a fraction lacking in concentration compared to its peers. It's a light wine in style, but it still feels a fraction empty as it rolls across the tongue.
That's really nitpicking though. The finish is still long and delicious, with impeccable balance, and though intellectually I know that the Lafite is richer, the Latour has more power, and the Margaux is off the charts, right now I wouldn't trade this wine for anything in my cellar. YUM!
Drink now or hold for another 5 years.
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1983 Château Haut-Brion 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
(6/9/2017)
Part of a very slow first growth horizontal of 1983 which at this rate will be finished in about 50 years. Each wine has been so memorable though that it's as if I drank them yesterday.
Decanted for an hour and a half or so. Nice fill and a perfect cork. Color neither especially youthful nor especially advanced by comparison with others of this vintage.
The nose absolutely explodes out of the bottle, and gets even more potent with air. Signature Pessac burnt ash and tar profile. Some dark fruit and orange zest. Notes of chocolate and tobacco.
Medium bodied with a fairly sweet mouthfeel; a little drier in flavor on the finish. Nice balance and structure, and surprisingly robust tannins for the vintage. Everything's in nice harmony, and it's hard to point to a weakness, unlike the Lafite and the Mouton. Doesn't have the sheer power of the Latour or the all around brilliance of the Margaux in this vintage though.
Nonetheless, this is one of the best HBs I have had, and it's in the perfect place for drinking right now.
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1983 Château Latour Grand Vin 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
(4/8/2019)
Mind-blowing. Such a fascinating nose. Staggering power and intensity. As soon as I pulled the cork I was transported to when I last had this nine years ago.
No detailed note (again- I'm getting lazy), but you cannot mistake this for anything other than a great First Growth. It's just a masterpiece.
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1983 Château Margaux 100 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(8/4/2014)
Disclaimer; I am aware of how terribly pretentious this wine review may seem. But there are some wines which are beyond conventional description. To merely list some flavors would be a disservice all round.
======================
There is a scent. A truly marvellous scent. It's what I spend most of my life chasing. Every bottle bought, every cork unpopped, from the lowliest supermarket wine to the most decadent Premier Cru- every single time there's a part of me that is hoping to find it. If I can't find it I'll settle for being reminded of it.
I often get echoes of it from elderly Californian bottlings. The odd Barolo here and there has a bit too. Like being shown a photo of a loved one, they bring back happy memories. But there's only one commune which can give you the real thing, and that's Margaux.
Almost all Margaux wines of any quality show this character to some extent, just as the St-Juliens have their own unique aromas which others doubtless crave. But for me the Margaux wines' unique character is what I'm looking for. And the zenith is reached at Chateau Margaux.
To stick your nose in a glass of Chateau Margaux in a decent (or even half-decent) year is to experience the essence of this flavor; its most distilled form. And 1983 is the greatest year in Margaux in the last half-century.
So I'm expecting great things from this, right?
Well, this bottle decided to play a little trick on me and keep me waiting. After a two hour decant I poured a glass and tasted a superb wine; deliciously balanced and poised, youthful but complex and complete, and concentrated and long. All very nice, but not worth four times the price of the 1986 Dunn Howell Mountain from the previous night. Hopes dashed, and gnashing of teeth.
And then, suddenly, after a further hour, everything is there. And I do mean everything.
The first word that sprang to mind at that point was NARNIA. The moment we all imagined when you burst out of the wardrobe-tunnel into the forest. The Margaux scent is all around as you stop to smell every wildflower. Violets and roses. The trees drip with dew, lending a vegetal air; the damp bracken adds a background of freshness and openness.
Every now and then the nose forks off in another direction; soy sauce, lamb jus (a recurring theme) and similar meaty aromas; cedar and graphite and similar Lafite-ish tones; sherbet and chocolate, and similar candied treats. But in the end we return to the elusive Margaux character.
The concentration is absurd, the balance impeccable and the finish sublime. But none of that really matters. It's almost a waste to let this wine into your mouth; it just means tearing your nose away.
This is what I buy wine for. Every wonderful wine I taste is colored with the tiniest tinge of sadness because it wasn't like this. But every new bottle fills me with anticipation, for perhaps I will taste the echos of this perfect bouquet.
To score this seems almost absurd- to score it less than 100 even more so.
=================
I have two more bottles. I'm going to open the next one much earlier. I am down to my last glass and new things are starting to happen.....
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