Malescot St Exupery Vertical (1983, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2002) + some extras

Sasi and I have been fans of Malescot for some time and decided to put this together to taste through several vintages of the past 25 years or so. The group consisted of Sasi, Joyce, William, Charles, Lawrence, Ray, Alex Toh, Kate, Edmund, Chad and I. We had the usual cheese platter, two blues this time along with the other harder cheeses - Roquefort and Stilton. William also threw in some Foie Gras. KC was kind enough to pop a Quintarelli for us towards the end of the day. As always, great fun, great wine and fantastic company

Wines were served blind. Only the 2000 was double-decanted. I must say that the quality of the wines across the board really surprised me - excellent all round

• 1983 Château Malescot St. Exupéry 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  This was a beautifully aged Bordeaux, though just on the wrong side of the hill and about to ride off into the sunset. A lightening garnet core and orange rim made this wine clearly stand out as the oldest of the vertical. Very pretty Margaux nose, with cherry, flowers and loam. After just a little air, it begin to show mature dried fruit and flower characteristics - figs and honeysuckle I thought. Just a bit of umami peeked out towards the end. Much the same on the palate - cherry, flowers and a sprinkle of exotic spice. The fruit was a little dried out and, while elegant, the palate was rather thinner and less interesting than the nose promised. Tannins had already softened out. Still, a really nice wine, especially towards the finish, which was long, gummy and slightly succulent with a touch more fruit and an intriguing pandan note. Matured and elegant, this was the first bottle to be finished.

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• 1990 Château Malescot St. Exupéry 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  This was by far the most masculine of the wines. Lightish purple core and orangey rim showed its age, with its nose displaying a full range of secondary flavors - lots of funky barnyard and leather mixed in with smaller proportions of very Margaux, very Malescot perfume notes, and some fresh, herbacious lilfts providing relief alongside darkish cherry and plum scents. William liked it immediately. There was a hint of acrylic at first, which faded quickly. The palate was just as powerful and masculine, some spice notes, some green bell pepper and herb, and then barnyard, dried meat, tobacco, and truffly mushrooms. The Cab Franc really seemed to stand out here. While not quite as elegant as the 1983, this was certainly fresher, more vibrant - we all agreed that this tasted even fresher than the 1996, with nice acid and firm but velvety tannins that had softened out with time. It finished long and round. A very good wine indeed.

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• 1996 Château Malescot St. Exupéry 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  This was showing brilliantly straight from the bottle and got the most votes (including mine) for the best wine of the vertical. The red core was lightening to garnet, with the rim already taking on orangey hues. Lovely, complex nose of cedar along with lower bass notes of leather and meat holding up lots of clean, plummy fruit. Really fresh and clean on the palate too, which showed flavours of plums, cherries and fragrant flowers. A touch of capsicum was mingling amongst the other flavours. I found the wine very complete and extremely balanced. It was almost showing a light touch in its freshness and poise in spite of having good concentration and richness. Finish was very decent, with a slight woody linger.

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• 2000 Château Malescot St. Exupéry 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Double decanted and served blind along with the rest of the vintages. This was somehow not as profound as the last bottle of 2000 that I had. Still, a really good wine. The only wine together with the 2002 to show a deep coloured core and a pink rim. This wine showed lots of mocha and coffee tones on the nose (much like the 2002). Rather a change of style from the older wines, which had less obvious oak influence. Still, this had interesting herb leaf, smoke and incense characteristics on the bouquet as well. The palate showed leaf, cedar wood, green pepper and cherry. I found this more complex, cleaner and more vibrant than the 2002, with good fresh acidity keeping the wine lively. Better finish as well, bright and longish with the good pure cherry fruit that ran the length of the palate taking on a rather pruney tone and a twist of bitter-sweet herbs.

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• 2002 Château Malescot St. Exupéry 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Rather nice, but overshadowed by the other vintages. It was clearly one of the post-millenium wines by its colour alone - deep purple, with a pink rim giving its youth away. It started out rather poorly, with lots of mocha notes and a whiff of chemicals dominating the nose. This thankfully gave way to more interesting tones of earth, plums and vanilla along with a high-toned, perfumy incense, reminiscent of sandlewood and a savoury, cooked tulip-sausage accent. After time, the mocha also seemed to fade towards a more biscuity tone. Similarly, the palate started out poorly, with a chemically, paint-thinner tang, which then subsided to show some umami and truffle notes and a shortish finish of bright cherries. I felt the palate was rather dominated by dry, grainy, woody tannins at first. Not firm or biting, just drying and rather distracting. This toned down a little after some time, but still made a distinct impression. A good wine, with some Magaux typicity, but nowhere near as round and complete as the other vinatges. Strangely, even though there was some acid, this lacked the fresh vibrancy of the 2000 that I had alongside.

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Served blind again. Both wines fantastic with Foie Gras and the cheese

• 1999 Giuseppe Quintarelli Rosso del Bepi Veneto IGT 92 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT

  Very kindly opened for us by KC, so I am have been actually lucky enough to try two Quintarelli wines from excellent vintages in the space of a week. This is a declassified Amarone from Quinteralli - almost like a second wine. A very good wine in its own right, it paled in comparison with the Amarone Riserva I had a few days back, which was more lush, layered and really a class apart. Still, as far as the style goes, this is a great example. The deep red core had lightened somewhat, but the rim of the wine still remained a pinkish hue. Loads of spice, umami and raisin on the nose, really attractive and, apart from the almost spiced cake notes, very Amarone like. A bit of glycerin on the nose - 15% after all. The palate was nice and balanced though, sweet raisins, dried figs, very nice and round with an attractive structure and dryness. I actually found this less sweet than the Amarone Riserva. There was also lovely fresh acid that underlay all the dried fruit flavours. It finished round, long and spicy with star anise, a hint of wood and a sprinkle of pepper. We had decanted it for awhile, but it really should have gone in the decanter a couple of hours more. This is a wine that would reward time and patience. Still, I am very grateful for KC's generosity - enjoyed this very much.

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• 1990 Château Filhot Crème de Tête 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Sasi's surprise, served blind. Looking at the other tasting notes on CT, I almost feel as though I was drinking a different wine. Bottle flaw maybe? Given the red / amber colour of the wine, we all thought that it was a 1970+ Sauternes. The nose and palate were painfully young tasting though - nose was fresh, with a slight savoury sweet umami note, dried apricots and a thick botrytis scent. The palate was really, really sweet and honeyed. It was certainly very rich and concentrated, with lots of botrytised flavours. However, over-ripe peach and dried apricot tones dominated, making the wine seem almost simple. The most disturbing thing was the lack of acid, which made it seem flabby, almost like thick, oily sugared water. I must say it went well with the blue cheeses (especially the roquefort) and the foie gras. Otherwise, it was at best a decent Sauterne.

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What can I say about Malescot? To me, they show off Margaux really well, with a perfumed, flowery, almost honeysuckle tone through all the vintages. Other common characters were a fresh bell pepper tone and some cedar wood. The style of the winemaking seems to have changed post-2000 though, with more mocha / coffee inflections reflecting a more liberal use of new oak, along with slightly denser, more extracted palates. Still, the Malescot stamp is there - something that I like very much.