1995 Bordeaux 30 years on tasting.

Bordeaux 1995 horizontal. All wines were served single-blind in flights of 4, not decanted. An underwhelming experience. Quite a few are already very advanced and descending into beef juice, esp. on the right bank. Tannins are coarse and acidity rather tart across the board. The left bank has weathered the passing of time better, but the fruit may well disappear before the palate fully integrates. A tricky vintage where bottle variation could be more of an opportunity than a risk. The best appellation was Paulliac and within there the fist growths plus Pichon Lalande.

List of wines by appellation:

St Emilion
Cheval Blanc 89
Angélus 80
Troplong Mondot 75

Pomerol
La Conseillante 88
Beauregard 88
Pétrus 88
L’Evangile 86
L’Eglise-Clinet NR

St Estèphe
Cos d’Estournel 88
Montrose 87
Calon-Ségur 87

Margaux
Palmer 88
Margaux 70

Paulliac
Latour 93
Pichon Lalande 93
Lafite Rothschild 92
Lafite Rothschild 91
Mouton Rothschild 91
Pibran 89
Lynch-Bages 88
Gruaud Larose 83

St Julien
Léoville Las Cases 87
Léoville Barton 85

Pessac-Léognan
Pape Clément 88
de Fieuzal 86
Haut-Brion 78
La Mission Haut-Brion NR

Other
Sociando-Mallet 86

• 1995 Château Troplong Mondot 75 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Already rather dominant beef juice and soy sauce notes, maybe you could describe it as a sweet balsamic profile if you‘re generous. Sweeter oak notes and maybe an element of herbs. The fruit was hard to discern, would call it Port-like and raisiny. The palate highly advanced, austere and tart with green, coarse tannins and searing acidity.

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• 1995 Château Angélus 80 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Not much of a nose aromatically, but with emanating heat. The fruit is stuck in the background and shows pretty ripe and concentrated cherry. On the palate a tad more fruit, but a weird structure - hard to say whether too much or too little tannins, but definitely mouthcoating towards the finish. Again little aromatic presence. Last bottle 4 years ago was significantly better.

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• 1995 Château Cheval Blanc 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  A smooth malty layer, intertwined with a mineral base, supports pressed flowers and a ripe red cherry fruit. On the palate little structure left, feels slightly disjointed. Wobbly balance and only minor fruit. There is, however, still an idea floating around of the Cheval Blanc essence. 4 years ago and from Magnum this was an outstanding wine.

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• 1995 Château Beauregard 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  An appealing umbrella of roasted coffee bean with slightly leathery accents. A mineral base layer of lead and graphite. Memories of red cherry fruit. The palate has lost its backbone and lacks aromatic presence. A shame as the nose was half-promising.

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• 1995 Château La Conseillante 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  A mature profile that displays a combination of leather and animal notes. There is a balsamic feature, but not yet a major issue. The fruit lacks expression to an extent, but is still present with ripe dark cherry note. The palate unfortunately rather tart, struggles to find balance and shows slightly coarse tannin.

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• 1995 Pétrus 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Leathery aroma profile with green vegetal notes reminding me of fresh asparagus salad. The bouquet exudes a type of aging notes that feel slightly tiring. Dry tobacco and just a hint of fruit. The palate is unusually balanced for the vintage, even though the markets for both the acidity and tannin are not ideal, they keep each other in check from attack to mid-palate. A bit of fruit still left that breaths in some life. Unfavorably tannic finish, however, with leathery aftertaste.

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• 1995 Château L'Evangile 86 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Not overly expressive. Aging notes of leather, a ripe darker cherry fruit, a pinch of vegetal note or herbs and balancing minerality. The palate is more tired aromatically with only little fruit left and drying tannins.

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• 1995 Château L'Eglise-Clinet Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Just balsamic notes point towards a much advanced maturity. Also hints of nail polish and malt. The palate is dead and completely flawed.

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• 1995 Château Montrose 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Unusually intense with present fruit of red cherry, quite fresh still. Fresher herbal profile adds quite a bit of youthfulness, especially in combination with limited presence of aging notes. Mineral notes of lead. The palate unfortunately deprived of any balance with very pronounced acids from attack through mid-palate while finish leaves you with drying tannins.

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• 1995 Château Cos d'Estournel 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Fine, detailed appearance - elegant even. Sous-bois, underwood and modest fruit, quite fresh and if anything a tad unripe. Maybe an element of bark. The palate has not much to offer aromatically unfortunately. There is some balance, but the mouthfeel is rather harsh.

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• 1995 Château Calon-Ségur 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Limited expression. The fruit feels Kirsch-like. That said, there is a redeeming feature of attractive floral perfume. On the palate the fruit is unripe which is not helped by the tart acidity and mouthcoating, drying tannins.

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• 1995 Château Sociando-Mallet 86 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

  Malty aging notes, a bit of leather and only traces of cherry fruit. The palate still has some fruit which is the only noteworthy positive. Harsh acidity which is even surpassed by the green, coarse and drying tannins.

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• 1995 Château Palmer 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Appealing aging notes of underwood and leaves, fine and rather light berry fruit – however more accents thereof rather than clear expression. The nose is underlined with pencil shavings. The palate is still aromatically present, but leans heavily on acidity. While not too badly disjointed in terms of balance, the fruit is notably less clean than in the nose.

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• 1995 Château Margaux 70 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Malty aging notes and a generally much advanced bouquet that feels like just about to turn dead. Swirling brings forward hints of nail polish. The palate is gone and violates your throat. Had a significantly better bottle around 4 years ago.

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• 1995 Château Lynch-Bages 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Quite blurry aging notes, lacks precision. On the upside, adds just a tiny bit of perfume and the fruit is fresh in nature, even if only in the background. The palate is like a slide – starting with a resemblance of roundness during the attack, but ends up with overpowering acidity.

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• 1995 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  An immediately appealing, beautifully aged nose with light underwood, sous-bois, mushrooms and a bit of leather. A fine chocolaty frame and uplifting perfume. The palate is decent with fresh fruit, rather rustic but pretty well-balanced.

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• 1995 Château Latour Grand Vin 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Aging notes are not overly precise, but convey an appealing sense of maturity with notes of leather and underwood. There are also layers of dried herbs, darker fruit and hints of espresso. Unexpectedly fruity palate with fresh cherries. Pretty good tension, slightly watery in term of structure but otherwise nothing really off. Enjoyable.

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• 1995 Château Mouton Rothschild 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Limited expression with aromas fading, but what‘s there feels like where it should be. A combination of aging notes of underwood and leather, fresh dark berry fruit and a mineral layer. The palate lacks mid-palate, but the acidity still comes across as fresh rather than tart and the roughest edges have been braised off of the tannins.

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• 1995 Château Lafite Rothschild 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A bretty nose. Dark ripe cherry fruit with lighter accents. For the group „horrible“ but for me still in “feature” territory. Fresh palate, good balance and tension. Only weak spot is the mid-palate. The tannins are somewhat grainy, acceptably integrated. By chance there were 2 bottles of Lafite in the line-up. Both were comparable on the scale, but the other one did not feature the brett, but felt somewhat unclean.

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• 1995 Château Lafite Rothschild 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A slightly rustic nose with notes of dried wood, finer almost green aging notes and an uplifting floral layer. Doesn‘t feel entirely clean. By chance there were 2 bottles of Lafite in the line-up. Both were comparable on the scale, but the other showed a feature of brett.

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• 1995 Château Pibran 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Extracted, advanced nose where beef juice starts to push through the fabric. The overall picture is rather cloudy and blurry with unappealing bark notes. The fruit only emerges at the fringes. There are some sweeter candy features as a point of interest. The palate is ok and feels younger than the nose, but doesn‘t exactly shine with balance.

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• 1995 Château Gruaud Larose 83 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  A wine in decline. Nail polish remover keeps popping up which providers for a rather unclean character. There are aging notes, a bit of fruit but not much more. The palate is highly acidity driven, no mid-palate to speak of, drying tannin.

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• 1995 Château Léoville Barton 85 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Modestly appealing aging notes. Just a touch of sweet oaky notes and a mineral layer create a degree of complexity. The fruit in the distance was more red berry in nature. The palate is a disaster. No balance what so ever, drying towards the finish, tart acidity during the attack and nothing in between.

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• 1995 Château Léoville Las Cases 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Rather unexpressive nose, apart from a bit of heat. Traces of fruit and wood. The palate slightly better, reveals fresh fruit and a semblance of balance.

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• 1995 Château de Fieuzal 86 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Pretty intense, concentrated with elements of burned sugar, graphite and a coal mineral layer. Dark fruit, but not center stage. On the palate still some fruit, but hardly any other aromas left otherwise. Searing acidity and greenish tannins.

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• 1995 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Corked, but was promising underneath.

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• 1995 Château Pape Clément 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Sulfur-like reductive noes, horse saddle and wet earth. Swirling does bring forward a nicer aging profile of mushrooms and leather. The palate shows unripe, but present fruit. Not well balanced, but still manageable.

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• 1995 Château Haut-Brion 78 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Malty nose with emerging beef juice notes and nail polish remover popping up. Before the first swirl there was a nice strawberry pie feature, but this dissipates. Borderline flawed probably. The palate is actually better, not really appealing but fully intact, hence still scoring this.

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