Community Tasting Note
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Siggy wrote: 95 points
November 5, 2011 - 40th Birthday Bash (Heidi's, Minneapolis): What an experience -- my birth year wine and the first '71 Bordeaux I have tasted. A 5-liter bottle that I bought at auction. High shoulder fill. The cork and capsule were in decent shape when I picked up the bottle a few months prior, but in the course of driving to the restaurant on the day before our dinner, the cork slipped and nearly plunged into the bottle. This was a touch funky when first opened and decanted, but really woke up over the course of the evening. Lovely ruby/tea color, with considerable cloudiness. The palate is a beautiful, mellow, complex, still vigorous, yet fully realized Cheval at the peak of maturity. So many flavors -- cherries, minerals, spearmint, truffles, brown sugar -- dynamic and elegant, evoking wonderful memories of the 1921, 1955, 1962, and 1966 Cheval Blanc, which I had previously had the honor to share with friends who were present on this evening. While this lacks the fireworks and Zen-like sense of completeness of the best vintages of Cheval, it is a darn fine wine with more than a lot of life left.
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