Community Tasting Note
-
cgutch wrote: 94 points
January 2, 2020 - Magnificent wine. 94 Points with many years to go. I just wish that I had ignored the drinking window given by Parker in 2002 (2002 to 2017) and by Neil Martin in 2009 (my favourite critic) 2009 to 2012; in fact I suspect that his was a typo, and he meant 2022 as his estimate doesn’t match his tasting notes. Anyway, like most CellarTrackers (only 5 tasting notes since 2014) I had drunk or sold my bottles a few years ago (having originally bought en primeur); I had found the wine too unforgiving and the experts clearly didn’t expect any improvement. Then I found this bottle in my cellar still in its tissue and masquerading as Forts de Latour 2000. Checked on Cellartracker to see if it would be drinkable and saw ToddGordon’s enthusiastic notes of 08/10/2019. I decanted the wine and poured it back into the bottle two hours before drinking. In the glass, with a few swirls, a heavenly floral nose; on the palate a balanced and lovely wine, still with plenty of soft tannins, lots of fruit and balancing acidity. Not a blockbuster, but all the better for that; matching perfectly the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding we were eating. Continued to develop secondary notes on both nose and palate over the next hour, by which time the bottle was empty! The next day, I thought I should share my concern that we take too much notice of the stated ‘drinking window’. Obviously it depends on storage conditions and provenance – but the same applies to the provenance and the tasting date of the wine the expert is drinking!
2,662 views