Tasted blind. This is a wonderful mature Champagne in its prime. There are two highlights, first the absolute elegance, roundness and creaminess which young Champagne won‘t give you and second, the wonderful aroma profile with many caramel, burnt sugar, brioche aromas complementing the typical mineral and herbal notes perfectly.

TN: First sniff and sip were quite unpleasant with an overwhelming scent of dried plums and lots of oxidative notes. With time and swirling that blew off and underneath was a beautiful wine with lots of burnt sugar, caramel, brioche, some ripe dark fruits, nice mineralic backbone and herbs. Good precision and wonderful intensity. Very fresh and light, with still some fine mousse giving it more lift. Good length and fine carmamel infused finish.

Decanting: This one needed a bit of air as described above. This bottle would have needed at least 30 minutes in the decanter

Tasted blind. This had quite a pleasent, mature nose but on the palate it was rather one-note and boring as well as not overly harmonious. A bit past its prime but clearly not over the hill, in my opinion. Solid 88 points.

TN: Nutty, burnt sugar, brioch and slight hints of yellow fruit on the nose. Medium- intensity and fairly clean and precise. A superb 93/94 point level here. Unfortunately, the palate is not on par with yes, a good freshness but without the complexity and cleaniness the nose shows. Undefined yellowy fruit, nuts and some minerality. Good, fresh structure but not perfectly balanced. 85 points at best for the palate.

Decanting: Not decant, no extensive decant needed.

What to expect from a mediocre 1980 vintage in Bordeaux? We tasted Mouton, Lafite, Haut Brion and Pichon Lalande all blind side by side. The Mouton (92 points) and especially the Lafite (89) display some nice tertiary aromatics but are lacking substance, precision and balance (especially on the palate). Haut Brion (95) and Pichon Lalande (94) are beautifully mature with lots of tertiary flavors and surprisingly still plenty of fruit. Both are quite clean, focused and harmonious. Of course the complexity and finesse are not on par with great vintages but still these were quite enjoyable.

TN: Beautifully mature nose full of tobacco, leather, herbs, minerality and some dark fruit. The clear highlight and on a 94+ point level. Less interesting on the palate which is not that harmonious and slightly astringent. Tannins with one or the other edge but overall quite ripe and round. Acidity slightly too elevated. On the palate, the tertiary flavors are a bit more in the background with lots of minerality and dark fruit at the core. Not super precise and slightly tired feel at some point. Max 89/90 points for the palate.

Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before service. Seems right, not sure if more air would have changed things.

What to expect from a mediocre 1980 vintage in Bordeaux? We tasted Mouton, Lafite, Haut Brion and Pichon Lalande all blind side by side. The Mouton (92 points) and especially the Lafite (89) display some nice tertiary aromatics but are lacking substance, precision and balance (especially on the palate). Haut Brion (95) and Pichon Lalande (94) are beautifully mature with lots of tertiary flavors and surprisingly still plenty of fruit. Both are quite clean, focused and harmonious. Of course the complexity and finesse are not on par with great vintages but still these were quite enjoyable.

TN: Less expressive than the Mouton this showed a tad more feminine with brighter fruit. With time it drifted more in the Barolo camp with tarry minerality and some herbal and hints of floral notes. Quite nice nose and easily on a 94 points level. The palate needed time to become softer and rounder but it never fully got to a good level, it never really came together. Acidity is too high, too astringent, not harmonious enough, slightly green with lots of minerality at the core and only some fruit here and there popping up.

Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before service. More decanting after the first few glasses brought no more improvement.

What to expect from a mediocre 1980 vintage in Bordeaux? We tasted Mouton, Lafite, Haut Brion and Pichon Lalande all blind side by side. The Mouton (92 points) and especially the Lafite (89) display some nice tertiary aromatics but are lacking substance, precision and balance (especially on the palate). Haut Brion (95) and Pichon Lalande (94) are beautifully mature with lots of tertiary flavors and surprisingly still plenty of fruit. Both are quite clean, focused and harmonious. Of course the complexity and finesse are not on par with great vintages but still these were quite enjoyable.

TN: Lots of barnyard, earth and tobacco as well as some dark and red berries on the nose. Quite inviting, medium intense and with good precision. The highlight here comes with the palate which shows a) layered, b) precise, c) harmonious and d) sexy. A potpourri of sweet berries, a layer of fresh blueberries, burnt sugar, herbs, minerality all embedded in a relatively fine structural frame with fairly round but still noticeable tannins and a well-integrated acidity. Harmonious and with a nice, layered finish. At first I scored this beauty in the 96-97 point range. As I went back during the evening it showed less impressive with the last glasses rather on a 93/94 point level.

Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before service. Which seemed good for this bottle.

What to expect from a mediocre 1980 vintage in Bordeaux? We tasted Mouton, Lafite, Haut Brion and Pichon Lalande all blind side by side. The Mouton (92 points) and especially the Lafite (89) display some nice tertiary aromatics but are lacking substance, precision and balance (especially on the palate). Haut Brion (95) and Pichon Lalande (94) are beautifully mature with lots of tertiary flavors and surprisingly still plenty of fruit. Both are quite clean, focused and harmonious. Of course the complexity and finesse are not on par with great vintages but still these were quite enjoyable.

TN: Medium+ intensity on the nose with barnyard, leather and tobacco aromas, dark fruit and cola. Lots of power, more so than the Haut Brion, on the palate but still very soft and harmonious (softest structure of all four wines). A tad less complexity than the Haut Brion but still fairly layered on the palate with sweet dark and dark red berries, lots of superb minty notes, some earthy and fine ageing notes. Good precision and nice fruit driven finish with medium length. At first I scored this beauty in the 96+ point range. As I went back during the evening it showed less impressive with the last glasses rather on a 92/93 point level.

Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before service. This seemed ok for this bottle.

Three 1980s from Napa Valley. All tasted blind. Unfortunately, only the Opus One (94+ points) delivered. Like so many old Opus, it comes across much younger, very Bordeaux but always with a touch of Californian sexiness. These old Opus from the 80s and 90s are worth any search. The Phelps Insignia (88) and Heitz Martha’s (86) didn’t show that well with low complexity and not an overly fine structure as well as subpar balance. Overall no homerun for Napa, the 1980 Bordeauxs we had in the flights before clearly won this battle.

TN: Cola, dried fruit and lots of herbal aromas as well as some unwanted soy sauce aromas on the medium- intensive nose. Fresh palate with slightly angular tannins. Not perfectly round and harmonious. Sweet blue fruits and herbs on the palate. Not perfectly clean and not that layered with medium- length. Overall solid with the freshness and blue fruit as the highlight, but not as good as I would have this wine expected to show.

Decanting: Double decanted 3+ hours before service. Seemed fine.

hree 1980s from Napa Valley. All tasted blind. Unfortunately, only the Opus One (94+ points) delivered. Like so many old Opus, it comes across much younger, very Bordeaux but always with a touch of Californian sexiness. These old Opus from the 80s and 90s are worth any search. The Phelps Insignia (88) and Heitz Martha’s (86) didn’t show that well with low complexity and not an overly fine structure as well as subpar balance. Overall no homerun for Napa, the 1980 Bordeauxs we had in the flights before clearly won this battle.

TN: From magnum. Slightly tired nose, even TCA fault has been discussed. A bit better on the palate with lots of of minerality and herbs, the typical minty notes, with some dark fruits peeking through but overall not a giving wine with low complexity. Tannins are slightly noticeable but fairly round and the wine has a good freshness.

Decanting: Double decanted 3+ hours before service. We later tried to decant the wine for a few more hours to see if it improves but nothing really changed.

Three 1980s from Napa Valley. All tasted blind. Unfortunately, only the Opus One (94+ points) delivered. Like so many old Opus, it comes across much younger, very Bordeaux but always with a touch of Californian sexiness. These old Opus from the 80s and 90s are worth any search. The Phelps Insignia (88) and Heitz Martha’s (86) didn’t show that well with low complexity and not an overly fine structure as well as subpar balance. Overall no homerun for Napa, the 1980 Bordeauxs we had in the flights before clearly won this battle.

TN: Not overly expressive nose at first but that improved slightly with more time. Nevertheless, the nose hasn’t the intensity and precision of the best Opus vintages from the 90s or the Bordeaux First Growths from 1980 we had before. The highlight here is the layered palate displaying sweet dark and blue forest berries, lots of tobacco, forest floor and hints of truffles. Not as complex and focused as the best mature Opus but still on a very good level. The structure and texture are great with a lot of melted tannins and a good freshness. Very much a complete wine on the palate and with good length.

Decanting: Double decanted 3+ hours before service which seemed fine.

Tasted blind. This Barolo showed quite well on the palate with lots of freshness, sweet strawberries and minerality. However, the nose seemed showed some unpleasant heat and was less harmonious. Overall no winner as the wine lacked complexity, but a very solid wine.

TN: Tar, herbs, some heat on the medium- expressive nose. Seemed at first a bit tired but became better with some swirling. Nicely layered on the palate with fine, sweet strawberrie aromas, lots of minerality, superbly fresh and with a very round and harmonious structure with melted tannins. Medium length.

Decanting: Double decanted 4+ hours before service, could have even used more decanting (3-4 hours of proper decanting).

Tasted blind. This was a bit of disappointment given that a bottle we had year ago showed more intense, clean and layered. Storage is key and the bottle last year came from a perfect cellar in the Rioja region and has been consumed in a restaurant in the region. I guess, this bottle was not stored as well.

TN: Barnyard, leather and coffee aromas dominate the nose. More red fruit completing the picture on the palate. The intensity, complexity and the precision are on a subpar level. In addition the wine had some hard edges and got an overall rather rustic feel.

Decanting: Double decanted 4+ hours before service (seems ok, although the bottle last year didn’t need any decanting).

Tasted blind from a magnum. Sadly, this bottle was past its prime. Hints of dark red and red fruits, herbs but an all-consuming soy sauce, broth layer which destroyed everything which might have been there. Usually these Clos des Papes can age very well but I guess that this bottle wasn’t stored properly or else it would have had more life left.

Tasted blind. Yquem is just a sure bet. This vintage doesn’t have the complexity of the best year but it was wonderfully fresh and light with intense saffron/boytritis notes at the core which are to die for. I have a soft spot for these types of vintages as the grande vintages can often be a bit overwhelming with so many different flavors and all the intensity. It is drinking well today, easily on a 94/95 points level but will for sure continue to evolve over one or the other decade.

TN: Saffron, quince, various citrus fruits, hints of nutty aromas on the nose and palate, with especially the beautiful saffron notes taking the centre stage. Nice intensity and very good precision, medium complexity, perfectly fresh with a round acidity, good length. The complete package.

Decanting: Not decanted, no decant needed.