Ex-Chateau (2019) recorked bottle. This was, without doubt, the best bottle of this wine yet (vs 93-95 pts experiences before). At first a bit muted and marked by reduction, the wine opened up beautifully, becoming highly layered, intense and just irresistible with lots of air. A magical experience. This is in dire need of a lot of air to show everything it got in store. 97+ pts.

TN: Medium expressive, quite reductive nose with fine citrus and minerality underneath. With time the nose gets more open and complex. Same picture on the palate. Only with time the layers and layers of citrus and apple fruit, complemented by crème brulee, toasty notes, intense minerality and some floral notes. Impeccable structure with lots of perfectly round and integrated acidity cutting through the richness and the creamy texture, keeping the wine airy and crunchy. Long, intense finish. A very complete, balanced and harmonious and harmonious wine.

Decanting: Not decanted but followed in the glass for three hours. It constantly improved and was best at the end of the evening. This needs a serious 4+ hours in the decanter to fully shine.

This Hermitage was slightly past its peak with some oxidative notes tainting the experience. You can feel the substance of the glorious 1961 vintage, especially on the palate which is very layered and still has a beautiful sweetness. Could have been a great wine a decade ago. 90/91 pts for the palate.

TN: Nose shows a bit oxidative, some mushrooms and some red fruit underneath. Not very pleasant. On the palate this shows much better, a still quite intense fruit core, malty notes, herbs, some spices. With time more sweetness. The tannins are melted, still good tension and balance. Still, this is a bit past its peak.

Decanting: Double decanted an hour before the tasting to remove the sediment.

Absolutely amazing wine and a true unicorn. Intensity, complexity, stunning aroma profile, laser sharp precision, wonderfully round and harmonious, long. A complete wine from A to Z and a testament to how great Riojas can age. Easily one of the best wines of the year so far. Too bad that I will likely never taste this again.

TN: Super intense, exciting nose, complex, layered and super precise: spices, mint, dark ripe fruit, layers and layers of fruit, some smoke. On the palate an immense presence, so much aromatic intensity with dark ripe berries, herbs, spices, malty notes, so much beautiful maltiness, toasty notes, smoke, dry earth. A wonderful sweetness. Long, long finish full of sweetness and malty notes. Lots of tension and verve, melted tannins, perfectly integrated acidity. Wow.

This Pape Clement was slightly past it’s peak. It showed nicely layered and had good power and tension but at the same time some not so enjoyable age notes. 88/89 pts.

TN: Fully aged Bordeaux nose with mushrooms, slightly bitter herbs, some fresher mint notes, malty notes. A bit over the hill. On the palate the same picture, notes of mushrooms (not the clean, good ones) overpowering the underlying fruit, cola and malty notes. Tannin structure still intact, a bit high acidity. Lots of power, not perfectly harmonious, a bit rustic. Overall ok-ish but with some faulty notes that taint the experience.

Tasted double blind. I guessed it to be a bit older. Right out of the gates this showed intense, laden with fruit and tertiary aromas, all embedded in a powerful structural frame. Easily drinking on a 95/96 pts level, missing probably a touch of roundness and elegance for a higher rating. After some time in the glass, it slightly fell apart (not considered for the rating). One to drink today, without much air.

TN: Intense dark berried notes, loads of power and intensity, some smoke and minerality, hints of malty notes. Superb on the nose. Fresh and precise yet mature. On the palate the wine has so much verve and tension, lively with lots of substance. Red berries, herbs, smoke, tobacco, intense and round. Malty and sensual. Complete wine with a fairly long and sweet and malty finish.

Stunning bottle of Lynch 1989. It needed a bit of air to get there but then transformed into a textbook Pauillac. An elegant gentlemen with many layers drawn with the finest brushstrokes. Still rather young, this wine should improve further for many more decades. 96/97 pts.

TN: Intense dark red fruit, brighter red fruit, some chemical notes. With time the nose gets much better, cleaner with a textbook Pauillac nose with lots dark red and dark berries, graphite minerality and tobacco. Absolute precision. Impressive. On the palate the same precision, additional toasty notes, some tobacco. Getting better by the minute. So textbook, masculine and high quality in every sense. With ripe tannins, high but well-rounded acidity, beautiful balance and harmony and a slightly creamy texture.

Decanting: Decanted for roughly an hour. Improved further in the glass. Well stored bottles can easily use 4+ hours in the decanter

A trio of Palmer. Again, the 1989 (96 pts) delivered a convincing performance. This is a sensual, irresistible Palmer, probably drinking near or at its peak today. The 1983 (93 pts) didn’t show well compared to what you expect from this vintage. Missing a bit of substance (!) and charm, my guess is that like other bottles before, this needs a lot of air and more time in the cellar to get to the ideal drinking window the 1989 is already in. The 2000 (92 pts), like many 2000s, is not yet ready to drink. The fruit is not yet fully back and hence, the this wine lacks a bit of sweetness to be fully balanced. Give it a few more years.

TN: Intense, expressive nose with dark fruit, herbs and lots of minerality. Some sensual bright rhubarb notes. Medium precision only. On the palate better, round and harmonious, no hard edges but enough tension. Some dark red fruit, some brighter red fruit but all a bit in the background. The earthy/minerality/herbal notes dominate a bit and overall the wine is muted, the precision is not there. It felt like the wine misses a bit of substance, but especially sweetness. Rather in a dumb phase.

Decanting: I guess this was not decanted. This needs a lot of air but better a few more years in the cellar.

A trio of Palmer. Again, the 1989 (96 pts) delivered a convincing performance. This is a sensual, irresistible Palmer, probably drinking near or at its peak today. The 1983 (93 pts) didn’t show well compared to what you expect from this vintage. Missing a bit of substance (!) and charm, my guess is that like other bottles before, this needs a lot of air and more time in the cellar to get to the ideal drinking window the 1989 is already in. The 2000 (92 pts), like many 2000s, is not yet ready to drink. The fruit is not yet fully back and hence, the this wine lacks a bit of sweetness to be fully balanced. Give it a few more years.

TN: Expressive nose and palate with ripe dark berries but more fresh red berries, leather, tobacco, some black truffles. Very good sweetness/tertiary aroma balance. Rather high aromatic precision. The structure is impeccable with melted tannins, yet good tension, superb balance, roundness and creaminess. Medium length but a pleasant finish with good aromatic pressure. As said, this is drinking at its peak but will likely stay there for many years.

Decanting: Not decanted, no extensive bottle needed.

A trio of Palmer. Again, the 1989 (96 pts) delivered a convincing performance. This is a sensual, irresistible Palmer, probably drinking near or at its peak today. The 1983 (93 pts) didn’t show well compared to what you expect from this vintage. Missing a bit of substance (!) and charm, my guess is that like other bottles before, this needs a lot of air and more time in the cellar to get to the ideal drinking window the 1989 is already in. The 2000 (92 pts), like many 2000s, is not yet ready to drink. The fruit is not yet fully back and hence, the this wine lacks a bit of sweetness to be fully balanced. Give it a few more years.

TN: A bit murky nose, not super well defined. Dark fruit minerality, a bit masculine. On the palate better with a beautiful fruit to complement the minerality which is still dominating. Needs a few more years for the sweetness to come back. Structure is impeccable. Round and harmonious, no hard edges. With time a bit more sweetness and toastiness comes out and the wines get better. Overall, this confirms my view that a) the 2000s are not yet ready and b) probably don’t have the concentration of the best vintages. 92/93 pts.

Decanting: Not decanted, a 2+ hour decant would certainly have been helpful at this stage.

From magnum. Shunned by the critics on release, this vintage turns out to be one of the best vintages for current consumption and probably among the top 10 vintages in the past 50 years before the Chateau’s hot streak begun with the 2009 vintage. This was drinking so easily, I could have finished the mag alone. 94/95 pts

TN: Intense, young, dark berries, herbs, minerality, some tobacco. On the palate this is well balanced, with a telltale graphite minerality, a sweet, ripe dark fruit core, some leather, whiffs of tobacco and some faint toasty notes. Medium+ precision. Beautiful roundness, with round, velvety tannins, a well integrated medium acidity, a creamy texture. Well balanced and with a long but not overly complex finish.

Decanting: This should be good to go with 2 hours in the decanter.

The Pomerol legend from a great Right bank vintage? What could possibly go wrong? Opening the bottle far too early! This was nowhere near to be ready and it didn’t help that the wine was not decanted. 92 pts for the substance and the intellectually intriguing potential.

TN: Rather muted nose. On the palate, however, the wine is much more open, although still young, very young. Dark red berries, herbs, lots of minerality, herbs and spices, some toasty notes. You can sense that the complexity is high, the substance is impressive, the precision is too. But the wine isn‘t as round and harmonious as it could be. This will need much more time in the cellar to soften, open up, become tertiary and form a harmonious composition.

Decanting: Not decanted. This could have needed 3-4 hours in a decanter at least.

This tasted like a central Californian Grenache or a ripe CDP more than a noble Pinot. I like the seductive strawberry and rhubarb notes, the minty freshness as well as the quite airy structure and feel. Scoring it blind as the non-Pinot it is, it’s certainly on a 91/92 pts level with points deducted as it showed some alcohol heat. If I would score it with my puristic hat on and as a Burgundy this would be on a low 80s level.

TN: Minty notes, herbs, very ripe but not overripe red fruit underneath, mostly strawberries but some darker raspberries too, lots and lots of very precise rhubarb. On the palate this is more CDP than Burgundy but an absolutely light and airy expression of CDP with ultra fine tannins and a good acidic backbone. The big negative is the alcohol heat on the nose and palate.

This is the second time I was able to taste this legend in a matter of months (thanks GH!) and this bottle fully confirmed the positive impression: intense, highly complex aromas embedded in the finest structural frame. This showed even better than the last bottle (rated 97 pts) thanks to more concentration and a higher precision. Wow!

TN: On the nose, this was a bit shy at first but blossomed with time in the glass, on the palate, however, is the real deal, right from the start. Intense, broad aromatic profile with bright red fruit, dark red berries, dark fruit, herbs, minerality, cola notes and even some slight malty notes. Wow. Amazing purity and absolute lightness. More intensity and substance than the bottle before. Absolute round tannins, medium+ acidity which keeps it light and airy. So balanced. Very long and expanding finish.

The highlight here is the elegance an sensuality but at the same time the wine is a bit too sweet. The good thing is, that the structural frame should allow for further ageing which should improve the balance with more tertiary aromas emerging and keeping the sweet fruit in check. Some pts deducted for a slight hint of alcohol showing on the finish. 93 pts.

TN: Expressive, concentrated wine with sweet round red fruit, some dark fruit, herbs and a touch minerality. But the fruit, while very precise, seductive and sensual, still a bit too dominating. Round and harmonious, velevety tannins, creamy texture, good acidity keeping it fairly light and very elegant. And just a touch of alcohol on the finish.

Decanting: Not decanted, doesn’t seem to need much decanting.

No notes taken. The nose had some faulty, chemical notes. Not super clean but with quite some substance. The palate, however, showed great and in typical fashion with lots of layers, are well-knitted together, harmonious and balanced with a good acidic backbone to keep the wine light. Maybe a lot of air (this bottle was not decanted) would have helped to get rid of the chemical notes on the nose and would have improved the experience markedly (as it usually does with Yquem). 94 pts for a great performance on the palate.