7/17/2023 - Juliansi Likes this wine:

My birthday bottle last year, we had a wonderful lunch date at one of our favourite restaurants in Kuala Lumpur - Cilantro.

I am a huge fan of Pichon Lalande (Not so much of Pichon Baron), and this is a blend of 65% Cab, 31% Merlot, and 4% PV.

Simply bottle breathed for 60 minutes prior to opening. Appearance wise, very dark with a tinge of purple, and no rim observed. Its hardly aged!

Classical bouquet nose of cedar wood, with black fruit which took a little while to open up - Perhaps served a wee bit too cold, next time must remember to have this at 16C.

Interestingly, but perhaps not surprising considering the hot and legendary 2003 Bordeaux vintage;
This is both dense as well as richly textured, and the tannins are still lightly structured providing a nice backbone.

Overall, I loved the pencil lead and ripe fruits, but it is slightly brutish in style and less elegant then I would have liked. I would say it is still not perfectly in balance, and one could wait 10 years before having this.

Happy Birthday to me (2023!), and thanks again to brother TC for ferrying this all the way back from Hong Kong into my cellar.. Don't know why I had forgotten to post these tasting notes nearly a year ago!

Paid circa USD 210 for this, and that was on sale in Hong Kong - Aged Bordeauxs with a good pedigree don't come cheap these days!

Cilantro, Micasa hotel,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
17th July 2023

4/7/2023 - jskuek wrote:

Drinking beautifully now ... perfect balance with very long finishing. Superb floral nose, can't stop putting my nose on the glass. Med body with Forest floor, truffle, tobacco, gravels, leather, bamboo shoot. Minerals shown up towards the end after 3 hours in the bottle. An elegant expression of terror, little to non tannins and hint of salinity. Great stuff...

12/17/2016 - jskuek Likes this wine:

Another 5 years should be ready, else need 1.5hr decanting.

9/6/2022 - jskuek wrote:

Should have decanted for at least an hour before serving, quite closed & muted, probably overshadowed by Chateau Canon 2012. Nose & palate didn't really improve much in the first 2 hours ... a little of gravel, wet stones, cigar, but was not really pronounce with mediocre finishing. Wait for another 3 years then try the next bottle ...

3/19/2020 - Wine by Bok wrote:

I have been drinking white burgundies for the past two years and hardly had a sip of any Bordeaux whites, as my biggest problem with Bordeaux whites is the lack of acidity and the lack of sophistication. However, I must confess this was an unfounded bias, definitely due to too much white burgundies influence and brainwash. Bouquet was definitive Bordeaux, with loads of butter (definitely due to oak influence) and a very faint floral note. As expected, there wasn’t much acidity in the body, in fact too low to even call a white. BUT, the extraordinary fruits more than made up the lack of acidity, extremely enjoyable fruits and pleasurable wine, made the white burgundy fruits paled right next to this gem!

more tasting note in finewines.com.sg

3/21/2018 - jskuek Likes this wine:

Beautiful Shiraz, med body, decant one hour. minerals, coffee, vanilla and right acidity to carry the body. med+ finishing.

7/18/2016 - jskuek wrote:

Slightly better than the Chateau Gruaud Larose 2001 we had side by side. Med+ and denser, still get the saline taste.

7/20/2016 - Burgnick wrote:

Pnp. Dark currant, purple fruit, pepper, oak and cinnamon. Palate did not fully open up but it has sufficient stuffing to make it interesting. Tannins were high. A 2-3 hour decant is necessary to enjoy this today.

10/18/2015 - wineotim Likes this wine:

Very accessible, modern, ripe, rich, deep, dark, dry, gripping. Finishes with mineral and graphite. I found this wine more appealing than the 2010. Expensive though.

9/19/2015 - bikerkayaker wrote:

This baby is too young now if you don't decant it for several hours. Sturdy tannins and quite promising though. Long finish.

7/16/2015 - jskuek wrote:

2 hours decant. Toasted oak on the nose. med body, med finishing.

3/29/2014 - air guitar & pinot noir wrote:

I had been saving this one to reach peak drinkability. I was working a bit late and we were hosting visitors from Africa for dinner. I arrived home and saw my wife drinking a glass of wine and spied the bottle- only a little left. I asked here if she had drank the rest but she pointed to our guests who had tall glasses of root beer and she indicated they had mixed the wine and root beer together!!! True story! I had to share.