12/19/2022 - Everything Ahead wrote:

Decanted for a few hours, then vigorously double decanted and followed over two night ...
This is the finest '19 Bordeaux I have been able to taste as of yet (most of my Futures are still in a "shipping container" overseas somewhere I gather)
After just a brief decant the aromas started shooting out of the glass kaleidoscopically, and in serial order: essential oils of violet, lilac (?), citrus (bergamot?), deep sandalwood, then vetiver, cedar, mint and myrhh as well. Lots of dark fruits: blueberries and blackcurrants. Hints of Barr Hill Gin (juniper and wild honey), fresh paint and then after a few hours that lead pencil and charcoal/coal fire scent I love in a good Bordeaux starts to settle in. On the palate the oaky tannins clamp down a bit but by day two this has smoothed out a lot. This is an exotic yet quintessentially St Estephe wine and my favorite recent vintage from this producer. It is a big wine but retains a certain feminine elegance amidst all of its complexity. (I don't get the worries from the WA about it being over the top in the alcohol dept.) It will be a majestic, truly regal wine in time (20 years) and yet somewhow manages to be approachable now. Unlike some great wines (like the '16 Pichon Baron) I don't feel like this wine is judging me, but rather that it is dancing all around me, devilishly one step ahead of me at all times, bewitching me and challenging me to pin it down. Rating: 96++