March 17, 2024 - Spectacular
February 21, 2024 - I honestly couldn’t decide if I wanted to leave this note. I was very tempted to keep this information to myself. This is by far one of the best bottles of not just Merlot, but wine in general, that I have ever tasted. Yes I am a wine lover and collector. Yes I drink a lot of expensive and rare wine. It’s that good. Shockingly so. Bear in mind, the bottle I’m drinking from is a magnum. I’m not sure how the 750’s are holding up but this is absolutely spectacular vino! 28 years old and stunning. Makes me want to give Helen Turley a hug. All I ask is that if you ever see a magnum out there and you’re on the fence about buying it, don’t. Please leave it for me cause I’ll be looking.
August 19, 2022 - Another brown bagger with palate and olfactory notes of black berries and cherries, hard to pin down red fruit, orange rind, plums, chocolate, funk and a light coffee note on the back end. Purple black, medium+ bodied, thick legs. Medium acidity ever so slightly separate, medium- tannins, no heat. Good+ complexity, intensity and persistence. Well, again, I underestimated age on this (as an aside, this group’s predilection for older wines was a great contrast for my more typical tasting friends’ tilt toward fresh off the truck quaffs) and, while I correctly placed this in the 707, thought it a CS-dominated blend (why am I so poor at perceiving CA merlots? Guess I just don’t drink them enough.). Similar in feel to the ‘96 Proprietary Red (and not dissimilar, to my palate, to wines she made Blanket around the same time), this wine, at this time, is drinking far more elegant than powerful, yet still has a vibrancy to the fruit I find too infrequently in BDX, and perhaps particularly, the Right Bank. Really enjoyed drinking this, although the WS price is a bit nosebleeding. The greater degree of acidity, perhaps tannins as well, makes me think that if I had both this and the PR around, I’d drink the latter first, but both seem to me, without tremendous familiarity with the bottlings, to be at or a bit past the peak of their drinking windows, although still delightful, and unless your cellar is cool enough for polar bears, I’d drink sooner than later. 93-94
April 23, 2022 - tasted blind and offered up as a pairing to the '95 Margaux, but this was clearly riper and daresay sweeter. very sexy wine, but not nearly as bordeaux-esque as prior bottles. 'maybe this isnt really bordeaux' I blurted out. this was one time the patriarch couldnt fool me.
March 1, 2022 - tasted blind. limited notes but overall lovely with juicy fruit, a touch astringent, but good acidity, fresh. the only surprise here is that its not the WOTN
January 29, 2022 - tasted blind
nose - burnt sugar
mouth - orange peel, bitters, complex red fruit, downright sexy wine. hate to say it but probably by WOTN besting out a 98 Haut Brion and 98 La Mission. this is my 14th tasting note on this wine - it is nothing short of a legend.
December 23, 2021 - brought blind by the patriarch.
nose - dried fruit, slightly bretty
mouth - also a touch of brett but almost in a classy way to augment the great fruit and minerality. Alexander the great took one sip and proclaimed it the wine of the night guessing Lynch-Bages. I must sheepishly say that for the umpteenth time I stuck my foot in my mouth calling it Bordeaux leaning to Montrose. Excellent wine. We suffered through another victory lap. The santa hat though made it a whole other level absurd.
September 1, 2021 - Clear medium red. Fairly intense, sweaty red fruit, warm soil and chocolate nose. Dry but rich red berry, dark chocolate and plum flavours. Still a quite tannic finish.
August 28, 2021 - Bill's. What an impressive wine. Hard to believe it's 25 years old. Nose of violets and cola. On the palate more cola with black plum, luxardo cherry and dark chocolate covering the finish. Fantastic weight and purity. Parker predicted it would age "15 years or more". Way beyond that now and lots of runway left. Stunning.
June 26, 2021 - From Magnum and tasted side by side the Pahlmeyer 96 Proprietary red, also from magnum.
93% Merlot 7% CabFranc (according to my sources)
nose - funky, with black licorice. DC picked up some root aromas.
mouth - powerful , young , and vibrant. slightly herbal. compared to the propietary red this was laser focused with some serious muscle. Lots and lots of life here, in fact calling it young (at least in Magnum) would not be an overstatement.
It is indeed an unusual night where I in fact prefer a different wine to the 96Pahlmeyer merlot, but tonight I think the 96 Pahlmeyer proprietary red was the winner.