February 12, 2022 - Surprisingly, on opening the wine seems overripe, even faded. An hour later it develops all its structure and a perfectly clean fruitiness. A perfectly ready wine, a real pleasure.
Surprenant, à l'ouverture le vin semble trop mûre, voir passé. Une heure après il développe toute sa structure et un fruité parfaitement net. Un vin à parfaitement prêt, un vrai plaisir.
February 17, 2020 - The bottle (which I bought very recently from a trusted merchant) was in good condition: The filling-level was very top shoulder, the cork was almost completely soaked (except for just the last mm), no seepage. The wine was medium garnet in colour and offered dried cherry, strawberry, spices, cinnamon, clove, cedar, leather, tobacco and mild balsamic notes as well as hints of coffee, coconut, chocolate and vanilla, complemented by a slight hint of mint on the finish, with pronounced acidity, fully resolved tannin and good length. The wine was awkward at first, then pulled itself together after about ten minutes in a small decanter, and started to be become slightly drying and more acidic after another 20 minutes. Good complexity. Fully mature and starting to decline. Drink up. 90(-)
May 12, 2017 - purchased via trusted wine merchant...perfect fill...popped and poured...still going strong...that's whats mature bordeaux is about...unbeatable qpr....I would reckon it can hold this level for another couple of years, but wont be improving...
September 5, 2015 - Still holding on with a fair amount of life in it. Secondary at this point with cedar and tobacco notes at the forefront. Best if drunk in the next 5 years.
May 24, 2014 - Cleaning out some of the older wines in my cellar that I worry about whether they are still drinkable. This Lanessan was drinkable and then some! Classic Bordeaux flavors - still a beautiful color, nice fruit, lots of graphite, and cassis. Wonderful nose. I didn't decant it because 1983 was a rather light and floral vintage and I feared that decanting would send it over the hill, as has been my experience with '83's before. However, given the amount of sediment in this bottle, a quick decant before drinking would have been a good idea
I'm writing as much as I am because I think "Zweder" rated this wine (that I paid $8.99 a bottle in 1986) way to low. I may never have had a price-value ratio any greater than this bottle. Since most '83 Lanessan has disappeared, I doubt that my attempt to rehabilitate this wine will do much good, but if you've still got it and you've cellared it well, you'll like this wine.
August 22, 2013 - 1983 Cabernet Retrospective, Part 2 (Tasted Blind) (Tom's house in Palo Alto, California): Dark red color (with lots of sediments). Earthy nose (B++). Tasty palate. Still a decent amount of fruit left. Well integrated (B++).
My #3, Group's #4 (68 pts). Tasted blind.
February 28, 1997 - Nice glass of wine. Not extremely complex, but certainly good. See my previous notes. It is fully mature. With a price of about $ 10 this was a quite expensive wine at the time and compared to the prices of other wines. (So not a good p/q then) I believe the p/q ratio has changed for the better the last years (after 2000)
February 28, 1996 - Ok wine. Completely mature now. There is some fruit and fresh acidity left. The complexity however disappeared. I expected more.
February 27, 1987 - Tasted at a retailers tasting. The bouquet was very fruity; like primary Beaujolais (cherry) fruit. (And then the score goes down on the bouquet part.) In the mouth there is sticky tannin, some cassis, oak and fresh acidity. The wine is definitely ok, but not great.
March 28, 1986 - Creamy bouquet with good cassis. Round and full bodied wine with a lot of power and promise for the future. Needs at least 5 – 7 years of ageing.