May 7, 2024 - A blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc. 12.5% ABV. Bottle and cork in pristine condition. The wine was very tight upon opening, so I chose to decant for three hours in the morning, and poured the wine over dinner. Dark garnet colour. Red and dark fruit, red cherry, blackberry, black currant, tobacco, some chocolate, some coffee, graphite, spices, light smoke, and pebbly minerality, with good, fresh acidity, mostly resolved tannin, and superb length. Medium-bodied, with a smooth, creamy texture. Well balanced and very harmonious. A great Bordeaux! Drink now with extended aeration and enjoy, or hold for ten years.
April 25, 2024 - Bottle 8 years ago disappointing, after bottle nine years ago was great. I needed to wait. This is beautiful-fruit (black cherries and other dark fruits are still there), but it remains an elegant wine, with integrated tannins. So smooth in the mid palate, and lingers at the end. I am sold on well made 20+ year old Bordeaux. Had with burgers, albeit Wagyu beef burgers.
April 19, 2024 - tons to love here. pretty nose - brighter red fruits, tobacco leaf, really good acidity; super smooth and elegant. an excellent claret
April 19, 2024 - Too young
March 31, 2024 - First bottle of Easter
Cork was a mess and the wine was flawed. Tried to enjoy it as I opened two bottles for Easter but most of it went down the drain.
March 31, 2024 - Second bottle on Easter. Decanted for 5 hours and it remained fresh and velvety throughout the next 2 hour of dinner and drinks. Still has the excellent fruit on the nose and drinks like an old world beauty. Silky with limited tannins remaining. Really paired well with the Easter fare. 9 more bottles and I cannot wait.
March 24, 2024 - Exceptional wine - 2 1/2 years since last one and a fair bit more mature. On the nose, it’s incense, spice, earth, black cherry and cassis. What strikes me most is that the wine is calm. Rich, supple, elegant, promisingly sexy. Soft tannins, medium-bodied and beautifully balanced. Easily recognizable as Bordeaux, with its leather, cigar box, dusty earth, cassis. I felt like I was chasing black cherry but didn’t catch it. Sexy, brooding, and a bit of cigar ash on the finish. Several years remain. Wonderful wine. More than held its own in a wine evening with a 2007 Biondi Santi and a 2004 Cappellano Pie Franco. Some nights are just better than others.
March 6, 2024 - Wine Com tasting
Has remnants of blue fruit in the mid-palate and tannins relaxing. This is classic left bank claret. RFD and will go for another five years easily.
February 25, 2024 - Fantastic St Julien. A bare hint of funk at the open - faintly discernable. And then it blew off. Opens slowly. Decant this. Medium bodied. No signs of bricking. Still showed firm tannins but they loosen nicely as it evolved in the glass. Graphite, cassis, tobacco. Medium-long finish. Extremely well balanced. This still has plenty of time but it's certainly ready now.
February 13, 2024 - Good showing if not quite as good as the last time I had this wine. Improved with an hour in the decanter. Classic Bordeaux nose, cedar/cigar box, restrained fruit and medium weight and length on the palate. The wine was a bit leaner than the last bottle I had of this. Still glad I have more. 12.5% alcohol. They don’t make em like this any more.