April 21, 2024 - Good, but a bit of a let-down, withholding the glorious floral aroma I remember from the last bottle.
April 5, 2024 - Last bottle, best bottle... 45 minutes in decanter and it blossomed. Big and full but soft, a lovely mature Margaux. A treat to drink.
March 18, 2024 - Tasted double blind. This is in its prime drinking window, offering a fairly complex flavor profile and a fully melted tannin structure, but with good tension. I could drink this every day. A few points docked for a sub-par, slightly old nose.
TN: The nose didn't offer the complexity and precision of the palate, it was even a bit tired. But not on the palate: Fine red berry, dark fruit, some floral aromas, spice, lots of herbs, some meaty Merlot notes, tarry minerality. Elegant, melted tannins, fresh, soft and balanced.
Decanting: Quickly double decanted which was enough.
March 17, 2024 - excellent. still primary!! this will go a lot longer no rush on drinking these. no decant due to impatience and a late start but an hr would have done it some good
March 8, 2024 - Double-decanted. Plush with dark cherry fruit. Iron and iodine minerality and crushed white pepper. Aging notes of earth, barnyard and leather. Despite the close to 40 years of age, this came across youthful with a minty and medicinal freshness. The tannin still had grip and were slightly mouthcoating but soft in nature and mostly structural. Fresher, more red berry type of fruit on the palate. Maybe not quite at the level of my previous bottle a couple of years ago, but highly enjoyable.
February 8, 2024 - Ran a bottle of Mouton '86 pretty close. Needs 60 minutes in a decanter to show it stuff but there's really nice balance, intensity and just enough fruit to match the structure
January 27, 2024 - Drank for my birthday since it’s my vintage. Beautiful and feels way younger than it is. So well rounded, nice fruit and a bit of tertiary aromas. Definitely a wine I’ll remember!
January 25, 2024 - Semi-guys night (My house): Splash decanted. The nose is fantastic, classic Margaux, plum, leather, black currant, lots of tertiary components.
January 25, 2024 - Guy's Night: Aged Bordeaux/Bordeaux Blends (Joe & Khem's Place, Mpls): Very dark red/purple color with a 2mm clear edge. Splash decanted, drank a glass over 3 hours in a flight with '00 Pichon Baron and '03 Pichon Lalande. Wow, it's been four and a half years since the last bottle. I think this might even be drinking younger than back then. I don't think that's a bad thing, this has really got some legs for aging. Beautiful as it is, this could get better. Earthy, youthful for its age, cassis, black raspberry, blue fruits, violets, finely perfumed. The palate has pretty fruits and a transparency to it, cassis, boysenberry, raspberry later, super velvety, full bodied and captivating. Loved it.
January 25, 2024 - 5 Guys and a Gal! (Casa Joe & Khem): Decanted right before serving.
It's been a couple years since I last tasted this wine, and it seems to have improved! A good amount of red fruit (red currant), with some black fruit (blackberry and black cherry) serving as a wingman, both on the nose and palate, with the nose showing some additional sweet violets. Also, as expected for its age, the palate reveals quite a few tertiary flavors, including old leather, forest floor, earthy mushroom, and some tobacco, pencil and bramble, with some spice showing late mid-palate and carrying through to the finish. A solid 94 now, and in a great spot! No hurry, but no reason to wait either, as I see a plateau for a while and then a slow descent.