March 29, 2024 - A BYO in a restaurant. This delivered as always. Tasting profile as previous notes.
March 23, 2024 - Dark red fruit, a little sour, some nice leather and mineral notes, but rather cloudy, thin and acidic. This bottle had some good qualities, but was well past its prime.
March 7, 2024 - Brought by new friend CH to a wonderful dinner at the PUC (nope, not the one that sets PG&E rates) and arranged by CT friend DQ (nope, not the one owned by Mr. Buffett). On the nose and palate, light to medium notes of mixed red berries, cherries and red and black currants, dry earth, sous bois, leather, Bordelaisean funk, balsamic, saline and a light tobacco note. Medium garnet, light to medium bodied, medium+ legs. Quite intense and intact acidity, well-integrated and silky tannins, and not a trace of heat in the 12.5% abv. VG+ complexity, good+ persistence and intensity. PnP then consumed over a couple of hours, this mature and majestic BDX came out of the chute a bit backward, with electric acidity giving the wine lift with the mostly red fruit following slowly and progressively thereafter, with the acidity slowly integrating and balancing but staying very present. Distinctly savory and not remotely sweet, this cuvee recalls a favorite Old World Napa BDX blend, Cain Five. I’ve liked this vintage—a ‘90 Montrose the generous A_M poured for me several years ago was a wow wine—but with limited experience, found this bottling a bit challenging (the ‘86 of this was likewise poured by said A_M) for my California-ized, albeit inflected with an Old World sensibility, palate. This worked better for me than that bottle, perfectly matching and complementing the setting and meal (both, in every sense, stunning), the powerful structure working really well, in particular, with the rib cap steak. (A Materium would seem about as much out of place in these environs as a Pimm’s Cup would have been at the Pyramid Club.). With its relative reticence, I do wonder if this might have flourished even more if given some additional aeration, but as I’ve commented elsewhere, I often feel as if many of the BDX I drink have another gear which I’m not fully accessing (as a side note, part of the purpose of the dinner was to discuss my interest in joining a group of devoted BDX enthusiasts, so I’m definitely hoping to learn more). This could develop further in the near future, but my confidence in drinking windows with BDX is less than Napa or Tuscany, so I’m not pushing all of my chips into the middle one way or another on that. Drinking wine, for me, at its best often embodies an entire experience which transcends the bottle itself, and on that basis alone, this merits a far higher score than if I drank this on my own at the NV abode. Many thanks for a wonderful evening, Chuck, and I look forward to our future enological adventures! 93-94
January 14, 2024 - This bottle of 1990 Gruaud Larose shows a big, gregarious nose, full of ripe raspberry - but it's also full of horse. There's more brett than I'd like to see, but the smoke, leather, and Iberian ham notes aren't totally obscured by it.
January 13, 2024 - Nose: Dark berries, pickled beets, bell pepper, turned soils, leather and horse. Palate: Good entry with dark blackberries and ripe raspberry, but there is a lot of garden note and a briney note distracts from the fruit quite a bit.
This was a really difficult bottle of this wine for me. Came in and out throughout the dinner and was at times horsey and mared by brett, other times well focused. Close to calling this an off bottle.
January 3, 2024 - My love affair with Château Gruaud Larose continued this week, opening up the 1990 vintage at 67 Pall Mall. Yet another stunning example from the château, Cordier era bottles from Gruaud Larose often leave me trying to figure out how to get my hands on another bottle the moment I finish one. Immediately hit with scents of tobacco, mushrooms, licorice, chocolate and a hint of red berries, the tertiary driven nose paved the way for an unbelievably balanced and complex palate. On the upfront, sharp redcurrants and licorice medlied with a powerful cigar box note before the mid-palate introduced balance through notes of herbs, anise and pepper. A silky finish that brought in hints of oak and cedar added a backbone to a wine that felt very representative of wines from the château in this era. This bottle is in a great place.
December 31, 2023 - From magnum. Just fine. Lovely nose flavors and finish
September 15, 2023 - Fill into neck. Funk, not oxidative, notes upon opening, which fully blew off after 60 minutes in the decanter. 3/4 teaspoon of sediment. Touch of bricking. Loads of ripe black cherries, some blackberries and blueberries. More tobacco and graphite on the nose than palate, but certainly enough to make it really interesting. Silky smooth after poured back in the bottle and served 3+ hours later. 20+ second finish. Although an early maturing wine compared to the '82 and '86, I think this wine has been underappreciated given the success of '82 and '86.
July 16, 2023 - With an hour in the decanter to blow off any funk, this is at its absolute peak, and living up to its initial promise. After the legendary 1982, this and the 1986, are the best of the pre millennial vintages from the estate. Fully mature, the nose is enveloping with beefy notes of black cherry and tobacco with the tell tale cedar becoming more prominent with age. Displaying secondary and tertiary notes the palate is smooth and musty with the tannin fully integrated, but still retaining a good backbone. The finish is decent, but a little unbalanced, and the only barrier to a higher rating. 95+
May 27, 2023 - Upon first opening it had some oxidative notes but not orange, just some bricking. After 60 minutes the age blew off and that wine blossomed with plenty of ripe black cherries, blueberries, mocha touches of cedar, tobacco and graphite. Very smooth. Long finish. Heaping teaspoon of sediment.