February 29, 2024 - Vinous Icons of Bordeaux with Neal Martin (Legacy Records, New York City): The 2016 showed beautifully tonight. A very consistent pattern of bright red ripe fruit. This wine was very pretty and feminine. Superfine tannins.
January 2, 2024 - Unfortunately a bit of a disappointment as the 2024 new year drink. Promising "loaded" nose with dark blackcurrant tones, but also vanilla/strawberry, flintstones, a little concrete, hints of vegetables / cabbage, not fully balanced but definitely promising. On the palate, despite a few hours of oxygenation, light, sour and short in comparison. None of the mouth coating long finishes some other Conseillantes deliver... enjoyable, but definitely not at a good QPR point for drinking right now.
October 2, 2023 - 20-vintage La Conseillante vertical (Fribourg): Part of a 20 vintage vertical (key takeaways in the tasting story). Ripe and concentrated but not overly extracted red cherry fruit. Leather and a bit of tobacco as well as some graphite minerality. Red flowers. Densely packed palate, juicy and vibrant with plenty of acidity which was needed to balance the tannin. Maybe a bit of an abrupt finish. Can’t ignore a bit of heat here as well. Added a notch or so in complexity over the last couple of years and definitely one of the more pleasing vintages in the line-up.
October 2, 2023 - 20 Vintages of La Conseillante (1947-2020): All wines tasted blind. I have had many beautiful Conseillantes in the past, but in this tasting the wines did not shine as expected. A few thoughts: A) Conseillante is a seductive, sensual wine, not unlike more Bordeaux-esque Napa Valley wines. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Opus One, with the blue and black forest berry aromas found in almost every vintage. B) The fruit is ripe, but never too ripe. But only in the cooler years (and 2020) is the fruit perfectly pure and fresh. C) Even in the newer vintages, the (luxurious) oak notes are still present and will need some time to be fully absorbed. D) My biggest problem (and the group had the same one) was that almost all of the newer vintages showed alcohol notes that weren't noticeable en primeur or in the Arrivage tastings (and the wines were served at a perfect temperature or rather a little too cold). E) There were some beautiful wines, complex and seductive, but La Conseillante is not a wine for classic Bordeaux or Left Bank lovers. Conseillante is the hot one-night stand, not the elegant and intellectually appealing wine I want to drink every day. F) The best wine was the 2020 (96pts, the only score above 95pts), confirming my impression that it is a better, less ripe Bordeaux vintage than 2019.
TN: A bit muted nose. Quite ripe, even some alcohol notes. On the palate there is ripe dark fruit and not as much definition. But there is a lot of temporarily suppressed substance here and the structure was fine with ripe, round tannins, good tension, good acidity and freshness and an overall good balance. Like many 2016s, this is currently in a dump phase and does not show that good. Still, this was 93/94pts
Decanting: The bottle was opened a few hours before consumption but not decanted. This bottle would have needed three to four hours in a decanter but I doubt that it is the right time to open a bottle right now.
September 29, 2023 - Chateau La Conseillante 1947-2020 tasted blind: Discrete nose, needed some swirling and coaxing. Dark fruit, subtle earthy aromas. Very good palate, medium bodied, precise. Great potential, but don't open before 2032.
March 19, 2023 - The nose is delicate, fruity, with an inimitable floral signature of violet. Great finesse of expression. It has a slender shape, it is a very nuanced wine, with a magical luscious flesh and an absolutely superb fruity tannin. A model of finesse. The best ever, superior to 2005, 2019 and 2020.
January 14, 2023 - On the nose: raspberry, strawberry, graphite/pencil shavings, vanillin, light sweetness of a jam.
On the palate out of the bottle Strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, stone, green oakiness.
20 minutes in the glass: acidic blueberry and raspberry balances out the silky tannins and heat that is still on the wine. Slight bitterness reminiscent of chocolate. Pencil shaving. Very long strawberry finish. At least 15 seconds.
30 Min decant w/French onion soup. More acidity and strawberry is almost candy-like with deep earthy flavors lingering on the finish but still cool. Finish lasts forever. Texture like a 2% milk, not quite whole milk!
60 minute decant after a Broccoli Parmesan dish: gained even more balance with all the above integrated to a harmonious wine. Gained a bit of a savory note and dropped the greenness. Absolutely singing. Drink it after an hour decant in my opinion.
Updating throughout the night…
June 28, 2022 - Château La Conseillante dinner & Kabinett tasting (Groot-Ammers, Netherlands): Ex-Château. A blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, 14% ABV. Expressive nose, more complexity and spicy depth than the 2017, grenadine and peonies said Mariëlle Cazaux, richly textured but elegant palate, real elegance and finesse, already approachable, perfect balance, excellent resonance and length. A great wine, great future.
September 29, 2021 - Needs a full 24 hours to open up. I didn’t splash decant, but I did try it on day one and on day two, and the difference was huge. Don’t cheat yourself… give it time to breath!
Very dark, with a limpid appearance and a rich texture. Nose showing cassis fruit, graphite, floral notes, and bare hints of what will someday be an elegant, spicy nose. Those future spices are also apparent on the palate, which is a bit closed now but already revealing the future promise of the bottle. Today, maybe 94 (my wife says 92) if you give it ample air. But at peak in about ten years, easily a 96pt bottle.
September 4, 2021 - Bordeaux 2016 - 5 Years On - 8 Top Reds: All wines tasted single blind. This tasting proved again that 2016 is an amazing vintage. Compared to many other recent vintages, the 2016s show no excess in any category (especially beneficial for right banks these days) but wines that are still fully ripe. The aromatic complexity and precision are off the charts and structural frames are luxurious. Compared to the more solar 2015s wines we tasted last year, the 2016s will need more time to integrate and open up and might be a tad less charming at this point, but the potential is immense. Group winner was an incredible Ausone, ahead of the Pichon Lalande and an incredible and singular Montrose (which for me was a tied #1 with the Ausone).
TN: Expressive on the nose and palate with layers of fine, ripe but still fresh red and dark red fruit, lots of spices, some minerality and herbs. I like the freshness and precision, the purity of fruit a lot. A wall of fine tannins and a high freshness and an already nicely creamy structure but overall light feel. This is very promising but was a bit wild and not yet perfectly integrated but I guess this will easily hit the 95-97 pts category once mature.
Decanting: Decanted for two hours. Probably it would have needed even a bit more air (or less, I haven‘t tasted it upon opening).
Group rank: #6 out of 8 wines
Group score: 94.7 pts