February 11, 2024 - This was the seventh time I've tasted this wine (yes--lucky me!)--you can find my earlier notes at 11/1/19, 2/11/20, 9/13/20, 6/12/21, 2/24/22, and 1/25/23. And my very consistent experience (after I realized that this wine absolutely needs one to two weeks upright to allow the massive and very bitter sediment to settle out) has been that the wine has been a deep disappointment immediately after opening, and only hit its stride after something very vaguely like an hour and a half in the glass. I'm not a big fan of decanting, since for me one of the great pleasures of wine is following how it changes in the glass--but an hour and a half is a very long time, and risks that by the time the wine is at its best, I will no longer be myself at my best! So this time I decided, as an experiment, to find out how decanting would affect my experience. I started tasting about half an hour after decanting, since I assumed that decanting would expose the wine to a lot more air and significantly speed up the process. I was wrong. It was still about an hour and a half (or slightly less) before the wine was really enjoyable! The big advantage of decanting (for me!) was that the temptation to keep tasting prematurely was greatly reduced, so I had more of the wine when it was finally enjoyable than I had in earlier tastings! Whether you decant, or merely open and pour the wine long before you plan to drink it, I really do urge you to wait something like at least an hour and 20 minutes unless you're a big fan of pungent road asphalt. When it finally is ready, this is a suave and graceful mix of barely ripe black plums, timid cherries, tobacco, unsweetened cocoa, and coffee, followed by a lovely and wonderfully long aftertaste ending on a slightly, but not unpleasantly, bitter note. I scored this a point higher than in the past, but I haven't the faintest idea whether this reflects the development of the wine, the decanting, or the development of my appreciation of the wine. But it really is lovely. [Tasted from the Jancis Robinson glass.]
September 8, 2023 - Decanted and followed for about 2 hours before the meal. Still showing tart red currant and cherries and a lot of earthiness with some tobacco. Soft tannins, just a bit in the finish, but very nice given the age and vintage. I have had good luck with the right bank from this year. Certainly a drink now, but after almost 30 years, should be the same for a few more.
January 25, 2023 - It turns out, this wine is quite sensitive to the glass from which it's tasted. I started out with the Jancis Robinson glass, which has become my favorite glass especially for older wines (my previous tastings of this wine--the most recent was 2/24/2022--were from the Riedel Vinum Cabernet Sauvignon glass). As in the previous tastings, immediately after the bottle was opened this wine was very disappointing. After about an hour in the glass, while still disappointing, it had significantly improved--but, on a hunch, I switched at that point to the Conterno glass, and that glass turned out to be surprisingly better for this particular wine. The score and the following description reflect both glasses and probably can't be replicated exactly with just one glass, alas. Initially (Jancis Robinson glass), cherries, grilled meat, smoke, cocoa, significant tannin, austere, very disappointing aftertaste. Over the course of an hour and a half (the last part of which was in the Conterno glass), this gradually shifts to cherries, blueberries, minerals, herbs, vivid acidity, still some tannin, enjoyable and generous aftertaste with a hint of ripe strawberry and a touch of bitter coffee. My guess is that there's no hurry with this wine. Probably a good candidate for decanting.
February 24, 2022 - Very much like the bottle of 6/12/21. Unpleasant immediately after the bottle was opened--this needed a full 45 minutes in the glass to become enjoyable. Then smoke, coffee, cherries, cocoa, and leather. Long, slightly bitter aftertaste. Be aware that this wine has a very bitter sediment, and needs a couple of weeks upright for that sediment to settle out. Should be fine for 3 or 4 more years, maybe longer. [The remainder of the wine was stoppered and kept cool for 24 hours. When poured it was very much as it had been the night before. However, after an additional 3 hours in the glass (!), most of the smoke receded, allowing the cherries to come to the fore. No change in overall score.]
September 12, 2021 - Tasting notes otherwise very consistent with previous bottle but this one decanted for over an hour and it made a significant difference hence the higher score, 92+ points tonight.
September 1, 2021 - Easily 91 points and had I had the sense to give it more air this wine would have been 92+ points. Through a weird happenstance we just acquired 3 of these bottles as part of a much larger cellar contents purchase, had no idea what it was or what it was capable of delivering and this was bottle #1 / 3 - definitely decanting the other 2 for at least 30-60 minutes. Popped, poured and swirled in glass with the wine steadily improving and finally getting real good as we were finishing the bottle off. Nose never muted, initially very musty / almost musky / definitely barnyardy with surprisingly concentrated dark fruit finally breaking through. Soft, smooth, good mouth feel, nice lingering aftertaste, oak almost all gone, tannins for sure all gone and very well integrated. Initially dark cherry and cassis on the palate with smoke, earth, mushrooms and blood developing on the mid- and late palates. Stereotypical well kept aged mature St. Emilion. My guess is that this is a bit past prime but definitely still firing on all cylinders. With all due respect to Spencep's excellent note from June I think there is no further upside, only a slow eventual degradation. Time to drink these up.
June 12, 2021 - Ripe cherries, cassis, and coffee, with hints of smoke and chocolate and grilled meat coming in on the aftertaste, which ends with a faint bitterness. The aftertaste starts medium long, but gets longer and longer with lots of time in the glass. Still significant tannin, especially toward the end of the aftertaste. After something like 45 minutes or an hour in the glass, the wine is even better than when just poured, with the grilled meat smells and flavors becoming much more prominent (and the score reflects what it's like after an hour). If this bottle is typical, this wine will probably remain in great shape for another six years or even longer, and my guess is that it might well improve with a bit more time in the cellar. Be aware that this wine needs one to two weeks upright for its very harsh and bitter sediment to settle out.
March 17, 2021 - Found this lost bottle I rated it 92 in the past, but now past it’s prime. Good but no power
January 8, 2021 - Decanted for over an hour, but it wasn't enough. Should have given it 2+, only got the *real* beauty at the very end.
Very minimal nose of wet slate, with a bit of dark moss.
Cherry with a bit of pastry cream at the start of the palate. Very structured, rounding as it lingers in the mouth. Excellent body given the age. Tastes like all the non-greasy parts of black forest bacon.
Good finish, starts strong enough it's hard to realize you're in the finish. Then rapidly settles from the smokey umami flavor into an astringent dry cedar that is subtle, barely there, but lingers.
The umami flavors, especially as smooth as they are at the end of hours of breathing, are truly unique, and get this up into the mid 90s. Pairs especially well with a reasonably salty meats, which is rare and a wonderful surprise for a red wine. But has the structure and strength to hold up to most traditional bordaeux pairings.
Drinking fantastically right now, will continue to drink well for at least a couple of years, maybe through 2025.
September 13, 2020 - This seems like a much older wine than the bottles I tasted on 11/1/2019 and 2/11/2020 (both from the same case as this one), making me wonder if there might be some subtle problem with the cork. (I used Coravin so I didn't get a direct look at or sniff of the cork--if when I pull the cork that gives me more information, I'll add a note here.) But it was still an enjoyable wine. Tobacco, unripe plums (with the acidity that implies), cedar, cocoa, and a surprising amount of tannin, and with a medium-length aftertaste. Lots of sediment. If this bottle is typical (and I hope it isn't), this wine would be in its last year of life. [I have now pulled the cork. And, like the corks of the earlier bottles, it is actually in very good condition. However, I'm pretty sure I now have the explanation: With the previous two bottles, I was able to follow my usual procedure of standing the bottles upright at cellar temperature for a couple of days before opening. This time, for practical reasons, I opened the bottle after only an hour upright. Don't do this with *your* bottles of this wine--I was experiencing the effect of having a significant amount of sediment mixed in with the wine! This wine appears to need at least TWO full days of standing upright before opening to allow most of the sediment to settle out--otherwise the flavors of the sediment will significantly interfere with what should be the flavors of the wine!]