Community Tasting Notes 4

• ricemanhk Likes this wine:

  December 21, 2020 - Stood up for 24h to let sediment settle, but turns out there wasn't a whole lot. Opened in the morning to slow-ox, there was a little funky soy sauce and dried flowers on the nose, but it wasn't so bad. Quite sour and a touch of rough tannins on that first sip in the morning.
  Drank the bottle at dinner time, brick red, near orange on the edge. Nose cleaned up and the fruit came back, soft dried fruits and dried flowers on the nose, almost smells like an old barolo. Medium body of dried red fruits, a touch of leather but not alot of graphite, I guess there isn't so much cabernet sauv in this vintage? Finish wasn't so intense or complex but very long. Still has structure and grip, this wasn't tired at all and should still last a while. Quite tasty overall and definitely tastes more like burgundy or barolo than modern bordeaux, very interesting and I am pondering to serve it in a burgundy glass next time...

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• forceberry wrote:

  September 2, 2020 - A blend composed of relatively early-harvested Merlot, Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenère. The exact blend isn't really known, but estimated to be one third of Merlot, one third of Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc and the remainder rounded out by the remaining varieties. Fermented slowly in large cement tanks with no extraction. Aged for 6 months in old, neutral barriques, then returned to the cement tanks and bottled after several years of aging. 12% alcohol. Tasted in Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre 2010-1985 vertical tasting after 3 hours of decanting.
  
  Deep, luminous moderately dark pomegranate red color with an evolved mahogany hue and a thin, colorless rim. Somewhat dull, earthy and slightly dusty nose with understated aromas of charred game, some damp soil, a little bit of wizened dark fruit and a touch of old leather. Feels slightly musty and lacks vibrancy. The wine is somewhat dull, dusty and understated on the palate with a medium body and slightly thin flavors of earth, some sweeter notes of wizened dark berries, a little bit of ripe plummy fruit, light sanguine notes of iron, a hint of gamey meat and a touch of old leather. The wine is high in acidity with moderately grippy medium-plus tannins. The finish is dull, quite grippy and somewhat bitter with rather short flavors of crunchy cranberry, some sanguine meaty notes, a little bit of wizened blackcurrant, light dusty notes of earth, a hint of tobacco and a touch of sous-bois.
  
  A wonderfully structured and still quite tightly-knit vintage of BAMA that was surprisingly dull, musty and understated for a Margaux clocking at 35 years of age. We wondered whether the wine was mildly corked or if it was suffering from an extreme case of bottle stink. Since BAMAs are known to require very long periods of decanting, we had the wine decanted for 3 hours prior to pouring it, yet still it was very dull and inexpressive from the start and didn't seem to open up in the glass during the evening. Without further experiences with 1985 BAMA it is hard to assess whether this was a representative bottle or not, but based on this taste, I wouldn't say this was really worth the 127,90€. Leaving the wine without a score for the time being.

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• thomasito2001 Likes this wine: 91 points

  September 22, 2014 - Doesn't show it's age, probably at it's peak but will hold longer. Nose reveals high fruit maturity, complexity somewhat obscured by a corkish smell bordering on the unpleasant, but palate is fine, well balanced, with abundance of fine and smooth tannins. Mid palate is maybe a bit modest, but altogether a very good bottle, clearly playing on its strong, high quality fruit profile

  Comment

• thomasito2001 wrote: 90 points

  March 9, 2014 - Was not able to appreciate the complexity of this wine as my nose was unfortunately stuffed and hence failing me, in the mouth the balance was in place and you could't point to any deficit in material whatosever. I reserve my judgment until I open my second bottle.

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 1985
• Type Red
• Producer Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre
• Varietal Red Bordeaux Blend
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Bordeaux
• SubRegion Médoc
• Appellation Margaux

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 43 (68%)
• Consumed 20 (32%)

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