• The Wine Monkeys Likes this wine: 88 points

    March 26, 2024 - 1988 Gruaud Larose shows a little brett and was quite hot/boozy at first blush. Tart cherry, earth, pepper, caramel, and smoke round out the nose with a tannic dark chocolate finish. Overall, not bad but lacked a bit of depth and complexity in our opinion. Asture, old school Bordeaux.

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  • PSPatrick wrote: 90 points

    March 21, 2024 - Bought on auction recently. Filled bottom neck. Cork almost completely soaked, but no seepage. Medium to dark garnet colour, some sediment. Dark fruit, vegetal/herbaceous notes, cedar, tobacco, earth, spices, and smoke, with medium-level acidity, fully resolved tannin, and good length. Very earthy. Medium-bodied, medium-complex, smoothly textured and well balanced. Consistent on day two. Fully mature, drink now.

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  • Juliansi Likes this wine: 90 points

    November 30, 2023 - The first ever bottle in our 11 bottle line-up, after my Triple Zero aperitif, was JY's. Thanks for sharing this first of two Saint-Julien 1988s at LF's birthday party. As it was Bordecmbre, I added a Rausan-Segla 1988 as the next bottle too!

    Nose of faint red fruit with hints of funk and earth, very well integrated tannins, and that appearance of medium-garnet with a brownish rim. This was obviously aged, and I guessed.. Left Bank 1988. I thought it was not a Margaux nor a Pauillac.. Bingo!

    Palate of leather, oak and blackcurrant too. Smooth mouthfeel, and much of the fruit has given way to secondaries. This has truly softened with its tannins at medium-, but still has depth and complexity. I would class this as an old-school Saint Julien!

    As this continued to air in my glass, I found the tannins to be slightly chewy. The finish remained long though! Acidity medium, giving this some brightness and once again.. Another Bordeaux in our line-up which clearly demonstrated longevity.

    Some research on the vintage of 1988 at Saint-Julien showed that the season was marked by certain contrasts: winter and spring very humid and hot, summer dry and moderately hot.

    Bud burst was observed a week in advance. Rapid and regular flowering. Maturation evolved normally (July averagely warm and humid; August dry, a little hot).

    Heavy winter and spring rain (from November to end of June), followed by severe drought from mid-July. August and September marked by little rain, yet no water stress. Temperatures close to normal.

    A few days before harvest, the sugar content and acidity resembled those of the recent good vintages. The skins were very thick, and exceptionally rich in colouring matter and tannins.

    Overall, I would recommend drinking up, as there is now little upside from here. It is likely to be towards the end of its optimal drinking plateau... Wonderful stuff!

    Maillard Grill, KL, Malaysia
    30th Nov 2023

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  • blanquito wrote:

    September 14, 2023 - Lovely, smooth, integrated Bordeaux drinking at its peak. This lacks the depth and fruit of its greatest wines in the 80's (82, 85, 86), but is otherwise it is wonderful in a lighter, gentler style. Shows some mild Cordier funk with a silky, resolved palate with nice depth. Fully mature, lovely. 92-93 pts.

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  • jdlee1232 wrote: 92 points

    September 9, 2023 - Sadly, this bottle as well past its prime

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  • Rani Likes this wine: 96 points

    August 3, 2023 - Tasted blind. Opaque dark ruby. Huge nose of graphite and barnyard. Immensely concentrated yet elegant. I thought it was the 1986. This is unbelievably good and a textbook powerful left bank.

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  • @robin Likes this wine:

    July 1, 2023 - (1988) Medium purple colour with visible tawny rim. Pronounced nose of mushroom, earthy, leather, tobacco, oak, soya sauce and blackcurrant.

    Dry, medium- tannins, acidity and low alcohol (12.5% ABV). Medium bodied with medium+ finish.

    Excellent aged wine to drink now but don’t aged much further, limited upside is my view.

    Revisiting after a few months, pretty consistent.

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  • Mark1npt Likes this wine: 88 points

    March 17, 2023 - A late night last minute decision to open this one and it surely suffered by lack of air time. The barnyard funk (and I like a good funk) on the nose was thick enough to require a shovel! But yet beneath it enjoyable leather, mushroom, etc. Would really have liked to have this one with a steak and 3-4 hours of air behind it. Thanks for extending the opportunity to taste this one, Ken. Much appreciated!

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  • Laz4wine Likes this wine: 92 points

    March 6, 2023 - At One Kitchen at One Hotel in Hanalei...moldy cap w/saturated cork pre-filtered and decanted briefly in advance. At table decanted ~1 hour ahead of Aussie Wagyu Tomahawk shared entree. Early 35th 'meetversary' celebration, this wine was remarkably alive with fruit and acid, complemented by tertiary tobacco-leather on a smooth textured finish. Not a lot of experience with 30+ yr Brdx but this seemed surprisingly delicious, @Robin's TN on point.

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  • Aptosc6 Likes this wine: 88 points

    December 24, 2022 - From a magnum. Brown/garnet body, orange rim.
    Nose of tar and old leather with dried fruit.
    Bright up front acid mixed with old cabernet. Medium weight in the mouth finishing with soft tannins.

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