1986 Château Mouton Rothschild
Community Tasting Note
Bordeaux_Jon Likes this wine:
Friday, December 30, 2016 - Tasted single blind from a half bottle against a half bottle of 1986 Lafite.
Third time with this wine and I'm pleased that it was not corked this time as the first time. Even from a half bottle, the wine shows a lot of youth. Decanted only to remove sediment, this wine initially had a quite a bit of cherry and raspberry fruit with a very tight palate and grippy tannins. I thought it was the Lafite because it was full of red fruit.
The best part of this wine, as it was last time, was the massive evolution over the course of the 3+ hour dinner. Last time the bottle was decanted for a number of hours, so what was cool was that this wine started in a totally different place but after 3 hours was similar to how the wine drank last time at the beginning. The red fruit of the wine evolved into having more oak, and the fruit moved to blackberry and plum, later cigar came out, some menthol, and toasty notes. The tannins broke down and the finish lengthened. By the 3 hours mark, the wine had transformed. The nose grew into this haunting combination of earth, black fruit, a little brett, and stinky oak. At this point, the Lafite paled in comparison.
The wine has great intensity and presence but yet is so easy and effortless to drink. It was not obvious initially, but after an hour this was so clearly superior to the Lafite, both more hedonistic and more intellectual. Truly and exceptional experience. Despite all the evolution in the 3+ hours, the wine clearly had so much more to say if we had had a full bottle and more time. I'd say it's a 97+ point wine and may still get better yet. It doesn't require decanting, but it repays extended time in the glass.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (8,474 views)
