Birthday party (Chicago, IL): More cabernet-like than the Beringer alongside, but not as compelling as the 1984s from earlier this week either. A bit muddy and lacking in precision, this maybe saw a bit of heat damage in the past?
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Nose: beautiful nose of blue and black fruit, mint and herbs. Palate: beautiful medium bodied wine that had a great inner mouth perfume, clear dark dusty Rutherford blackberry and dark cherry fruit and mint. Excellent balance. Finish: classic minty cabernet. This is great old BV
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En magnum, this really showed well - rich, ripe but not overripe blue and black fruit, Rutherford dust, touches of caramel and mint. Lots of constituent parts in the right place, even if not particularly energetic or super defined.
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Older Napa Cabernet beyond its prime, 1984 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve. Pale ruby/tawny, amber edges; older tobacco, cedar, red fruit, Sherry nose; light body; low acids; low tannins; long, thin, Sherry-like finish. Over the hill a few years. 14.5 UC Davis scale, 87 other scales.
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Pop and pour, and even with a durand the cork broke. Yesterday, this was a lovely old, dusty cab. Notes from Day 2 open, unrefrigerated on the counter overnight. On the nose: soft vegetal notes, dusty leather, cedar, dried raspberry and blackberry. On the palate: softer acid than I would like at first, but the cherry liqueur and dried raspberry play very well with the acidity present; very good density and this turns up a bit on the finish: a bit more acidic tang and soft, very finely grained tannin. Totally classic and gorgeous...
Was very tight at first but after an hour in the decanter, the wine still had plenty of life in it! Beautiful black cherry, blackberry, plum with a hint of menthol and licorice. Pleasantly surprised
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Women Love a Big D-erby Hat Throwdown!!; 5/3/2019-5/5/2019 (Louisville, KY): ok Napa...you don't get the "84 was a $hit vintage" pass like bdx...so wtf bro...this was past it's prime at 35...good thing Bro-rolo just took a couple blue pills (and some random white ones) and is ready to go at 35...I'm gonna riiiiide til I can't no mo lol
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BV Georges de Latour Vertical from 4 Decades: '64, '80, '84, '89, '98 (St. Paul, MN): Dark brick red color, cloudy. 1cm pale orange margin. Spalsh decanted. Drank a glass over an hour plus. Smelled a bit like red wine vinegar intially, then more vegetal, a little cabbage like, this lessens over 30 minutes but does not resolve. The palate is much better. Dried cherry, wood spices, caramel, orange rind, high acid, somewhat macerated red fruit, earth and dried oak with a bit of alcohol at times. Still very drinkable with nose not much to talk about though. This bottle was slipping away and tired.
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Still drinking fine. Certainly down from whatever oak it had, but still fresh enough. Can tell it was once opulent, now the fruit remains (just not exuberant); mainly suffers from not a ton else going on, but some nice dusty spices help. #5 of 6 for me at a 1970s/1980's Cali tasting.
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Blind Tasting of Aged Napa Cabs (Residence): At this blind tasting, I mistook this wine to be the Joseph Phelps. I have always had an odd relationship with BV as a producer. I have not really cared for their lower priced wines, having only a minimum of value (IMO), while their well-known Georges de Latour release every year is good, but over-priced. They also seem to develop complex flavors in their higher priced wine, some flavors of which I don’t care for. So, I may have gone into this tasting with preconceived notions… which is always an interesting aspect of blind tasting. I felt this wine had the most balanced profile of the wines tasted and having the most enjoyable mouthfeel. Frankly, I didn’t think a BV wine could be this balanced. (buzzer sound) Well, I blew that one! Chalk one up for having a closed mind. Beyond its best drinking window, but good nonetheless.
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At 33 years of age, there are no good wines, only good bottles. This was a good bottle, perfectly cellared from the time of release by a close friend. Opaque garnet with a brick rim, it delivers a complex mix of black fruit, pickling spice, tobacco, coriander and earth. Full-bodied and with good acidity, it has undetectable alcohol and fully melted tannins. Solid on the mid-palate and long on the back end, this particular bottle would have silenced the naysayers who have judged this wine based upon lesser bottles. Delicious and complex, it is still amazingly good! Those holding well-cellared bottles will be pleased, but it is a wine that is definitely in its twilight years. Drink now.
Still drinking well, short period of typical mustiness for this wine and then it was gentle, elegant and perfect with rare steak. Had for Christmas dinner party with Deaner and Trudy
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After 30 minutes of decanting, had lots of raisin and jamminess. After another 35 minutes, the spice kicked up as it opened up more. When another 30 minutes went by, everything balanced beautifully. Smooth, medium finish. Mineral and mushroom held on the entire way. This was my first 30+ year wine and I was impressed.
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Year 3: Super Tastings Round 1 of 5; Dave Does Birth Year Wines (Dave's House): Popped and poured, followed approximately 30 minutes. Garnet in the glass, with bricking throughout. On the nose, this is generally what comes to mind when I think of when Napa; ripe black cherries, plum, vanilla, coconut, spice, pyrazine, caramel and a touch of graphite. On the palate, rich and round, with ripe red and black fruit, medium minus acidity, tannin mostly integrated, and actually finishes quite long, but lingers with sweet ripe fruit, vanilla and oak. Not my style and a bit disappointing for this legendary producer.
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Wine group New Years Dinner tasting of four 1984 Cabernet Sauvignons-no first place votes, my fourth place. Nose of red cherry fruit with hints of orange rind and white pepper, more of the same on the palate, smooth and elegant tasting, touch simple, well below its peers on taste, showed acid at the 90 minute mark, pleasant and simple at the two hour mark.
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Video Music Night at Bill's (Vancouver, BC): Better nose than the '74 but the palate here was more angular and less balanced. Nose here was a nice example of well aged Cali cabernet with a nice blend of red fruits and secondary aromas. This is probably as good as this wine is going to get but should cruise here for years. Very good.
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Popped, breathed in bottle 60 minutes, followed over next two hours. Medium bodied, refreshing acidity, with good fruit holding on. This started out quite simple, but fleshed out and added a bit of complexity with extended airing. Not profound, but quite enjoyable.
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Aged meat and Aged Cabs (Mister Fister's, Chicago IL): Nose: Perfumed and balanced nose with tones of dark red cherries, cedar, bell peppers, american oak, vanilla, and some black currants. There is nice depth and class with a refined maturity to it.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium acidity and silky tannins. Refined and balanced with silky tones of dark red cherries, cedar, bell peppers, american oak, black currants, and some autumn leaves.
Overall: This was a real classy and mature California Cab. This hearkened to a previous era of California Cabs and it was drinking well into the night.
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Couples dinner on a cold, breezy fall night. (Reno, NV): One of the best wines of the night for sure… visually appeared quite a bit younger than 28 years in age… very interesting nose of mint, raspberry, baking spice, cedar, mushrooms… on the palate very vibrant and fresh with very well integrated tannins and a fleshy, chewy midpalate. Kills the 85 and 87 of this.
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Broke the cork as I was impatient to discover this cab..but the second part came out smoothly and had no chips fall into the bottle..tasted great from the get go specially based on other reviews I was expecting this to be over the hill..nose was very old world nice mouth feel and a decent finish.
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BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve Vertical Tasting: Slightly darker core than the '78. Tight nose of oak, tobacco, cassis, plum, mint, coffee and dust. Nice chewy tannins still, great lenght, Really nice fruit. Really like this.
SS 92pts.
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Bought this a few months ago from a local retailer. Had been stored on its side, but no guarantees about the temperature. Cork looked good. Wine was very brick-colored throughout. In the mouth, it was thin, tart and woody, not really much fruit there. I have to believe that this wine was much better in the past, but it was worth the small investment to see if this had developed into anything extraordinary over the years -- unfortunately it hadn't.
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Fill into neck. Perfect cork. Decanted and served. Clear deep blood-brick-ruby. Evolved bouquet of stewed rhubarb, red fruit, eucalyptus, fennel, au jus viande. Lush flavors melded seamlessly on the palate, with velvety tannins. Held its own alongside a 1992 Mouton Rothschild. The Pauillac gave an impression of better purity and refinement, but this wine offered more generous fruit and a more lush mouthfeel. Still delicious 24 hours later under vacuum stopper.
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Base neck fill. Decanted and tasted. Clear deep dark ruby-garnet, lightening at the rim. Evolved bouquet varied from one minute to the next, offering at different times forest floor, brine, red fruit, stewed tomato, tobacco, camphor, creosote, exotic spice, and aromatic wood. Later, some sweet candied fruit appeared as well. Rich and seamless on the palate. Excellent overall, and held up well 24 hours later under vacuum stopper.
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On Friday, I put this in the freezer to quickly bring it from room temperature to serving temp. Today (Sunday) I found it, clearly more chilled than I had intended.
For all that, this is drinking very well (92 pts). I wouldn't call it "fresh", as it has definitely picked up a lot of secondary character. But it has a great deal more life in it that many from this era. This bottle came from impeccable provenance. Other bottles with similar journeys should be drinking very well now. While this has probably peaked, it should have a long, slow slide that will continue to provide good drinking.
Update: ok, I take it back. Maybe this won't last much longer. Faded fairly quickly in the glass. Downgrading to 91 pts, with the caveat of poor handling mentioned above.
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Superb old cab, silky tannin, fruit mild but still there, no acescence, fine bouquet. Cork was perfect, bottle always well cellared. Decanted about 2.5 hours before drinking. Cheers, Mr. Tschelicheff.
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The were some redeeming fruit flavors and textural characteristics here but Greenblanket was the only one of our group who was able to make it past the bouquet which was more than faintly reminiscent of the juice from the bottom of a food services dumpster.
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Mid-neck fill. Decanted for sediment; tasting began after 10 minutes. Clear deep garnet hue. Luxurious bouquet of red fruit, forest floor, cedar and cardamom. Plush, velvety and seamless on the palate. Compared with the 1967 Margaux tasted prior, this was weightier, full vs. medium bodied, with a bit less finesse but with quite a bit more fruit, making it more appealing to my palate. Long pleasant finish.
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A surprisingly good 24-year old CA cab, like the one we had at the 2007 Thanksgiving dinner. They say these CA cabs don't age well, but BV has not disappointed in the 3-4 80s bottles that I have had. The nose was strongly smoky and redolent of pencil shavings. The tongue felt bitter and tobacco for a second before revealing tart strawberries and cherries. Excellent with turkey dinner, stuffing, and gravy.
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4th of July Blowout (Chez Rick): What a great wine. Bordeaux-like on the nose with black currant and graphite and an intriguing menthol/eucalyptus note that I have often found in 80s Napa Cabs. Great finish, and another bottle in awesome shape from a cold cellar. Shows no signs of decline. Drinking perfectly right now. Serve this with a nice grilled steak.
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LdC does Mecca - Saturday (Tampa): Full deep black red color. Big bright black fruiwt with a decidedly musty canned stewed fruit note along with a bit of dill and menthol. big red round ripe canned fruit on the palate with some syrupy sweet notes. We agreed that this was probably not a good example.
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Everyone at the Thanksgiving table agreed that this '84 outshone the '82 we had the same night just slightly -- bits of smokiness, butter, vanilla, and cranberry rounded out a faint bit of pepper, even less pepper and less tannin than the '82.
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This bottle was considerably lighter than my tasting 18 months ago. Very pale and translucent, little sediment made for easy decanting. This wine has past its prime, but I’ve often found that older mature BV’s tend to age and decline gracefully. Dusty crushed leaves and hints of leather, acidity is very high. A fain hint of cherry cola in the mouth (due to the acid). Tannins are all soft and subdued with a short finish. Although the best years of this wine have long past, I still found it enjoyable bottle to open on a Monday night.
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There was very little bricking. I could swear the wine got darker with time. As the wine opened, the wine expressed very fresh fruit on the palate with lots of secondary notes and a predominance of anise and coffee. The tannins were refined yet still providing solid grip. As time went on the palate got darker and more full bodied. It was as if the more air the wine got the younger it drank. An incredible transformation.
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Shawn dropped by and we decided to open up something old from CA and Bordeaux. We picked up a 84 BV off the shelf with low expectations (I had never had it before). Much better than I expected actually. On opening, it showed a single focused high pitched cheery note which receded after about half an hour. That one component dominated the nose with a very thin in the middle palette and the mouth and slightly metallic nature. After an hour, it was a different wine. The nose grew in intensity with smoke, caramel, burnt elements and a slight medicinal note (although much less than most older BV’s). The impressive things is that the intensity didn’t let up after five hours, it was pretty much as it was at hour one, long after the Meyney was pronounced dead, the BV was drinking well. This wine is not for everyone, if you don’t appreciate older CA cabs, then burnt, musty, muddy earthy nature of this wine will not be appealing, but I didn’t think it was all that bad.
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Tasting of 13 BV Georges de Latour, subtle old style nose with cranberry, dull plum color in the glass, cranberry and burnt orange rind on the palate. #8/13
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Old nose from 1995 19/20 Nice hue, starting to show a little age. Great Cabernet character: black current and blackberry, smoky, leathery aromas. Good complexity. very appealing. Very nice balance and texture. Nice use of oak.
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Tasted at winery. Deep ruby, red rim. Moderately intense currants, cherry and oak on nose, with same palate. Supple, plentiful tannins. Long, relatively smooth finish. Will improve.
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At Jeff Glick’s going away party at Square One in SF. Excellent nose; well-integrated oak. On the palate, smooth, elegant, slightly bitter. Not as good as MPL thought. 5-11-15-7: 88/100.
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4/6/2024 - acyso wrote: 88 Points
Birthday party (Chicago, IL): More cabernet-like than the Beringer alongside, but not as compelling as the 1984s from earlier this week either. A bit muddy and lacking in precision, this maybe saw a bit of heat damage in the past?
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12/12/2022 - RockinCabs wrote: 94 Points
Nose: beautiful nose of blue and black fruit, mint and herbs. Palate: beautiful medium bodied wine that had a great inner mouth perfume, clear dark dusty Rutherford blackberry and dark cherry fruit and mint. Excellent balance. Finish: classic minty cabernet. This is great old BV
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12/11/2022 - englishman's claret wrote: 93 Points
En magnum, this really showed well - rich, ripe but not overripe blue and black fruit, Rutherford dust, touches of caramel and mint. Lots of constituent parts in the right place, even if not particularly energetic or super defined.
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6/27/2021 - sdwineguru wrote: 87 Points
Older Napa Cabernet beyond its prime, 1984 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve. Pale ruby/tawny, amber edges; older tobacco, cedar, red fruit, Sherry nose; light body; low acids; low tannins; long, thin, Sherry-like finish. Over the hill a few years. 14.5 UC Davis scale, 87 other scales.
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11/28/2020 - Aravind Asok wrote:
Pop and pour, and even with a durand the cork broke. Yesterday, this was a lovely old, dusty cab. Notes from Day 2 open, unrefrigerated on the counter overnight. On the nose: soft vegetal notes, dusty leather, cedar, dried raspberry and blackberry. On the palate: softer acid than I would like at first, but the cherry liqueur and dried raspberry play very well with the acidity present; very good density and this turns up a bit on the finish: a bit more acidic tang and soft, very finely grained tannin. Totally classic and gorgeous...
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10/5/2019 - Ryan3719 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Was very tight at first but after an hour in the decanter, the wine still had plenty of life in it! Beautiful black cherry, blackberry, plum with a hint of menthol and licorice. Pleasantly surprised
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5/3/2019 - Bro-rolo wrote: 91 Points
Women Love a Big D-erby Hat Throwdown!!; 5/3/2019-5/5/2019 (Louisville, KY): ok Napa...you don't get the "84 was a $hit vintage" pass like bdx...so wtf bro...this was past it's prime at 35...good thing Bro-rolo just took a couple blue pills (and some random white ones) and is ready to go at 35...I'm gonna riiiiide til I can't no mo lol
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4/22/2019 - rocknroller wrote: 84 Points
BV Georges de Latour Vertical from 4 Decades: '64, '80, '84, '89, '98 (St. Paul, MN): Dark brick red color, cloudy. 1cm pale orange margin. Spalsh decanted. Drank a glass over an hour plus. Smelled a bit like red wine vinegar intially, then more vegetal, a little cabbage like, this lessens over 30 minutes but does not resolve. The palate is much better. Dried cherry, wood spices, caramel, orange rind, high acid, somewhat macerated red fruit, earth and dried oak with a bit of alcohol at times. Still very drinkable with nose not much to talk about though. This bottle was slipping away and tired.
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10/21/2018 - cadamson Likes this wine: 87 Points
Still drinking fine. Certainly down from whatever oak it had, but still fresh enough. Can tell it was once opulent, now the fruit remains (just not exuberant); mainly suffers from not a ton else going on, but some nice dusty spices help. #5 of 6 for me at a 1970s/1980's Cali tasting.
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10/20/2018 - djlevin Likes this wine: 92 Points
Blind Tasting of Aged Napa Cabs (Residence): At this blind tasting, I mistook this wine to be the Joseph Phelps. I have always had an odd relationship with BV as a producer. I have not really cared for their lower priced wines, having only a minimum of value (IMO), while their well-known Georges de Latour release every year is good, but over-priced. They also seem to develop complex flavors in their higher priced wine, some flavors of which I don’t care for. So, I may have gone into this tasting with preconceived notions… which is always an interesting aspect of blind tasting. I felt this wine had the most balanced profile of the wines tasted and having the most enjoyable mouthfeel. Frankly, I didn’t think a BV wine could be this balanced. (buzzer sound) Well, I blew that one! Chalk one up for having a closed mind. Beyond its best drinking window, but good nonetheless.
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10/14/2018 - Vatch Does not like this wine:
too old...
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4/14/2018 - ProperClaret Does not like this wine:
All done. Perfect provenance, wine was just too old.
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8/26/2017 - La Cave d'Argent Likes this wine: 91 Points
At 33 years of age, there are no good wines, only good bottles. This was a good bottle, perfectly cellared from the time of release by a close friend. Opaque garnet with a brick rim, it delivers a complex mix of black fruit, pickling spice, tobacco, coriander and earth. Full-bodied and with good acidity, it has undetectable alcohol and fully melted tannins. Solid on the mid-palate and long on the back end, this particular bottle would have silenced the naysayers who have judged this wine based upon lesser bottles. Delicious and complex, it is still amazingly good! Those holding well-cellared bottles will be pleased, but it is a wine that is definitely in its twilight years. Drink now.
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6/8/2017 - CheviotCellar wrote: 85 Points
Thin, amber in glass. Aroma of raisins, cherries. Flavor is same with a little Worcestershire, brown sugar. Flavors are runny, past its prime.
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12/11/2016 - t.c.green Likes this wine: 90 Points
Still drinking well, short period of typical mustiness for this wine and then it was gentle, elegant and perfect with rare steak.
Had for Christmas dinner party with Deaner and Trudy
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11/25/2016 - Jolayne0 Likes this wine: 92 Points
After 30 minutes of decanting, had lots of raisin and jamminess. After another 35 minutes, the spice kicked up as it opened up more. When another 30 minutes went by, everything balanced beautifully. Smooth, medium finish. Mineral and mushroom held on the entire way. This was my first 30+ year wine and I was impressed.
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4/27/2016 - Bruce 1er wrote: 91 Points
Had a slightly funky nose and flavor, giving it a French character. Fruit is well-rounded, and the finish very soft. The wine has aged nicely.
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5/23/2015 - Wine Canuck wrote: 85 Points
Year 3 - Super Tasting 1 of 5 - Dave does Birth Year Wines: I really don't like this style. Very candied and medicinal on the nose. Cherry cough syrup on the palate.
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5/23/2015 - alittle wrote: 86 Points
Year 3: Super Tastings Round 1 of 5; Dave Does Birth Year Wines (Dave's House): Popped and poured, followed approximately 30 minutes. Garnet in the glass, with bricking throughout. On the nose, this is generally what comes to mind when I think of when Napa; ripe black cherries, plum, vanilla, coconut, spice, pyrazine, caramel and a touch of graphite. On the palate, rich and round, with ripe red and black fruit, medium minus acidity, tannin mostly integrated, and actually finishes quite long, but lingers with sweet ripe fruit, vanilla and oak. Not my style and a bit disappointing for this legendary producer.
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5/23/2015 - Dave Canada wrote: 87 Points
Year 3 - Super Tasting 1 of 5 - David does Birth Year Wines (Dave's House, Kitchener, ON): This was quite strange....tonnes of powdered sugar, vanilla, coconut and pina colada on the nose.
The palate gave the impression that there was still some residual sugar...but the fruit also showed some tart aspects...
Finish was simple
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3/21/2015 - chablis28 wrote: 82 Points
Drinkable but over the hill. Fill was great as was cork but the wine was tired and stewed.
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1/16/2015 - JJKinch wrote: 92 Points
Dark fruit (blueberry, cherry), cassis, nice spice, slight dust.
Lingering finish. Really enjoyable.
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3/1/2014 - klezman wrote:
Great bottle. Dust, earth, some fruit, no tannin, still bright.
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12/31/2013 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 89 Points
Wine group New Years Dinner tasting of four 1984 Cabernet Sauvignons-no first place votes, my fourth place. Nose of red cherry fruit with hints of orange rind and white pepper, more of the same on the palate, smooth and elegant tasting, touch simple, well below its peers on taste, showed acid at the 90 minute mark, pleasant and simple at the two hour mark.
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11/12/2013 - godx wrote: 88 Points
Video Music Night at Bill's (Vancouver, BC): Better nose than the '74 but the palate here was more angular and less balanced. Nose here was a nice example of well aged Cali cabernet with a nice blend of red fruits and secondary aromas. This is probably as good as this wine is going to get but should cruise here for years. Very good.
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10/25/2013 - rsbeck wrote: 90 Points
Popped, breathed in bottle 60 minutes, followed over next two hours. Medium bodied, refreshing acidity, with good fruit holding on. This started out quite simple, but fleshed out and added a bit of complexity with extended airing. Not profound, but quite enjoyable.
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10/24/2013 - dave smigielski wrote:
Marin County Wine Group - Aged Cabernets 15 year min.; 10/24/2013-10/25/2013 (Mill Valley, Ca.): Touch of Vanilla on the nose. I found the palate thin with not much going on. a touch of light fruit, but average at best. Definitely not improving and probably on the down side for this bottle.
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4/10/2013 - KeithAkers wrote: 92 Points
Aged meat and Aged Cabs (Mister Fister's, Chicago IL): Nose: Perfumed and balanced nose with tones of dark red cherries, cedar, bell peppers, american oak, vanilla, and some black currants. There is nice depth and class with a refined maturity to it.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium acidity and silky tannins. Refined and balanced with silky tones of dark red cherries, cedar, bell peppers, american oak, black currants, and some autumn leaves.
Overall: This was a real classy and mature California Cab. This hearkened to a previous era of California Cabs and it was drinking well into the night.
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2/10/2013 - David Hamren wrote:
must have been flawed. not good. Especially compared to the perfection of the '86 Grgich cab
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10/22/2012 - markjanes wrote: 92 Points
Couples dinner on a cold, breezy fall night. (Reno, NV): One of the best wines of the night for sure… visually appeared quite a bit younger than 28 years in age… very interesting nose of mint, raspberry, baking spice, cedar, mushrooms… on the palate very vibrant and fresh with very well integrated tannins and a fleshy, chewy midpalate. Kills the 85 and 87 of this.
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4/19/2012 - joishscellar wrote: 90 Points
Broke the cork as I was impatient to discover this cab..but the second part came out smoothly and had no chips fall into the bottle..tasted great from the get go specially based on other reviews I was expecting this to be over the hill..nose was very old world nice mouth feel and a decent finish.
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3/16/2012 - IWineAlot wrote: 92 Points
BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve Vertical Tasting: Slightly darker core than the '78.
Tight nose of oak, tobacco, cassis, plum, mint, coffee and dust. Nice chewy tannins still, great lenght, Really nice fruit. Really like this.
SS 92pts.
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3/15/2012 - vumansky wrote: flawed
Bring Your Special Bottle Night (Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong): Fully oxidized.
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7/4/2011 - Quarked wrote:
Bought this a few months ago from a local retailer. Had been stored on its side, but no guarantees about the temperature. Cork looked good. Wine was very brick-colored throughout. In the mouth, it was thin, tart and woody, not really much fruit there. I have to believe that this wine was much better in the past, but it was worth the small investment to see if this had developed into anything extraordinary over the years -- unfortunately it hadn't.
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2/13/2011 - pinotyo wrote: 88 Points
Still very tannic. More stem than fruit. Drank alongside a 68 BV GdL PR and a 93 Lynch Bages both of which blew the socks off of the 84.
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11/1/2010 - Javachip wrote: 90 Points
Fill into neck. Perfect cork. Decanted and served. Clear deep blood-brick-ruby. Evolved bouquet of stewed rhubarb, red fruit, eucalyptus, fennel, au jus viande. Lush flavors melded seamlessly on the palate, with velvety tannins. Held its own alongside a 1992 Mouton Rothschild. The Pauillac gave an impression of better purity and refinement, but this wine offered more generous fruit and a more lush mouthfeel. Still delicious 24 hours later under vacuum stopper.
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8/6/2010 - Javachip wrote: 89 Points
Base neck fill. Decanted and tasted. Clear deep dark ruby-garnet, lightening at the rim. Evolved bouquet varied from one minute to the next, offering at different times forest floor, brine, red fruit, stewed tomato, tobacco, camphor, creosote, exotic spice, and aromatic wood. Later, some sweet candied fruit appeared as well. Rich and seamless on the palate. Excellent overall, and held up well 24 hours later under vacuum stopper.
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6/26/2010 - vine20 wrote:
Long gone. Taste of madeira.
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6/13/2010 - vanpe003 wrote:
On Friday, I put this in the freezer to quickly bring it from room temperature to serving temp. Today (Sunday) I found it, clearly more chilled than I had intended.
For all that, this is drinking very well (92 pts). I wouldn't call it "fresh", as it has definitely picked up a lot of secondary character. But it has a great deal more life in it that many from this era. This bottle came from impeccable provenance. Other bottles with similar journeys should be drinking very well now. While this has probably peaked, it should have a long, slow slide that will continue to provide good drinking.
Update: ok, I take it back. Maybe this won't last much longer. Faded fairly quickly in the glass. Downgrading to 91 pts, with the caveat of poor handling mentioned above.
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5/30/2010 - daveste wrote: 92 Points
Superb old cab, silky tannin, fruit mild but still there, no acescence, fine bouquet. Cork was perfect, bottle always well cellared. Decanted about 2.5 hours before drinking. Cheers, Mr. Tschelicheff.
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4/11/2010 - greenblanket wrote: flawed
The were some redeeming fruit flavors and textural characteristics here but Greenblanket was the only one of our group who was able to make it past the bouquet which was more than faintly reminiscent of the juice from the bottom of a food services dumpster.
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11/21/2009 - Javachip wrote: 92 Points
Mid-neck fill. Decanted for sediment; tasting began after 10 minutes. Clear deep garnet hue. Luxurious bouquet of red fruit, forest floor, cedar and cardamom. Plush, velvety and seamless on the palate. Compared with the 1967 Margaux tasted prior, this was weightier, full vs. medium bodied, with a bit less finesse but with quite a bit more fruit, making it more appealing to my palate. Long pleasant finish.
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5/9/2009 - adolder wrote: 75 Points
Clearly poor storage. Wine was dead. Opened and tossed.
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4/12/2009 - David J Cooper wrote:
Deep red. Aged Bordeaux notes,dust, leather and cedar. Dry finish with a bit of tannin left. Better a couple of years ago.
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4/2/2009 - elamasters wrote: 84 Points
This bottle was definitely over the hill and in decline.
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11/27/2008 - samer wrote: 91 Points
A surprisingly good 24-year old CA cab, like the one we had at the 2007 Thanksgiving dinner. They say these CA cabs don't age well, but BV has not disappointed in the 3-4 80s bottles that I have had. The nose was strongly smoky and redolent of pencil shavings. The tongue felt bitter and tobacco for a second before revealing tart strawberries and cherries. Excellent with turkey dinner, stuffing, and gravy.
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7/4/2008 - steffenpelz wrote:
4th of July Blowout (Chez Rick): What a great wine. Bordeaux-like on the nose with black currant and graphite and an intriguing menthol/eucalyptus note that I have often found in 80s Napa Cabs. Great finish, and another bottle in awesome shape from a cold cellar. Shows no signs of decline. Drinking perfectly right now. Serve this with a nice grilled steak.
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2/9/2008 - Burgundy Al wrote: flawed
Great Older Wines at the Place to Drink Great Older Wines; 2/8/2008-2/9/2008 (Tampa FL): Cooked. Stewed.
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2/9/2008 - winefool wrote: flawed
LdC does Mecca - Saturday (Tampa): Full deep black red color. Big bright black fruiwt with a decidedly musty canned stewed fruit note along with a bit of dill and menthol. big red round ripe canned fruit on the palate with some syrupy sweet notes. We agreed that this was probably not a good example.
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11/22/2007 - samer wrote: 92 Points
Everyone at the Thanksgiving table agreed that this '84 outshone the '82 we had the same night just slightly -- bits of smokiness, butter, vanilla, and cranberry rounded out a faint bit of pepper, even less pepper and less tannin than the '82.
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9/11/2007 - Mark wrote: 84 Points
This bottle was considerably lighter than my tasting 18 months ago. Very pale and translucent, little sediment made for easy decanting. This wine has past its prime, but I’ve often found that older mature BV’s tend to age and decline gracefully. Dusty crushed leaves and hints of leather, acidity is very high. A fain hint of cherry cola in the mouth (due to the acid). Tannins are all soft and subdued with a short finish. Although the best years of this wine have long past, I still found it enjoyable bottle to open on a Monday night.
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2/23/2007 - KellyW wrote: 90 Points
There was very little bricking. I could swear the wine got darker with time. As the wine opened, the wine expressed very fresh fruit on the palate with lots of secondary notes and a predominance of anise and coffee. The tannins were refined yet still providing solid grip. As time went on the palate got darker and more full bodied. It was as if the more air the wine got the younger it drank. An incredible transformation.
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11/5/2006 - kstoddard wrote: flawed
Vinegar. Fake bottle. Had a BV Rutherford cork.
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1/27/2006 - Mark wrote: 88 Points
Shawn dropped by and we decided to open up something old from CA and Bordeaux. We picked up a 84 BV off the shelf with low expectations (I had never had it before). Much better than I expected actually. On opening, it showed a single focused high pitched cheery note which receded after about half an hour. That one component dominated the nose with a very thin in the middle palette and the mouth and slightly metallic nature. After an hour, it was a different wine. The nose grew in intensity with smoke, caramel, burnt elements and a slight medicinal note (although much less than most older BV’s). The impressive things is that the intensity didn’t let up after five hours, it was pretty much as it was at hour one, long after the Meyney was pronounced dead, the BV was drinking well. This wine is not for everyone, if you don’t appreciate older CA cabs, then burnt, musty, muddy earthy nature of this wine will not be appealing, but I didn’t think it was all that bad.
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3/21/2004 - Jason wrote: 84 Points
Offputting nose of vanilla custard, ashtray, prunes, and cheddar cheese. The palate is very sweet but picks up some of the descriptors from the nose.
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7/25/2001 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 89 Points
Tasting of 13 BV Georges de Latour, subtle old style nose with cranberry, dull plum color in the glass, cranberry and burnt orange rind on the palate. #8/13
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4/3/1995 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 95 Points
Old nose from 1995 19/20
Nice hue, starting to show a little age.
Great Cabernet character: black current and blackberry, smoky, leathery aromas. Good complexity. very appealing.
Very nice balance and texture. Nice use of oak.
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2/29/1992 - La Cave d'Argent wrote: 85 Points
Tasted at winery. Deep ruby, red rim. Moderately intense currants, cherry and oak on nose, with same palate. Supple, plentiful tannins. Long, relatively smooth finish. Will improve.
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9/14/1989 - MicklethePickle Likes this wine: 88 Points
At Jeff Glick’s going away party at Square One in SF. Excellent nose; well-integrated oak. On the palate, smooth, elegant, slightly bitter. Not as good as MPL thought. 5-11-15-7: 88/100.
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