1988 Château Certan de May

Community Tasting Notes (41) Avg Score: 91.8 points

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  12/15/2022 - Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Double blind from a small capped bottle (in a flight of the 88,85, & 81): Pretty nose - definite age with nice tertiary notes - some green, some tobacco, some carob some pencil lead - it’s got that beautiful elegance - aristocratic w hints of a nutty sweetness. Gentle and savory on the palate - good structure - good acid and tannins. Nutty and earthy and smooth.
  
  Day 2: Lovely aged right bank Merlot nose - tertiary with that light marzipan and wild strawberry seeetness with soy and carob and maybe a bit of celery or tobacco. Palate is aristocratic and fine - nutty sweetness with carob and tobacco. Great balance. Finish is pure and fine carrying the wonderful flavors and genteel nature to the end. Nose - 5.5/6, Palate - 5-5.5/6, Finish - 5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 17-17.5/20.

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  2/16/2021 - Paul S wrote: 93 Points

  SMD at Bar-a-Thym (Bar-a-Thym, Singapore): Second time out with this wine, and it remained a really pleasing drop. Very green when it first started off, it tamed down quite quickly to show a nicely classic nose of plums, black cherries and green capsicums laced with a little wreath of cigarette smoke. With time, a nice, loamy earthiness started coming to the fore as well. Quite attractive indeed. The palate was very nice, even a bit youthful, with fine-grained, slightly powdery tannins and a good bit of 1988’s stern acidity, thus running through pure flavours of black cherries, plums and a bit of cassis, and then another lovely chew of greener notes - capsicum, cedar bark and cigarette smoke - all resolving into a nicely round finish. I really liked this. It had the classic firmness and reserve of a 1980s Pomerol, yet with a nice ripe chewiness to it. Delicious, with its best years ahead of it yet.

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  4/12/2020 - JonnyG Likes this wine: 92 Points

  A Bordeaux Deep Dive, With Proper Social Distancing; 4/11/2020-4/12/2020 (The Virtual World of Zoom): A beautiful showing. Light ruby, a touch cloudy, with bricking on the rim. Slightly affected aroma (mild VA?), but gorgeous on the palate. Fully resolved, with good concentration and notes of red and black fruit and some cedar. Ample acidity. Just a touch raisiny, suggesting this is slightly past peak.

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  2/29/2020 - Nanda wrote: 91 Points

  Wines with the HDH Auction (Spiaggia): Gorgeous aromas of cedary, bell peppery mature plum fruit with a touch of attractive band-aid. Palate is fully mature with resolved structure. A bit thin on the back end. Better nose than palate.

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  2/29/2020 - acyso wrote: 93 Points

  HDH auction at Spiaggia (Chicago, IL): The generous gift of a Western Illinois gentleman. Initially quite dirty on the nose, and a little disconcerting but then it cleaned itself up nicely with air. Slightly plummy with some really good structure here. Classic Pomerol.

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