20 Top Wines of the 1983 Vintage: Three whites. The Laville Haut Brion (96 pts) is incredibly impressive: so young and vibrant, with a perfect balance, intense and expressive, all centered around a rainbow of highly precise fresh tropical fruit notes. This seems to be an immortal wine, highly impressive but would need a bit more complexity to reach the next level. The Y d‘Yquem 1985 (94+pts) was added to the 1983 lineup as we were one white short, and it didn‘t disappoint. A complex dry Sauternes, with all the telltale aromatics and lots of freshness, missing just a bit of a cleaner, more expressive nose to reach an even higher score. The Pavillon Blanc (92pts) is more evolved than the others and shows less precise and clean but has a good acidic spine and lots of minerality giving additional lift.
Decanting: Not decanted, no decanting necessary.
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40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Mature Laville can be so fresh and deep at the same time and this was a prime example. Such a freshness coupled with this length is amazing! Wow
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1983 vintage horizontal with >20 wines, mostly from Bordeaux. Key observations: 1/ Acceptable vintage for Champagne with DP over-delivering, 2/ Laville Haut Brion is a masterpiece among the whites, 3/ Bordeaux is going strong at 40 years of age with stand-outs Latour and Margaux. 4/ No need to chase any Napa’s from the vintage, 5/ off-piste Italians kept up impressively with Soldera an undisputed medalist.
Tasting note: This is a know-out-of-the-park wine at this stage. Intense, wafting out of the glass. Fabulously fresh gooseberry and lychee fruit, smoky elements and crystal-clear minerality. Multi-layered with fresher herbal and even floral elements. Fresh acidity and a slightly creamy texture. Easily beating Pavillon Blanc ’83 and Ygreq ’85 in the flight.
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Jaggerfest 2019 (Harwood Arms, London): Mid to full straw. Lovely nose, rich, slightly waxy, wet wool. Rich, rounded and mouth filling. Manages to be broad and long and complex together. *****
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12/31/2023 - Cailles wrote: 96 Points
20 Top Wines of the 1983 Vintage: Three whites. The Laville Haut Brion (96 pts) is incredibly impressive: so young and vibrant, with a perfect balance, intense and expressive, all centered around a rainbow of highly precise fresh tropical fruit notes. This seems to be an immortal wine, highly impressive but would need a bit more complexity to reach the next level. The Y d‘Yquem 1985 (94+pts) was added to the 1983 lineup as we were one white short, and it didn‘t disappoint. A complex dry Sauternes, with all the telltale aromatics and lots of freshness, missing just a bit of a cleaner, more expressive nose to reach an even higher score. The Pavillon Blanc (92pts) is more evolved than the others and shows less precise and clean but has a good acidic spine and lots of minerality giving additional lift.
Decanting: Not decanted, no decanting necessary.
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11/25/2023 - G_H wrote: 96 Points
40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Mature Laville can be so fresh and deep at the same time and this was a prime example. Such a freshness coupled with this length is amazing! Wow
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11/25/2023 - sirpat00 wrote: 96 Points
1983 vintage horizontal with >20 wines, mostly from Bordeaux. Key observations: 1/ Acceptable vintage for Champagne with DP over-delivering, 2/ Laville Haut Brion is a masterpiece among the whites, 3/ Bordeaux is going strong at 40 years of age with stand-outs Latour and Margaux. 4/ No need to chase any Napa’s from the vintage, 5/ off-piste Italians kept up impressively with Soldera an undisputed medalist.
Tasting note:
This is a know-out-of-the-park wine at this stage. Intense, wafting out of the glass. Fabulously fresh gooseberry and lychee fruit, smoky elements and crystal-clear minerality. Multi-layered with fresher herbal and even floral elements. Fresh acidity and a slightly creamy texture. Easily beating Pavillon Blanc ’83 and Ygreq ’85 in the flight.
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9/2/2020 - LWI wrote: 91 Points
Lemon, spices, almonds; almost chevy, tannic finish, very good grip. Lacking complexity.
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7/3/2019 - SimonG wrote: 95 Points
Jaggerfest 2019 (Harwood Arms, London): Mid to full straw. Lovely nose, rich, slightly waxy, wet wool. Rich, rounded and mouth filling. Manages to be broad and long and complex together. *****
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