1999 Château Roland La Garde Grand Vin

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 93 points

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  4/22/2019 - Mossrose wrote: 93 Points

  This top wine of 3 levels released by Chateau Roland, the Grand Vin, in both the 1998 and 1999 vintages was precociously delicious on release and, unlike most Bordeaux wines, never shut down, making this modestly priced $20 easy to keep swigging down. But I did manage to stash away some 1999s in our 55 degree wine cooler. On the first day, this 20 year old wine discouragingly opened with a brown tone, silty look, and off odor. But this initial shock from being opened significantly abated by the second day, replaced by tasty fruits of cherry and blackberry, a lush texture, refreshing acidity, and gentle tannin, all the more seamless and integrated than the young wine.
  
  Postscript: I kept this wine open or 7 days longer without retasting it, primarily because my wife did not like it. But when I did retaste when I ate lunch alone, it was flawless. Served blind to me, I would have identified it as too good to be the 1999 Roland. MORAL: When a wine disappoints, retaste it before you condemn it as a throw away.

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