1990 vintage. Previously tasted 3x in the last 4+ years 01.20.23 (9.6), 05.16.21 (9.4) and 09.21.23 (9.5) Top shoulder fill. Excellent cork. Decanted and tasted immediately. Oodles of sediment as expected. Beguiling St. Estèphe nose. This. Was. Phenomenal. Best of the four horsemen/tastings. Enough structure to build the infrastructure for a new city along with a surprising amount of dark fruit. A well-stored, large format bottle of this might just show you the best time you’ve ever had. WoW. 08.14.25. — 2 months ago
Cork fell in at some point, but can it drink any better than this still? I don’t think — 6 months ago
2 hour decant. Shredded cork. Filtered the wine.
Wow. This was just gorgeous and smooth. Tannins very well integrated and the fruit was excellent.
One of my favorite vintages with some age — 8 minutes ago
Medium deep garnet , medium terracotta rim . A very healthy looking colour. Quite mature and venerable on the nose , sous bois , iodine, plum, old wood , earthy with herbal touches and fresh tobacco . Reasonable volume on the palate with light sous bois and nori notes , quite fresh acidity and slightly gritty tannins still. Tobacco , grafite slightly short finish. Quite a good showing for a wine of almost 80 years old, enough interest and volume on the palate . Probably better a few decades ago , but certainly more than a curiosity as the wine stayed with us well for over 2 hours . Drink now . This was an ex chateau bottle that had been reconditioned at some point , I would imagine by the looks of the cork , about 20-25 years ago. No mention of this on the bottle however . Into neck fill. — 3 months ago
This was a well-stored example and the cork was in pretty great shape; extracted with the aid of a Durand. Opened about an hour before service and poured into a decanter. Enjoyed over the course of a couple hours. The 1981 pours a garnet color with a slight orange-ish rim; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears and some sediment. On the nose, the wine is vinous with mostly desiccated notes of dark and red fruit: red currants, confected cherry, organic earth, mushroom, leather, eucalyptus, baking spice. Umami AF. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium acid. While showing its age, this is very much alive. The entire bottle was enjoyed by all. Drink now. — 3 months ago
2005 vintage. Last tasted 11.23.23 (9.4), 11.15.19 (9.4), 06.01.17 (9.5) Last bottle. Respectable, low neck fill. Used a Durand and excellent cork. Decanted with sticky (to the bottle) sediment and not that much floating loose to navigate. Tasted after 30 minutes. Those inimitable, sexy Cos stylings. Medium/medium heavy (still!?) bod. Richness. Ample fruit. Slight amount of aged George Clinton/Bootsy funk. Highly restrained tannins. Woah. This. Did. Not. Suck. Time to reorder. 9.13.25. — 22 days ago
Anytime an older Heitz Martha’s is open, it’s a treat. I’ve tried to acquire a few random bottles over the years and they have consistently impressed (‘78 and ‘01, specifically). My first early ‘90s vintage.
Quick double decant to simply get the wine off sediment as it wouldn’t be consumed from a decanter at the location I would be at.
In my experience, the distinct and typical eucalyptus notes jump right at pop, but this bottle was a little subdued early on. After an hour with the cork out, the eucalyptus, herbs, cedar and red fruit made their entrance. Compared to the ‘91 Hartwell I opened a few months ago, this was more elegant and less dense on the mid-palate. If not for the eucalyptus, I could see this being called left bank Bordeaux with 30yrs on it. Gained some darker red/underripe black fruit notes the longer it was open. Beautiful length at the finish. Bright acidity and tannin. Not getting better, but a wonderful drinking window to enjoy now. — 3 months ago
1989 vintage. From magnum. Nice fill and cork better than expected. Not decanted and first tasted after 7 (seven!!) hours after opening. Talk about task saturation...Light body with some brickish notes but back end concentration along with dark cherry and plum notes fronting earth + tobacco histories. Good length of finish. Drink whatever format ya got cuz it's definitely time unless you like playing wine pathologist and reconstituting tissue/flavors to flesh out what once was and rebuilding around the existing skeleton. Eminently doable as long as you're intimately familiar with the producer/wine, have previously tasted the wine and have really good notes/memory. 05.11.25. — 5 months ago
Anton Siochi
Great example of Irish whiskey, mellow yet flavourful. Almost a syrupy mouthfeel, candy, a wee bite at the finish — a month ago