Pauillac, Médoc
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1986
Château Pontet-Canet
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1996
This seemed to be in a perfect spot showing red & black fruit, graphite, cedar, sweet savory spice, leather & tobacco — a month ago
Château Lynch-Bages
Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 1990
Medium ruby garnet, quite thin garnet terracotta rim . Quite rich , with ripe red fruits , some tobacco , warm spiciness , cigar box , ripe cassis , sous bois , after a while touch of coffee. On the palate this also shows good roundness with ripe red and dark fruits, cassis , red plum , grafite , touch of earthiness . Balanced acidity and rounded sweet tannin . Quite juicy with a grafite edged finish . Pretty good length. This is at peak now . For now and over the next 5 -8 years. Quite generous and showy , ripe but balanced, a good showing. — 9 days ago
Château Palmer
Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1983
Slightly lighter garnet core , lighter terracotta rim . Quite muted on the nose , quite herbal and spiced notes, some red plum and floral sous bois , black tea . After a while this opens up slightly , showing a bit more detail , but never jumps out and grabs your attention as other bottles have. On the palate this is better , with the roundness and slightly sweet , red plum , summer fruits , sous bois and lightly herbal , grafite tinged , saline finish of reasonable length . Quite refreshing acidity and suave tannins . On this basis drink now and over the next few years. However , there are better bottles out there . This was disappointing compared with other bottles I’ve had , though the palate was more sound and it wasn’t flawed. A bit of a perplexing bottle. — 9 days ago
Château Mouton Rothschild
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1995
The most showy bottle I’ve had of this wine, 95 Mouton is in a terrific place, and an absolute classic, with Paulliac power and concentration, fine grained tannins and hugely persistent finish. Fantastic with the legendary EMP duck! — 13 days ago
Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2000
At 25 years, patience rewarded in this now delightful vintage. No hurry here as this juice is a long distance runner with at another 40 years to enjoy. — 5 days ago
Château Duhart Milon
Pauillac Cabernet Sauvignon - Merlot Blend 2000
Deep color, no bricking at 25 years. Nice wafting nose, lead pencil on palate, very smooth, a little drying tannins. — 20 days ago
Château Sociando-Mallet
Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend 2010
Medium deep ruby garnet core , quite narrow garnet ruby rim. Grafite , cassis , deeper , darker fruit than the 2017. Blackberry and some ash and tobacco. On the palate this is deeper, with more darker fruit also, grafite , cassis and with a roundness and richness that the 2017 doesn’t have . Quite fresh acidity and gritty tannins , good length with grafite and cassis freshness . This is showing well but can still improve over the next 5 or so years and will last well over the next 10 years if not more . Quite refined , complete and well balanced for Sociando Mallet — 2 hours ago
Andrew Cullimore
Medium deep garnet ruby , quite thin garnet terracotta rim . This is quite classic and more austere on the nose after the 1990s , grafite , cedar, sweet spice , earthiness and mint. More dry and four square on the palate compared to the 1990s but enough stuffing to fill out. Cassis , plum and blackberry , coffee , grafite . Refreshing acidity , slightly grippy drier tannin. Sous bois , grafite , herbal character with good length and earthy cassis finish . This got better with time in the glass and probably should have been decanted . This shows there is some upside , from now , with time in the glass, and over the next 10 years. The wine that improved the most during the dinner , quite impressive . — 9 days ago