David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

HBTM! 🥳 🎉🎂 🎈

WOTN!

Still fresh & youthful. Perfect. Great fill. Still peaking.

Bramble, nicely, fresh fruits of; blackberries, creamy, black raspberries, black plum, plum, dark cherries, hints of blueberries, poached to dry strawberries. Lead pencil for days, dry tobacco, used leather, liquid herbaceous notes, volcanic & limestone marl & grey clay, eucalyptus/pine tar, black licorice, dark spice, touch of black pepper, mushroom, light baking spices, dry top soil, dry river stone, dry stem, well done toast, dry & withering; dark, red, some blue florals framed in lavender & violets, perfect acidity and extremely well; balanced, structured, tensioned, balanced, smarty polished finish that last several minutes finish.

Photos of; Latour and their vine close to the D2, entrance to Chatesu Latour and their barrel room. The cleanest cellar I’ve seen and I have seen most of the wine world.

It’s just the left side of the bell curve. Stored correctly it has another 10 plus years of good drinking.

Robert Parker launched his career calling this vintage correctly upon release when others were not. — 3 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2002 vintage. Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Great fill. Excellent cork. Heavy body. Initially, just oodles of richness (still!) but after 30 minutes, began to fill in structural details on the back end dossier. First impressions, a 9.3 so things definitely improved. Tasted more like a 2016 or newer vintage-very fresh. Nicely made and seems to be effortlessly gliding along currently. Feel it needs another 4-5 years to kick in the door to "the zone" but in the adjacent zip code currently. Still on the ascent to the top of the bell curve. Be patient. 12.8.23. — 6 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2005 vintage. Almost tastes like it could have been released last week. Super youthful with dark berry and plum blasts. Decent structure but not oppressive. Catching this one just below the top of the bell curve. Hopefully, you’ve got more than one bottle kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown. Other-worldly now but methinx it’s about to get even better. Last tasted in mid-June and same score but this bottle was slightly better. Seek this out-now. — 2 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

8.9

1986 vintage. Ripped through six bottles (one corked) for a 1986 BDX dinner @ Mister A's-San Diego. All bottles appropriately aged fill and decent+ corks. Double decanted and tasted over the course of 5 hours. Mix of powdery and stubborn (non-chunky) sed amongst the 6 bottles. Light-medium body throughout. Somewhat muted experience overall. None of the bottles (with variation) shone/sung. Wine is firmly on the downside of the bell curve with best days behind it (based on the 5 + corked bottle examples). There was none of the usual P-L flavor markers but the body hung in there. Pains me to say this but drink up now unless you've got a larger format bottle. Maggie (+) would probably yield a higher score. 3.14.24. — 3 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2012 vintage. Decanted and tasted after 2 hours and after 3 hours. Seemingly simple nose. Light-medium body. Come together-right now-from start to finish. Cocoa powder, cedar, blueberries, tobacco and graphite all figure prominently throughout. Well-knit and pretty damned close to the top of the bell curve along with the backstage pass in the optimal drinking "zone." Not the biggest Pauillac or vintage but firing on all cylinders. Seems like it'll hold tight in this spot with the wheels crimped to curb and the parking brake on for 7-10 years. Grab you some before it decides to drive away. — a year ago

Gregory Fulchiero

9.1

Developed, tart but nice contrast with toffee notes. Great to see this curve. — 2 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

1995 vintage. Great fill, foil and label. Perfect cork. From a top-notch cellar. Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Volcanic ash-styled sed vs chunky-style. Big funk on the nose that resolved after 7-8 minutes. Wine was showing decently (in the 69-72 degree range) but lacking any tannic structure. Placed the decanter atop an ice bucket bath to drop the temp down to 60 degrees or so. Took about 20 minutes but the tannins kicked in the door to say hello. Fruit components stayed constant. Pauillac tendencies were all there. As is the case often with older BDX, the decaying matter/leaves at the onset transitioned to graphite/lead pencil and espresso flavors. This was a superior bottle in great shape. Top of this wine’s specific bell curve. Comparable bottles would look to be drinking this well for the next 5-7 years without dropoff. Out of larger format…could possibly push this into 9.4 status. 2.5.24. — 4 months ago

Matt Austin

Owner/Winemaker, Grosgrain Vineyards, Walla Walla, WA

9.0

Coming down the curve, but enjoyed by all. Still somewhat tannic, which will outlive the fruit — 10 months ago

Gregory Fulchiero

9.2

Outstanding wine. Beautiful aging curve. One of the bargains in BDX. — 2 years ago

Scott Kahn

9.0

This wine lack the normal softness of Haut Brion, and required some time in the glass to reach its peak presentation. While definitely on the downward slope of the maturity curve there was enough life in the wine to create surprise! — 2 years ago