Graves Red Bordeaux Blend

Double decanted two nights before service. The 2004 Haut Brion pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. One the nose, the wine is developing with notes of tart and ripe dark fruit: Black currants, blackberries, tobacco, pencil lead, purple flowers, gravelly earth and fine baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid; the structure is very well integrated. Confirming the notes from the nose with the addition of Flintstones vitamins. The finish is long and ferrous. This continued to build in the glass and had such a fabulous nose! Drinking well now (after a lot of air) but this has a long life yet ahead, 2054 with ease.

Beautiful.

Loved

Deep and complex. Gnarly slightly wild fruit. Earthiness, intense and yet reduced. While not the best bottle of this I’ve had it’s still pretty amazing stuff. A long life ahead

Incredible depth of color rim to rim without variation. Inky. Showing slight brick under strong light. Nose of rye toast, tobacco, turned earth, black cherry, oak bark, crumbly roses, dried lavender, and sage. Descriptors do not do justice to the seamless whole of the smells, which are sewn together with espresso and bay leaf, allspice and forest notes. Smooth and silky tannins slip over medium mouthfeel of dried mushroom and graphite, re-emerge as round textural tapestries, filled with candle smoke, dark, rich cherry and ripe black currants. A stunner that needed days of exposure to fully emerge. Enticing and exquisite.




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Lovely resolved drinking perfect lush gorgeous fruit tell tail lead pencil Tobacco , cassis lovely minerals . Lush and rich on the palate one of the best 1964s I have had . Wife was happy her birth year wine .

Tasted blind. Dark reddish tawny color, almost opaque. Dense in the glass. Notes of cola, high-pitched fruit, wood, herbs, gravel and some barnyard. Rich in the mouth with ample fruit. Long, lasting finish. Silky is an understatement. So youthful and in such a great zone, this seems like it could last another 60 years. We all settle on a guess that this is the 61 HB which I served last year at my bday so we have a recent data point to use. (M's 60th bday 9th of 14)

From what can best be described as a bottle that was clearly not in great condition... 6cm ullage, faded light-kissed label, shrunken loose cork but the sludge around it at the top kept a good seal. Opened and let sit for 2 hours in the bottle, then decanted and left in decanter for 60 min. Dark amber tawny, opaque with some age showing in the rims. Killer old Bordeaux nose with notes of black cherry, tobacco leaf, cigar ash, old cedar wood and gravel stone. Silky in the mouth. Luscious. Lasting finish. This was a bottle that was part of a larger auction lot I bought a few years back and I knew there were risks with this particular bottle. Thus its amazing how what clearly wasn’t the best stored bottle can tonight still deliver a most memorable experience.

From a great looking bottle with a mid-shoulder fill and an appropriate plug. Reddish amber color, it looks amazing and smells even better. Exotic perfume with notes of rose petals, tobacco leaf, cola, leather saddle, Cuban cigar and some menthol. Some cranberry and walnut notes develop too. Lots of red fruit. Slow-ox'd it for 4 hours, then gave it 30 min in a decant, then back in the bottle for enjoyment through the evening. This never tired, and showed continual improvement until it was gone. Drinking history. Decided to go side by side... 45 vs 61 vs 89. Tonight the 61 was better than the 45 but not by much. The 89 may eclipse both in 30 years tho. (Bday 10 of 13)

From a gorgeous bottle with 4cm of ullage. Slow-ox'd for 3 hours, then gave it 45 min in a decanter, then back in the bottle for consumption and debauchery over 5 more hours. Reddish tawny with amber rims, translucent. Gorgeous nose from the get go. Notes of raspberry jam, cola, cool slate rock, gravel and tan spice. Silky, velvet glove in the mouth. Has some solid structure that balances the ton of fruit this wine still has. The impact of this wine is both its elegance and the energy in the background that makes each sip memorable. This bottle was even better than the year-ago birthday bottle, and tonight it eclipsed my previous favorite 61 Bordeaux of all time (the 61 Palmer). (Bday 9 of 13)