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Bordeaux 2010: All That Glitters… (May 2011)

Dark ruby. Very intense aromas of blackberry, licorice and chocolate; strongly minerally but needs more time to absorb its oak. Then rich and ripe but a little coarse in the mouth, with good red and black fruit density. A medium-bodied wine with a moderately long finish featuring building but smooth tannins. This easygoing, uncomplicated wine…

1982 Bordeaux, 20 Years On (Jul 2002)

Full medium red. Spicy aromas of redcurrant, strawberry and plum. Ripe, lush and gentle, with a mineral character contributing to the wine impression of structure and leavening the wine’s sweetness. Very long, ripely tannic finish shows slightly elevated alcohol but comes across as firm nonetheless. (A second sample showed aromas of currant, tobacco, coconut and…

Fairest of Them All: Cos d’Estournel 1928 – 2015 (Oct 2018)

The 1982 Cos d’Estournel is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. I have always fallen for the aromatics of this 1982: roasted chestnut and a touch of aniseed that combines effortlessly with the melted red berry fruit, touches of tar developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, perhaps not…

A Century of Bordeaux: The Nines (Sep 2019)

The 1989 Calon-Ségur is a vintage that I have tasted regularly over the years. I tasted this wine on two separate occasions, firstly at the property in December 2018 and secondly at a dinner in London in July 2019. Strangely, the latter was a far superior bottle. At 30-years of age it sports thin bricking…

A Century of Bordeaux: The Eights (May 2018)

Tasted two or three times before, the 1998 Calon Segur is a wine that showed well from barrel but became rather curmudgeonly in bottle. This bottle replicated the one shown at BI Wine & Spirit’s Calon Segur dinner early in 2016. It is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot and…

1998, 1997 and 1996 Bordeaux (May 1999)

Very good deep ruby. Spicy aromas of black raspberry, cassis, black cherry, licorice and cocoa powder. Supple and lush, with a chocolatey merlot character and adequate acidity. Not especially dense and unusually forward for a northern Medoc wine from this vintage. Finishes with dusty tannins and good but not outstanding length.