At peak. Purple/ruby in color, ruby at the rim. The nose has nice cherries with some cassis and cigar box. On the palate, some complexity. Nice texture. Juicy cherries with some cassis and underlying slight cocoa dust and tobacco. Nice finish. This is about as good as this wine will be. Reasonably food friendly for medium and heavier foods.
Nice enough wine but seems to be a bit past prime. Ruby in color, slight bricking at the rim. The nose has black cherries, slight cedar and slight spice. On the palate, this is straightforward. Cherries. no tannins. Good balance. Very food friendly. A nice Bordeaux for the dinner table.
From Magnum. This has held up nicely and is drinking well. Like and older Bordeaux. Ruby in color, slight bricking at the rim. The nose is nice with cassis and cherries along with some tobacco and dust. On the palate, this has layers of fruit and earthy forest floor. Good balance. This seems very food friendly. Probably a bit past prime at this point, but still with lots to offer.
Deep ruby in color. The nose has nice cherries, black cherries and black raspberries with baking spice and a bit of pepper. Full bodied with a great texture. Nice backbone of acidity. On the palate, black raspberries with some black cherries. This is young and needs a few years to develop but quite tasty right now. Not a monster wine by any means. Will work with medium and big foods.
This continues to improve. Inky purple in color. The nose has black raspberries, white pepper and grilled meats. On the palate, this has a nice juicy acidity. Medium tannins. Black raspberries layered with char and earth. Good finish. No hint of alcohol or heat. Needs bigger and/or spicy foods. This wine still needs about five years to peak. Then should be good for another 15 after that. Very concentrated.
This is from Bill Harlan. At age 15, this wine seems to be at peak and is singing. Purple in color. The nose has cassis, slight smoke, slight vanilla and slight cigar. On the palate, this has a nice silky texture. Slight wispy tannins. Lots of cassis fruit. Plenty of depth and tight layering that unwinds in the glass. This drinks like a almost mature Bordeaux wine. Will work with meats and heartier foods.
Just an amazing wine. This was a vintage with a lot of heat, some wines got jammy and while this is a big wine, it is definitely under control. Purple/ruby in color. The nose is complex. Lots of black cherries, black raspberries, with grilled meats, and some anise. Clean, no barnyard. The texture is amazing. A great example of a sexy wine. On the palate, loads of black cherry fruit. Depth. No hint of the 16% Alcohol. Long finish. This probably still has some room for improvement and certainly no hurry on it.
Purple in color. The nose has nice cassis, a bit of blueberries, spice and cocoa dust. On the palate, this is very good but lacks intensity. Lots of cassis fruit along with some chocolate. Good finish. This won't get any better but should be good for another ten years. Will work with medium and heavier foods.
Deep purple in color, ruby at the rim. The nose is great with cassis, slight blueberries, soy sauce, and slight baking spices. On the palate, this is young, tight and tannic, but given that, it presents delicious drinking right now. Of course, give it five or ten years and there is definitely some upside. The palate has lots of cassis intertwined with a nice earthiness with some salinity. Good finish. Needs heavier foods right now. This has another 20 years in it depening how you like your wines.
It's not too often I get the chance to drink a Bordeaux from my birth year - 1958, so this was quite a treat. Pale ruby/brown in color to the rim. The nose took a few minutes to sort itself out. It is clearly old and past its prime but it was good and had plenty of life left. The nose had dust, some mushrooms but also some cigar box and even some cherries. Maybe I imagined it, but also some classic soy sauce notes. On the palate, this is soft but reasonably in balance. No tannins. Some cherry fruit layered with damp earth/tobacco. Good finish. I won't give this an official grade b
