Bordeaux


61 Mission Haut-Brion

Nose literally out of this world. Some members of the party claimed to be able to smell it across the room.  Fruit in the middle utterly delicious. Smooth. Good finish.  Started to weaken after about 15 minutes in the glass, so would recommend drinking continuously from opening (so as not to miss anything). $uh… 8/05

 

61 Pape Clement

Excellent bouquet. Very concentrated fruit (still) and full mid palate. Medium finish. 12/99

 

76 Latour

Great nose. Just slightly weighted toward tannins:fruit. But not bad. Good tasty finish (Please God don’t let me start sounding like Rachel Ray). Holding in. Probably on the decline. But not too much so. Very long and solid cork. 12/06

 

90 Clerc Milon (Pauillac)
Delicious, although somewhat one dimensional and not especially graceful. Still, it will have been a great value at $26 9/97
(2) Quite interesting. Not extremely well-balanced or elegant. However, very compelling flavor with respectable finish. The wine still needs more time. RP says Clerc Milon has an exotic style for Bordeaux. 12/98
(3)

“In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralyzed force, gesture without motion”

Good structure, as one should expect from a grand cru from the 90 vintage (albeit 5th growth). I concur with others that it's light to medium bodied with earth and lead pencil in the nose. But it only hints at greatness without actually providing it. 7/99
(4) Nose is pleasant, but may have too much synthetic lily in it. I think the wine is more balanced now, but still the tannins are too hot. It may improve just slightly from now to 2005. 11/00
(5) Nice structure.
Same floral/lead pencil theme, but overall good experience.  Shows some complexity, and might even be more interesting in 5 or so years.  Still not quite the delicious berry flavor one might (secretly or not so secretly) hope for in cabernet. Cost $27 (worth $37). 6/05

(6) Smooth. Same lead pencil mild berry as before. But so balanced. So enjoyable. If I could have this balance and more fruit, I’d pay big money. 8/06

 

95 Clerc Milon (Pauillac)

Tannins so harsh that I couldn’t even discern the flavor, which didn’t seem to great either. Wow. What the? Can time help this wine? 1/06

 

95 Batailley (Pauillac)
This is a fine $18 Bordeaux. Decent fruit and very good structure for the price. What’s missing is a finish and just that the fruit is really just nothing special. 9/01

96 Pontet-Canet (Pauillac)
Already closed up. Missed the window. A $44 lesson (3 years is pushing it). Hints of black fruit. Otherwise, I can only agree with Parker that this is one concentrated, tannic bomb. Still going strong at day 4. $44 7/99

95 Beausejour-Becot

Potential is there, but too young to really tell. Would try again in five or so yrs. 6/05

 

 White Bordeaux


76 Carbonnieux White Graves

Quite wonderful. Interesting nose of old rags and pink bubble gum. Full flavored, rich, interesting. Compelling signal to really age out some of those whites. "You keep your hands off her, you hear what I say." 12/98

 

 

Sauternes

 

89 De Malle Sauternes

My first sauternes.  A bit weird.  I’m not sure I like it as much as the sweet Riesling. Seems more like a Tokaj. 1/01

 

 

 

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