I have now finished nearly all of my remaining 1976 red Bordeauxs. I had quite a few single bottles of these, since I at one time collected nearly all of the classified red Bordeauxs, and many that are difficult to find became available to me for the 1976 vintage. Very few were faulty, so I will not bore you with these. All had been stored properly since shortly after release. Most still had some life left, but a few had seen better days. Most were quite drinkable food wines, but few were very exciting and would make you want to search them out at this late date. the 1976 wines opened included: Rausan Gassies, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Canon, Pichon Longueville Lalande, Duhart-Milon-Rothschild, Raysan-Segla, Batailley, Lynch Moussas, and La Tour Carnet . If anyone is interested in a short note concerning any of these wines, just ask.
Finished many 1976 Red Bordeauxs
May 05, 2011
8 Replies
I would be interested in any notes you want to share but especially the Ducru and the Pichon. Thanks.
Ducru : Still holding fairly well, but a bit austere.
Pichon-Lalande: Still holding, but some loss of fruit. Better earlier.
Duhart-Milon-Rothschild: Holding, but a bit lacking in fruit. This wine cost about twice as much as many others, so you seem to be paying a premium for the magic name Rothschild in this case.
Rauzan-Gassies: Rather common. Not a lot of fruit left.
Rausan-Segla: Holding and quite drinkable, but not exciting.
Lynch-Moussas: Holding fairly well, but not very interesting.
Canon: A bit austere. Likely had more fruit earlier.
Batailley: Nothing special, but still holding and no technical faults.
La Tour Carnet: Still holding. About average for the year at this late date. Better than expected.
I've had comparatively little experience with '76 Bdx. I've liked many that I have had,but never truly loved one. Probably best I've had in last few years was the Magdalaine. I really appreciate the notes. Even though I don't own any '76 Bdx, sometimes I run across some in mixed lots I'm considering, so useful.
PS Red I mean- I think 76 is great for Sauternes. Going even further off topic, into "who the hell will pay THAT". on winebid this week there's a 1976 Sauternes for $60- producer I've never heard of, color is DARK brown, half bottle.
Pinchon Lalande was the only one I had that I really liked. Did not buy any first growths. Liked 1978 better.
Dale-I recently drank a 375 of D'Yquem 1967 that was dark brown...very dark...like long brewed black tea. It was very tasty although perhaps the color influenced my perceptions because I noted a fair amount of brown sugar and caramel notes.
I have the 67 Yquem in both full and half bottles. Both formats are about the same color in glass, but the full bottles appear darker than the half bottles when viewed through the bottle because of the increased diameter of the full bottle compared to the half bottle. The intensity of color is a bit less than for the 59. It is quite common for old, very rich vintages, of Yquem and very rich German TBA to develop rather intense color with time, and this is no flaw in many cases.In the case of Yquem, the color might change from gold, to old gold, to old gold with some copper with time. I would be somewhat concerned with a very dark brown color, especially if I were considering buying the wine and could not taste it first.. The dark wine may be perfectly good, and I believe Broadbent has mentioned considerable variation in old Yquem color. Some speculation as to what might cause a very dark color would be exposure to more light than usual, slight leakage through the cork that lets in a bit of air, etc.
Sure, I've have very very dark brown Sauternes that were excellent. But it's not something you WANT to see.
But there's a huge difference in a legendary wine like the 67 Yquem and a half bottle of the 1976 Bechereau. :)
Both points well taken I would not buy a bottle that dark either but it did drink well.
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