1975 Ch. Mouton Rothschild - while clearly not quite the wine that the
> monumental Latour is, this bottle of Mouton acquitted itself very
> well, showing a nose that I kept coming back to as it had a bit more
> complexity than the Latour, with more open fruit (and a bit of
> mustiness that blew off) and complexity was there but you had to work
> at it a bit. I was worried about this wine last time I drank it,
> wondering if it might be starting to break up, but this bottle was in > fine shape.
The Andy Warhol label wine. I was glad to see your notes on this. I bought a case of it on release, and 11 bottles remain. I tried a single bottle a few years ago, but I did not consider it ready then. Likely it is nearly time to try another bottle. I think I need to drink my remaining 1970 Mouton before I drink much of the 1975, based on my tastings. Both the 1970 and and 1975 Mouton generated quite mixed reactions from the critics. Nearly all agreed that it was unready for many years. I have seen some estimates that it might hold well until 2020. Others think you might as well drink it soon. Quality wise, the 1975 is decent and at least above average. However it is no match for the top Mouton vintages in modern times.
> Reggiano, Tomme, and Beddis blue cheese with fig sausage and fruit > toats.
>
> 1975 Ch. Montrose - last time I had this it was just getting into
> drinking plateau (which with this vintage means that the tannin has
> abated while there is still enough fruit to enjoy the wine). This time
> around it showed a nose that was positively Rhonish with a funky
> barnyard thing going on, and this never transformed into the more
> orthodox cedar and fruit nose that had been typical of this wine in
> the past. Big, tannic, weighty, but based on this bottle I wouldn't
> think it would get any better. When last tasted the tannin seemed
> lower but I expect that the fruit was just more forward in that
> bottle.
Again I was glad to see your notes for this wine. I only bought 3 bottles of Montrose 1975 on release and have not opened one yet. I remember estimates that it might drink well until 2030.
It is worth restating that it would be a big mistake for anyone to
> generalize from notes like these. With wines of this sort of age you
> simply cannot take one data point and expect the rest of the bottles
> of that wine to toe the line. Cellaring history and bottle variation
> have a great effect on wines like this. One tired bottle may just be
> that - a single non-characteristic showing. When you see three or four
> similar notes then it is fair to deduce a trend.
The 1975s likely are only a mild example of how tannic and acid some top wines could be in the past. One of the extremes must have been the
1870 first growths, many of which are still drinking well if from cold cellars and well stored. These wines were so undrinkable when young, that many of the people who cellared them never drank them and some were not ready in the lifetime of their children either. This likely is the reason that some were still left and turned up at auction in modern times after they finally matured after many decades.