Opened tonight with a dinner of broiled lamb and cous-cous. I had originally planned on opening the '95 Santa Duc -- which turned out to be corked -- so dug this out of the cellar only to find that I had miscatalogued it as the "Cuvée Prestige," which thankfully it was not.
color: dark garnet with brick at the edge nose: initially, fairly meaty/stinky, with good minerality and deep fruit, becoming less meaty with time and opening up to show intense, cherry liqueur fruitiness palate: initially, fine-grained tannins, deep fruit and good balancing acidity; becoming over time more intensely fruited and shedding those tannins
I had been worried initially that the regular bottling of Santa Duc might have been OTH after 16 years -- not to worry! This is a wine with another 5-10 years left on it. A great match with the lamb, which had been marinated in a red wine/garlic marinade. Tasted blind, I would have guessed CNdP, as it had all the character and ageworthiness of its more fabled neighbor. Purchased for $15 at Sam's ca. 1992.
Mark Lipton