Solihull Fine Wine Society August meeting in a balmy Edgbaston. Kaivan decided to look at this maligned vintage, known as the vintage of the downpour, x3 amount of rain fell in September.
Only six wines as most folk were away in France or fishing in Scotland.
Blind as usual, all 1993
Ch. Pavie, a little dull and showing some age, restrained pencil shavings nose with some stalkiness. A rather nice entry with fair fruit and some spice, but finished very short.
Ch. Cheval Blanc.garnet robe no ageing, complex organic nose, tobacco. Wonderfful soft entry, still some fruit, chewy tannin. A fine luncheon claret. A lightweight beauty. WOTN
Ch. Haut Bailly, the opposite to CB, browning egde, again pencils and steel, some fruit, but harsh tannins. mean+
Ch Haut Brion Huge extract, some VA that blew off, sweet damson jam nose, wet cardboard. Soft full spice fruit, tasted of jam, long fished very dry. My 2nd WOTN
Ch. Pichon Lalande. Garnet with no age. A wonderful classic claret nose of cassis spice cedar. All in balance, still tannins, but full with some stalkiness.
Ch Latour. Massive extract, brown edge. Very restrained nose, had to search for any positive olfactory stimuli, Soft entry then nothing, thin stalky mean. Worst wine of the night.
Very interesting. These wines are available still at about £60, if you wish to have a light claret of interest... then CB, Pichon and HB in that order.