The wine still has fairly deep color with not much evidence of age around the rim. There is some herbal character in the bouquet and something somewhat like slightly burned cassis jam. There still is a bit of tannin, and enough acid, but far less than in many of the 1975s. It is quite drinkable, but not of classified Bordeaux quality, much less first growth quality. This wine should have been sold off to be part of a regional blend.
The critics may have a bit of crow to eat concerning some of their early reviews of the 75s. In an earler report Parker rated the 75 Margaux as
68 and in his 91 book expected it to be in serious decline. It has lasted much better than he expected. Broadbent recently rates it as 3 out or 4 star, and Coates recently rated it as 13/20.
However in his 91 book, Parker still rates the 75 Lafite as 96 ! and gave an anticipated maturity of up to 2010. Coates now rates it as 14/20 in need of drinking. Broadbent recently gave it a rating of 3 out of 5 star and did not expect improvement. I have not seen a recent rating from Parker. It would be interesting to see if he has eaten crow, or if he still stands by his old rating from 1991.
Parker rants about the 61 Lafite in his 91 book and gives it only an 84 rating. However Broadbent now gives it a 5 out of 5 star at the best, indicating there has been some bottle variation. Coates recently rated it as 19.5/20. Either Parker has been unfortunate over the years to get bottles not at their best, or he has a taste very out of tune with many other critics, especially in Europe. I have not seen a recent rating of the 61 Lafite by Parker. He may need to eat 2 crows for his earlier evaluation. I really pay no attention to what Parker has to say about Bordeaux anymore.
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