TN claret SFWS Nov tasting

Nov 12, 2003 8 Replies

Hello everyone. OT, still haven't moved, hope for next week, bloody lawyers and bloody English law. Is it as bad in Canada, Bill?



Last night a very interesting tasting, blind as usual. All cellared by Jeremy since release.



Potensac 96, slight purple edge, young spice cab nose, perfumed. Soft and good fruit, spice, not long, a luncheon claret



Potensac 89, hint of brown, a bit dull, rather mean cedar and dust nose, soft, tannins almost gone, spice and fruit. Drink up.



Angludet 89, bright, good extract, hint of brown, soft feminine spicy nose, complex. Let down on palate, soft no tannin, short. Drink up.



Potensac, 86, a deep wine, no browning. old dusty cooked claret nose, fish and chips and vinegar. Mean and gone on palate. Drink up or give to an enemy.



La Tour Pibran, 86, identical notes to the Potensac 86.........dying



Potensac 83, bright and viscous, nose like the above, but rather nice on the palate, soft, still fruit, short. Not dead yet.



Angludet 82, a different league, deep++, oodles of extract, great legs, wonderful ethereal Margaux nose, vegetal and armpits. Soft decadent entry, fruit and tannins all in balance. So long. Superb......I have none.....buy it if you can, now and a few years to come.



La Tour Pibrin **61**, very pale but bright, an interesting nose of old cellars and wet paper, soft and chewy, sweet. short.not dead yet.



La Tour Pibrin **59**, deep with extract, a ruddy-brown edge, bright, this wine glowed. Wonderful complex old nose, sweet, Amazing softness and still fruit. Very long. Still very alive.



The last two wines were Wine Society bottlings from Jeremy's youth.



Question for you experts. I believe that old claret was made for a long life, stalks and all. Modern claret, as above, made for youthful consumption and then dies. Do you agree??



BTW, Jeremy has his last bottle of Yquem 1947, we will have it with Fois Gras at the Society's 25th dinner in January. I will post!!!


Canada? Mild temps, with only a drizzle of conveyancing solicitors......

In general I think there is some truth in this. Wines are made to be 'fruit friendly' and ready to drink these days, and one result is that they often have less acidity and much less or softer tannins. I anticipate their early deaths, unmourned by those who respect the old styles.

Bill (a big 1975 fan)

Well, I agree partially with you (and Bill).I have trouble envisioning a lot of modern Bordeaux, especially the "Parkerized" very-low-acid types, going the long haul. That being said, all of this is vintage-dependent. The wines you cite, a '59 & a '61, are from legendary vintages. Try to find a '60 Bordeaux that's even drinkable. There are plenty of wines in recent vintages ('89, '90, '95, '96 left, '98 right, '00) with the guts for the long-haul, IMHO. The difference is probably most apparent in the Cru B. level wines- I doubt any recent Ch. Glorias are going to go 30 years (I think Bill posted on a '70 or '75 Gloria). But I bet the '00 will be fine in 15, and that's enough for me. :)

Sorry to hear the '86 Potensac is so bad. The crapshoot with '86s was always whether the fruit could outlast the tannins, this one clearly couldn't. The '82 Potensac is actually still quite tasty. Your '96 Potensac showed lighter than the bottles I've had, I thought it a nice balanced claret for drinking now and over next 5 years (good deal - still available sometimes around $16US, too).

Nice notes, appreciate it! Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

One bottle of 75LLC left. when to drink?

John

Any time from now (it started showing well a year or a bit more ago) to about

2013!

I thought that tough puppy would never hit drinkablility, and was delighted when it did.

Bill (with 5 bottles left ;-)

I did have a '60 Pichon from the cellar directly ('60 is the wife's birthday) and it was quite good considering the year

dave

Lalande or Baron? '60 is my birth year, Port is usually about the best I can do. Would love to find a drinkable '60. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Dale you are making me feel so old:) Unless of course you meant 1860:)

Lew/+Silat

Dale Williams writes: 60 is my birth year, Port is usually about the best I can do. Would love to find a drinkable 60. Dale

Lalande - It really was suprisingly good all things considered. It did not taste its age (had it in 2000)

Dale Williams wrote:

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