Mature Wine & Spirits 1904 to 2003

The 1989 Ausone is a good but not great wine certainly one that ought to have been far better given the benevolent growing season. The nose is well defined with dark berry fruit mocha leather and undergrowth scents fully matured... Read More

What a good wine, and relatively well priced. very classy nose, displaying lots of cedary, pencil-shavings quality, toastiness and really fine fruit. Rich and concentrated, it has lovely focus on the palate with fine, silky tannins... Read More

Tasted almost exactly a year after my previous encounter this 1947 Château d'Yquem replicated the performance back then. It revealed that burnished amber color then the glorious intense and rich bouquet with dried honey quince... Read More

Bright medium red with a reddish-amber rim. Pungent notes of cinnamon quinine and rosemary complicate red cherry on the enticing aromatic nose. Juicy and fresh on the palate showing good density to the red fruit peppery plum and... Read More

Good medium amber-edge red. Flamboyant aromas of smoked meat leather truffle and burnished oak. Intensely flavored and penetrating with strong acids giving the flavors terrific cut and grip. I get an impression of strong cabernet... Read More

The 1989 Haut-Brion remains one of the outstanding achievements of the decade and it consistently flirts with perfection. I was fortunate to taste the wine three times over the space of six months though this tasting note comes... Read More

The 1989 Haut-Brion remains one of the outstanding achievements of the decade and it consistently flirts with perfection. I was fortunate to taste the wine three times over the space of six months though this tasting note comes... Read More

Very good deep red-ruby. Sweet highly expressive aromas of redcurrant hot stones roasted plum woodsmoke and tobacco. Fuller and more textured in the middle palate with a chewy tactile mouth feel that suggests strong extract and... Read More

Full red-ruby. Roasted plum currant tobacco and minerals on the nose. Compellingly dense and thick but almost miraculously lively and light on its feet. Has a texture like liquid velvet coating the entire palate. Wonderfully unmanipulated... Read More

Good full medium red. Exotic yet lively aromas of roasted plum marzipan and grilled nuts. Wonderfully dense but sappy with grip of steel. Finishes powerfully tannic and extremely long still with a touch of youthful austerity.... Read More

The 1982 Latour has always been a quintessential Bordeaux and a quintessential Latour. This is just as composed and detailed as the finest bottles that I have encountered bridled with captivating blackberry graphite and cedar... Read More

Full medium ruby. Aromas of currant black cherry licorice minerals and flowers. Thick sweet and deep; still young but in a gentler lower-acid style than either the '86 or '96. Still this boasts sneaky intensity and wonderful... Read More

Full medium ruby. Aromas of currant black cherry licorice minerals and flowers. Thick sweet and deep; still young but in a gentler lower-acid style than either the '86 or '96. Still this boasts sneaky intensity and wonderful... Read More

Pencil lead, leather, smoked cedar and reserved but carefully sculpted cassis and bilberry fruit - this is Léoville-Las Cases showing its classicism in a vintage that is the home of balanced, nuanced and elegant wines.... Read More

Opaque dark ruby. Sappy liqueur-like aromas of black cherry black raspberry rose petal and mint. Impressive richness and sappy sweetness in the mouth; lush and dense but enlivened by a floral aspect. Quite concentrated and long... Read More

Bright ruby-red. Roasted currant and black cherry scents complicated by sexy oak. At once chewy and silky in the mouth with complex fresh flavors of plum redcurrant vanilla coffee smoky oak and woodsy underbrush. Finishes sweet... Read More

The 1982 Mouton-Rothschild continues to be the extravagant Pauillac that it has always been. This has an irresistible exotic bouquet of precocious kirsch hoisin graphite and blueberry scents that gain intensity in the glass. The... Read More

Philippe Dhalluin served the 1986 Mouton Rothschild to wrap up our vertical. The 1986 remains one of my favorite Moutons. A dark powerful wine the 1986 is endowed with a vertical sense of structure that is a marvel to behold.... Read More

The nose is very intense super-ripe and rich verging on jammy. Notes of leather spices and prunes. Full-bodied soft and beautiful with ripe tannins and a long finish. This is soft and yummy right now. Drink or hold.... Read More

The nose is very intense super-ripe and rich verging on jammy. Notes of leather spices and prunes. Full-bodied soft and beautiful with ripe tannins and a long finish. This is soft and yummy right now. Drink or hold.... Read More

The 1999 Pavie shows very similarly to another ex-château bottle encountered a few months earlier. It has an attractive bouquet that has mellowed in recent years notes of bacon fat and mint infusing the red and black fruit.... Read More

Another dazzling wine the 1982 Pichon Lalande is utterly profound from the very first taste. In the glass the 1982 is powerful and explosive with seemingly endless layers of flavor that continue to unfurl over time. Vivid intensely... Read More

Another dazzling wine the 1982 Pichon Lalande is utterly profound from the very first taste. In the glass the 1982 is powerful and explosive with seemingly endless layers of flavor that continue to unfurl over time. Vivid intensely... Read More

The 1998 Lafite-Rothschild is served from double magnum directly from the château reserves in fact with the man who made it sitting opposite me – Charles Chevalier. I must admit to being quite amazed how well this... Read More

Winemaker Eric Kohler recalled the 1999 Lafite-Rothschild as being born in a sad summer. Personally I have liked this First Growth since I first tasted it in barrel. Now 20 years old it is beginning to show a little bricking on... Read More

The nose is fresh bright and dense. With aromas of violets minerals spices cool stones mint dark fruits and plum skins this is beautiful. Very much still a baby right now it needs much more time. This is a wine for the next generation.... Read More

The 2001 Lafite-Rothschild is a damn impressive follow-up to the 2000. It has a healthy garnet core showing little sign of maturity. The bouquet offers blackberry melted tar cedar and a pinch of dried herbs that might not deliver... Read More

The 1989 Petrus is consistent with previous bottles in the sense that it represents the apotheosis of not only the vineyard but of Pomerol itself. It still provides that almost surreal cornucopia of aromas red fruit melted with... Read More