Following the tasting a few weeks ago, and my pathetic lack of reporting to you about my favourite wines, I feel that I should furnish you with my opinions on the 1928 Haut Brion and others, since I know that you have all been on tenterhooks since then.. Here goes:
1928 Haut Brion:
Well, what at treat to drink a wine such as this. By far the oldest wine I have ever tasted, and still in remarkable condition. Firstly the colour: if you looked at it with no clue about its age, then you would probably assume that it was a mid-aged wine. The core was still ruby/garnet, and the rim was only slightly fading to brown, quite incredible. The melange of flavours included elegant, feminine red fruit (berries) with hints of leather, cedar, spice and cigar box, the acidity was perfectly in balance and believe it or not, there were still some tannins present. A quite delicious wine, and an absolute treat to drink!
This was the wine of the morning(!) for me. I tasted it several times over the course of 90mins, and it's evolution was quite noticeable. At first it was a bit disjointed, and there was a whiff of funk on the nose too, but as I went back for my second, third and fourth tastes it became progressively finer as all the elements came together with exposure to air. The colour was a medium ruby with a slightly faded brick rim, it had a medium body with good structure that will see it through for quite a number of years yet. There was still plenty of fruit left, with leather, earth and minerals, and a fine, complex, evolving finish. In fact, I made it my breakfast wine that day - I went back for as much of a glass as I could get to go with the bacon and eggs that they serve after the tasting (smugometer rating off the scale, Chateau Latour for breakfast!) By then, I felt that this wine was really the most complete wine there, and at a very good stage in its evolution. It will undoubtedly keep, but it's fantastic now.It shows that the best estates can make outstanding wines in unheralded vintages.
1997 Guigal La Mouline:
My preconceived idea for this wine was that it would not be anywhere near it's drinking window, but I have to say that it is drinking superbly now. La Mouline has the highest percentage of Viognier in the mix (11-12%), making it a rounder, fuller and much more approachable wine than La Landonne, and this was no exception. The bouquet was an intense experience of dark cherries and spice, and the palate reflected this too. The rich, ripe fruit was mixed with meaty, spicy flavours, some of the traditional bacon fat and a touch of smoke. The body was quite full, with round ripe tannins and high acidity levels to keep all this in balance. A splendid wine that will keep, but would be very hard not to drink now.
1997 La Landonne:
This was far more backward that its sibling above, and actually, to my taste buds but not in agreement with the general consensus, was a more interesting wine. This bottling has no Viognier, and you can tell immediately. It is much firmer and leaner, with a more clearly defined structure that betrays the fact that this is a wine that will take longer to reach its peak. The flavours and aromas were more traditional, plenty of lean, dark fruit with pepper and spices, tapenade, bacon fat and much more smoke than La Mouline. This was an intense, lean and very savoury experience, and one that I would love to revisit in 10 years time. My number 2 wine of the morning as I prefer this leaner style (though not many agreed with me).
After tasting these giants, most of the others paled into insignificance apart from the 1996 Latour which is a great wine but far too young obviously, and possibly the two vintages of Opus One. Sadly I can't actually remember which of the 2 Opus's was better now because I was so excited by the Guigal Syrahs, so if you wanted notes on those, then I'm sorry, that's just tough I'm afraid! Harrumph...
One of the tragedies of the tasting was the 1959 Mouton-Rothschild, which was totally underwhelming if I'm honest. At a previous tasting this was clearly one of the greatest wines I have ever tasted, so this was a total disappointment, a very bad bottle. Can't have it all though I suppose.. Neither was the 1966 Palmer that great unfortunately, next time maybe..
