Obscurities from a dark corner of the cellar

[Racer Chris]

AKA: Memories of a bygone era

• 1975 Jean León Cabernet Sauvignon Penedès - Spain, Catalunya, Penedès (2/24/2023)
  After 40 some years in a dark corner, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this may be past peak.
  
  But you would never know it by the high fill, or the tight cork, or the deep red, almost black color on decanting. The clove dominated wood spice aroma was some indication of the wine's maturity however.
  On the palate the wine is youthful, juicy, and with substantial grip.
  Black cherries, cloves, somewhat thin mouthfeel initially, and a long dry finish.
  As the wine opened up, a little sweetness to the fruit developed, along with more volume, complexity and earthiness, and the tannin also came forward a bit. Truly enjoyable to drink by itself, and would likely pair well with a good steak or burger. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[jckba]

Nice note and that’s generally a great wine. My 3rd Tuesday group has always liked sticking a mystery wine from another region into a themed blind lineup and I remember this wine faring well in a lineup of ‘82 Bdx.

[Racer Chris]

This bottle was purchased in NYC in the '80s, so I'm not too surprised you've come across the wine.
Interesting that this producer was numbering their bottles for provenance back then.
I can't imagine it would be confused for BDX in a side-by-side tasting but I bet it would kick some California Cab ass.

[Racer Chris]

[AKR]

Some of those very old Gran Coronas Black Label from that same era/region are also quite impressive.

However they are scarce, and the market knows about them.