Two St Juliens
Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2023 6:47 pm
Last night with Judd's grill of hanger steak, mushrooms and vegetables we drank an oldish and a youngish St Julien.
The 1988 Gruaud Larose is in perfect shape and has tertiary overtones of hay, sage, and alfalfa. The tannins are soft but enough for the steak, and the red fruit is flavorful even on the tonsils. This is an elegant, old style St Julien. For my taste this bottle was better than the excellent 1986 and 1978 we drank recently at Jim's.
The 2000 Talbot is, not surprisingly, more powerful than the Gruaud with tannins that are still aggressive. The fruit is darker. While very good, I think the Talbot should be blanquitoed once or twice.
The 1988 Gruaud Larose is in perfect shape and has tertiary overtones of hay, sage, and alfalfa. The tannins are soft but enough for the steak, and the red fruit is flavorful even on the tonsils. This is an elegant, old style St Julien. For my taste this bottle was better than the excellent 1986 and 1978 we drank recently at Jim's.
The 2000 Talbot is, not surprisingly, more powerful than the Gruaud with tannins that are still aggressive. The fruit is darker. While very good, I think the Talbot should be blanquitoed once or twice.