What Should I Serve?

[Hm$(still)]

Out of town guest, whom I only see 1x per year. One of my closest friends. Choices are:

1970 La Conseillante
1978 PLL
1979 PLL
1983 PLL

Advice welcomed. Tasting note to follow.

Hm$

[AlexR]

Depends on how wine savvy your guest is, or how much you respect him.

The Pichons are on the downward slope.
If pushed, I'd serve the 83?

Alex R.

[dstgolf]

Howard,

I agree with Alex. A wine geek will appreciate the labels and what's inside but most of my golf buddies wouldn't know these from Pabst Blue Ribbon!! They are all risky at this stage with most if not all in the twilight decline of their lives. The 83 10+ years ago was incredible and one that we shared recently was still very good but paled to what we knew it should be from the past. My palate is not Michael Ps or others that get great pleasure out of what I may consider a lifeless bottle but we've all had pleasant surprises with older wines that stop you in your tracks. That's what this passion is all about but the longer you wait on a bottle the riskier it becomes knowing full well there are great hidden surprises that put huge smiles on our faces from time to time and when that happens the memories are imbedded forever.

Good luck and we all look forward to the follow up report.

[DavidG]

Assuming your friend likes aged Bordeaux and won’t have this reaction:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7sELqobCIXU

1970 Conseillante would be my first choice.
1983 Comtesse would be my second choice.

Of course, no great wines, only great bottles at this stage.

[JoelD]

As everyone else said, depends on this person's tastes and definitely your individual bottle luck with all of those.

I have not yet had the 83, but am looking forward to it. Personally I would lean away from the older Conseillante (aged Pomerol is a really acquired taste and can be a bit astringent at times) and go for one of the more powerful vintages of Pichon.

Based on a recent bottle, I would say 78 Pichon as first option with the 83 ready as a backup.

My notes on the 78/79 from last summers 21 vintage Pichon Lalande vertical. We did not have the 83 in that lineup though. If you have the 89 as an option, then that would be my first choice as it almost always shows well, for everyone's palate.

1979- Defintely better than the last bottle I had of this. Very clean and mineral, lean but long and balanced. 94pts

1978- Bigger and more structured like the 89 and 95, but showing it's age more obviously. Some fruit left but likely nearing the end of it's peak drinking window. 94pts

[stefan]

I agree with Joel. The best bottles of 1978 Comtesse have an ethereal bouquet that is to die for. 1983 is also excellent.

[dstgolf]

So what was served up and how did it go??

[Hm$(still)]

So I served the ‘78 PLL, and it was a great bottle. Everything I love about the estate. Smooth, undertones of roasted fruit, and really elegant. Thank you for your input.

Hm$