82 Cos & Lagune, 83 Lalande, 73 Mouton, 86 Gruaud & more

[Blanquito]

The Fort Collins winos staged a serious Bordeaux tasting this past week. None of the wines were decanted, but we were able re-taste the wines repeatedly over the course of the evening. The Lalande was the run-away WOTN, but all the wines were great and as such, the scores are better seen as relative rankings.

1986 Château Gruaud Larose
This came out of the gates ready to go, surprisingly. I found this bottle somewhat soft compared to the stellar bottle we had at the '86 Horizontal in October, but it was still really good. The bouquet was nicely aromatic with sweet notes. It came across as nicely balanced and old school, with lovely earth and cedar. Good finish. (93 pts.)

1982 Château Cos d’Estournel
At first, this wine was marred with a nasty smell and taste of sulfur, which finally blew off after an hour or so. Once cleaned, it had great sweet raspberry fruit and very nice texture. It still seemed a little young. Wish it had been decanted as it was hard to get past the memory of the sulfur. (92 pts.)

1982 Château La Lagune
This one needed 30 minutes to blow off some funky notes. It has a great, complex mature bouquet of black tea, cinnamon, and cedar. The palate is medium-bodied with impressive sweet fruit, old leather, lots of tangy acids, a glycerin-infused silky texture and a long finish. I loved the complexity of this wine. This began to fade after a while. (94 pts.)

1983 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
This was just great, with a terrific core of tangy dark fruit (best fruit of the old wines). The bouquet was classic Lalande, with exotic notes of menthol, coffee and black tea, lactic aromas. There was a compelling sweet-sour interplay on the palate to go with a long layered finish. I thought this was still somewhat primary, but it was rich and fresh. (96 pts.)

1973 Château Mouton Rothschild
Bouquet of sun-tan lotion (coco butter), menthol, and black tea again, with still great palate intensity dominated by bright acids. This was surprisingly good in my book, with great length and tons of complexity of a very mature wine. It faded quickly with air, but I thought it was terrific at first. Others liked it much less than me, but I am fan of old school, mature claret. (94 pts.)

2000 Château d’Issan
This was really excellent, in a totally different gear than the '80's wines. It was rich and full-bodied in comparison with oodles of ripe cassis fruit, great length and balance, and wonderful aromatics. There was a core of minerally, sweet fruit that was awesome (someone said, "Priorat" and I agreed). Still very primary, but delicious today. (94 pts.)

2003 Château Montrose
This was served blind- I guessed a 2005 Left Bank (Leoville Poyferre), as it didn't have the tell-tale praline so many 2003's possess (others guessed the 2003 Pavie if that says anything!). This wine was clearly young but not hard at all. The fruit was primary but evident. If I had to call the style, I would have said a really high quality Cali syrah, as the fruit was spicy and exotic, not akin to Cab/Merlot in profile. Some called it a "monster"--I thought its weight was only moderate (concentration of fruit, mouth-feel, structure and length), but that will undoubtedly change with 10-15 years in the bottle. It was definitely very pure and clean (no brett or funk), and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't wowed after all the great wines in the line-up. Perhaps it was a bit inscrutable. This bottle was double decanted 13 hours prior to drinking. (92+ pts.)

2000 Château Giscours
Starts out muted, but eventually shows espresso, minerals, and lots of spicy fruit. I found this lovely, with grip and sweetness, some oak and a really spicy profile. Kept building with air. Straddles the stylistic divide between traditional and modern. This is drinking well now, and showed better than a bottle I had last summer. (92 pts.)

1990 Château Suduiraut
A dark amber color, this possesses lots of toasted spice and oxidized brown sugar aromatics, full body and an enjoyable finish. Very Madeira in style. There’s nice sweetness, low acidity and a full, lush texture but it lacks complexity. (92 pts.)

2003 Château Guiraud
This was a bit over the top for me, but others loved it. Totally tropical in style, with coconut and mango, and loads of border-line cloying sweetness with low acidity, a fat, lush texture, and a long finish. Very young and good, but not my style. (90 pts.)

[DavidG]

Wow, what a nice lineup! Excellent notes.

[stefan]

You drank three of my favorites in 82 La Lagune, 83 Pichon Lalande, and 86 Gruaud Larose, Patrick. The only surprise is how well the 73 Mouton showed.

stefan

[Michael Malinoski]

Thank you for the great notes. Maybe it is only because I've been served it 3 times or so in the past 2 years, but it sure seems like a lot of folks are digging into and really digging the '83 PLL. It seems to be drinking in a great spot right now and your note sure would support that. By the way, anybody else who wants to open a bottle while I am around is extremely welcome to do so!

-Michael

[Comte Flaneur]

Fab tasting Patrick...did you manage more than one bottle per person? I remember you saying that your mid west/Rockies drinking buddies are not as hard core as us lot on the east coast...

My money would have been on the Cos '82...but in my experience it shows enormous bottle variation...your notes and Roberto's show the Comtessa '83 coming on very strong indeed...only have one bottle of this...think one should hold back...my friend David Wainwright told me that the PCdL and Gruaud were the stars at recent '83 horizontals, even outshining the firsts...

Btw the Mouton '73 sounded fabuloso...did you manage to snag the bottle for your mantlepiece?...Picasso and all that ...the (empty) bottle is worth as much as the contents...

[JimHow]

Some serious drinking there, Mr. Martin. I too have loved the '83 Pichon Lalande, it came in second place behind '86 Talbot in a dinner I did in Florida last year:
1. 1986 Talbot
2. 1983 Pichon Lalande
3. 2002 Mouton Rothschild
4. 1996 Sociando Mallet
5. 1999 Opus One

[Blanquito]

Thanks for the input, fellas. It was a really good night and the wines mostly showed really well. The only disappointment was the 2003 Montrose, which was way too young to be fairly appraised in my opinion.

The 1983 PLL was really memorable, and I'm looking for more at auction. It would be a nice additional to the Convention.

Comte, I tried to grab the '73 Mouton bottle, but the owner knew its worth so he made off with it. The Mouton was really an old-school claret, and I am sure you would have approved. And we still had just less than a bottle per person, clearly not up to BWE's standards!

[Claudius]

Jim
the 86 Talbot must be a top wine if better than the 83 PLL.

I too am surprised that a 73 vintage was still showing well after 35 years.
It was a better vintage than initially rated and I remember guzzling them 20 years or so ago - young they were medium bodied and quite tasty but never thought they'd last that long.

[PappaDoc]

The 86 Talbot is runner up to the 82 Talbot in all the Talbots I've ever had, including the 1961. Two btls of 82 Talbot came direct from the Chateau to Premire Cru ($75.00 per btl) back in 2000. I opened one at Kittle House with an 82 Haut Brion I had from release. Jackdaw, Arv, Jal, and a couple of other close BWE folk were there and we were all stunned by how fresh and stunning the 82 Talbot was. Following the 82 Haut Brion, it still examplified class and breed and "punched way above its' weight class"

Other 82 Talbots have been delightful, but none as great as the two "direct from Chateau" btls. I've had this experience with 82 Bran Cantenac (ex Chateau) and 83 Palmer. All btls were far better than what I had bought through normal distribution channels.

I'm also a great admirer of the 83 Pinchon Lalande, and would consider buying a "piece of and owc at auction".

I'm holding the lastbtl of the original case I bought in 1983 as futures of 82 La Lagune. Its' Jackdaws Brother Hughdaw, and he managed to hold it until now since Pappa has been storing it for him. He has told me we will drink it the next time He, Jackdaw and I are together. Your post spurs me to see that that occurs soon.

[Nicklasss]

Nice report Blanquito. And I'm happy that the 1982 Lagune and 1983 PL were preferred to other classics (82 Cos or 86 Gruaud). This proves that you judge wines independantly, according to your own taste.

Me too in the past, i really liked the 1983 Pichon Lalande.

I'm also impressed with the 1973 Mouton. Proving that there are great bottle even in off vintages. So now, I need to find a great bottle of 1974, my birthyear...

Nic

[JimHow]

'73 Mouton had the Picasso label, did it not?

[DavidG]

I'll second Pappa's kudos for '86 and '82 Talbot. Wish they would make them like that again.

[Comte Flaneur]

'73 Mouton had the Picasso label, did it not?

Indeed yes

Arguably one of the most evocative labels with Andy Warhol's creation for the 1975...and not as controversial as the 1993

[DavidG]

I think the controversy over the '93 label was blown way out of proportion by the estate itself - as a publicity ploy.

[JimHow]

A good link on the Mouton labels:

www.theartistlabels.com