TN: Bordeaux and some others

[Harry C.]

• 1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (4/27/2014)
  Garnet, deep. Rich full Pauillac nose with a little age. Starting to drink now but no real hurry. Delish and it's 94 with a plus. (94 pts.)
• 1998 Château Pavie Macquin - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (4/27/2014)
  Garnet. Hints of butter(!) in the nose, along with black fruits. Mouth rich, mouthfilling, full, black fruits, dried herbs hinted at. Wonderful. (94 pts.)
• 1989 Château Clerc Milon - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (4/27/2014)
  Garnet. Nose of an aged Bordeaux, all tertiary. But a richness underneath. Nice tertiary taste also, Seasoned Salt, cedar. Opened even more with time. Lovely. (91 pts.)
• 1995 Ridge Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/27/2014)
  Garnet. Nose and mouth all tertiary-anise, tobacco, cedar with an acid finish. Good. (91 pts.)
• 2011 Aubert Chardonnay CIX Estate Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (4/27/2014)
  Creamy yellow. Nose of the buttery, vanilla side rather than the citrusy side. Taste also was similar. Kind of like a Cream Soda versus a Sprite. You can tell Aubert's hand was here, but he is working with totally different grapes. (91 pts.)
• 2003 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (4/27/2014)
  Garnet. Nose was more garrigue rather than raspberry jam. Taste was similar. Good, older rustic style. (88 pts.)

[AlexR]

Wonderful range of wines. Thanks for sharing your notes.

Alex R.

[DavidG]

You are drinking well Harry. Nice notes. A lot of 1986s are turning out great for those who have had the patience to wait for the tannins to mellow.

[Nicklasss]

Nice selection. I had the 1986 Château Pichon Lalande 3 times, and while i liked the wine, i always thought it was still very young.

Nic

[JimHow]

1986 Pichon Lalande is one of my top ten favorite wines.

[hautbrionlover]

I've been holding on to 2 bottles of the 1986 Pichon Lalande because it's both one of my favorite chateaux and I married my wife in '86. I've been trying to figure out if they're ready to go, because the last time I had the '86 PL (admittedly some years back), it had clearly not yet hit its prime.

[Tom In DC]

I don't think 1986 will ever crack my list of greatest Bordeaux vintages but they are finally coming around in a "Bordeaux should always make you grimace a little on the first taste" sort of way.

[Harry C.]

Tom, no grimacing here.

[Carlos Delpin]

Today it is "Bordeaux should always make you grimace a little when you see the price" sort of way.