New WA - long retrospective on the 96 Medocs
Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:03 am
So there is tons of Bordeaux stuff in the new WA, I think all from Neil Martin.
(It all got uploaded today I think)
In addition to lots of notes on 2012, 2013, 2014 there seems to be a 20 year reprise of the 1996 Medocs.
Neil raves about them, in the main.
I have only skimmed it but it looks to be good reading for tonite.
Posted is the first snippet, hopefully not violating "Fair Use"
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Neal Martin
28th Oct 2016 | The Wine Advocate
They say that time flows faster after the vintage that marks your entry into wine, either as a keen amateur or a professional. Preceding years are cloaked in ancient history, compartmentalized into a distant bygone era simply because you enjoyed no direct involvement, interaction or possibly even interest. On the other hand, vintages that follow your entry are entwined with your life: seasons that you tracked, witnessed and consumed first-hand. Time accelerated after that pivotal year. The paradox is that they all feel like yesterday. Marriage is the same.
In my case, 1996 marks the year of this temporal shift. My life never intersected with the 1995s.
Wine and I? We were like trains running down parallel tracks in blissful ignorance until the tracks fatefully converged in 1996.
I vividly recall tasting those wines just after bottling, privileged to taste numerous classified growths among the glitterati of wine writers, the opening chapter of a vinous career. It seems incomprehensible that this was two decades ago, when Bill Clinton was in the White House, Charles and Di were officially divorced, Dolly the sheep was being cloned, The Spice Girls "Wannabe," DVDs were launched in Japan and Ebay appeared on the nascent Internet.
Looking back at 1996 within the context of the nineties, along with 1995 it forms one-half of the central pillars that prop up the decade’s reputation. It is flanked by mediocrity that stretches to the 1988-1990 triumvirate on one side and the millennial coastline on the other. Given the significance of the vintage pertinent to my own career and its reputation, it seems an opportune moment to revisit some of its most famous wines. The Wine Advocate has a long tradition of reappraising Bordeaux after a decade, but why not after 20 years or even 30 years?
I focused on the Left Bank since that is where the 1996s prospered (see growing season report below). Readers should note that nearly all the bottles were tasted in Bordeaux at the respective properties, granted a more time consuming task and yet allowing me to gain insight into the wines speaking to those who might have made them. Some were delivered to a negoçiant in Bordeaux and just a couple from my own stash.
(It all got uploaded today I think)
In addition to lots of notes on 2012, 2013, 2014 there seems to be a 20 year reprise of the 1996 Medocs.
Neil raves about them, in the main.
I have only skimmed it but it looks to be good reading for tonite.
Posted is the first snippet, hopefully not violating "Fair Use"
============
Neal Martin
28th Oct 2016 | The Wine Advocate
They say that time flows faster after the vintage that marks your entry into wine, either as a keen amateur or a professional. Preceding years are cloaked in ancient history, compartmentalized into a distant bygone era simply because you enjoyed no direct involvement, interaction or possibly even interest. On the other hand, vintages that follow your entry are entwined with your life: seasons that you tracked, witnessed and consumed first-hand. Time accelerated after that pivotal year. The paradox is that they all feel like yesterday. Marriage is the same.
In my case, 1996 marks the year of this temporal shift. My life never intersected with the 1995s.
Wine and I? We were like trains running down parallel tracks in blissful ignorance until the tracks fatefully converged in 1996.
I vividly recall tasting those wines just after bottling, privileged to taste numerous classified growths among the glitterati of wine writers, the opening chapter of a vinous career. It seems incomprehensible that this was two decades ago, when Bill Clinton was in the White House, Charles and Di were officially divorced, Dolly the sheep was being cloned, The Spice Girls "Wannabe," DVDs were launched in Japan and Ebay appeared on the nascent Internet.
Looking back at 1996 within the context of the nineties, along with 1995 it forms one-half of the central pillars that prop up the decade’s reputation. It is flanked by mediocrity that stretches to the 1988-1990 triumvirate on one side and the millennial coastline on the other. Given the significance of the vintage pertinent to my own career and its reputation, it seems an opportune moment to revisit some of its most famous wines. The Wine Advocate has a long tradition of reappraising Bordeaux after a decade, but why not after 20 years or even 30 years?
I focused on the Left Bank since that is where the 1996s prospered (see growing season report below). Readers should note that nearly all the bottles were tasted in Bordeaux at the respective properties, granted a more time consuming task and yet allowing me to gain insight into the wines speaking to those who might have made them. Some were delivered to a negoçiant in Bordeaux and just a couple from my own stash.
