TN: 95 La Grave a Pomerol [Pomerol]

[AKR]

95 La Grave a Pomerol [Pomerol] popped and poured, with sauteed mushrooms and gnocchi dressed in truffle oil and shaved comte. Very smooth, lovely texture, medium bodied, hints of earth/forest/soil. Color is bricking at the edges, fully mature by that yardstick. I picked this figuring it would pair well with dinner's truffle notes, but it doesn't have as much of that bouquet as sister estates, Trotanoy and Latour a Pomerol. However my 95's of those are long gone, and modern vintages have ascended higher than my pain thresholds. From memory this is lighter than the other two were in 1995. The vintage didn't get much attention, but for right bank wines I thought it was an unheralded one, and had the benefit of being released before prices escalated; between 1990 and 2000, I'd put 1995 behind only 1998. The finish is about 30 seconds, and it has a nice sweet flavor. No worries with acid nor tannin being unbalanced here -- Mouiex's wines are always so poised. I saved a glass for this afternoon, to see how it develops and estimate how much longer remaining bottles can hold, but I'm planning on finishing the rest in the next couple of years. As likable as this was, I'd say the 95 Croix du Casse -- made by Jean Michel Arcaute before he died -- is better. Strong B+ for this, it does not reach the peaks the superb 1998 hit.

One can observe how close these all are to each other below

[robert goulet]

1998 sigh

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

I have not had any disappointments among several low or mid tier RBs. Come to think of it, I want to say Jim poured something special when I visited Maine maybe Cheval Blanc or the Lafleur-Petrus that may have been a '95 (though possibly '98) and it also didn't disappoint.