An evening of 1985 Bordeaux blighted by TCA

[Comte Flaneur]

I arranged another of our London vintage series Bordeaux dinners at Piccolino restaurant, and luck was not with us last night, as it was with our 1982 dinner a few months ago.

Three wines were corked: my L’Arrosee, which I was so looking forward to trying, Pontet Canet (sigh) and LLC (urghhh). The Ducru may also have been corked - roughly a third of the group thought so - to me it was gloopy and just not right (eehhh). The Talbot was marred by a bit too much Cordier funk, which I think would have been irritating confronted with more than a glass.

It was’t all gloom and doom and we started off with a magnum of 2013 Ygrec, served blind. Some people say it is overpriced, and while it ain’t cheap I say they don’t know what they are talking about. It was very young of course but ever so fresh, elegant and classy.

In addition four wines really stood out as being outstanding and punching above their weight. None more so than La Lagune, which was summoned off the substitutes bench early on to replace the corked L’Arrosee. Initially coming across as lean and old school it opened superbly after being popped and poured. That apparent leanness was in fact precision.Happily I have two more pristine examples.

Likewise the Magdelaine was beautifully resolved and a superb bottle, which I would have loved to study over an evening. I suspect my rating was conservative because I think it had more hidden wares to reveal. These two were tied equally for my second wotn. They were further down the group rankings.

Giscours was another revelation, which showed that this estate not only made great wine in the 1970s but up until the mid-80s as well. It was similar to its flight mate Palmer but a little bit more interesting and quirky. The Palmer was a good bottle and perfectly resolved, but not as exuberant as the most outstanding bottles of this wine, and came fifth in my rankings, behind the Giscours.

But for the group it was narrowly wotn, edging out the Leoville Barton, unjustifiably I thought. The Leoville Barton was just brilliant and a great bottle, the quintessence of claret. My wotn. Sadly Chris Smith, whom one or two of you have met, was stuck in the House of Lords and could not join us so his Cos was scratched.

Lafaurie was good but I don’t think 1985 was a great year for Sauternes.


Flight one: mystery wine

2013 Ygrec magnum ***1/2 (*) 93

Flight two: St-Emilion

Ch. L’Arrosee (corked)
Ch. Magdelaine **** 92
La Lagune (back up) **** 92

Flight three: Margaux appellation and Graves

Ch. Giscours. **** 92
Ch. Palmer **** 91
Ch. Haut-Bailly **1/2 86

Flight four: St-Julien appellation

Ch. Leoville Barton ***** 94
Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou - gloopy ** ?
Ch. Leoville Lascases (corked)

Flight five: Pauillac/ St-Estephe appellation(s)

Ch. Talbot (moved from flight four) - bretty **1/2 86
Ch. Pontet Canet (corked)
Ch. Cos D’Estournel (scratched)

Flight six: Sauternes

Lafaurie Peyraguey ***1/2 90
Suduiraut (added) **1/2 86

[stefan]

I am glad to hear about the good performance of the 1985 La Lagune. Our three cases have been gone for some time, but I bought a case at auction a month or so ago and look forward to trying a bottle when we go to Oregon for Thanksgiving.

Giscours started started under forming in 1982 but was still pretty good.

Probably the Ducru was slightly corked from the cellar problems they had. Some bottles of the 1985 seemed to have escaped the taint, but others did not.

[AKR]

Sounds like a pretty good night, despite some uninvited guests (TCA) showing up

[Blanquito]

Too bad about the TCA. The 85 Magdelaine is high on my list of wines I’d love to try. Besides the taint, how are the 85s holding up? Are they in Drink Now territory, or Drink Or Hold still?

I was seriously wowed by a double blind bottle of the 85 Lagune 2 years ago at Dale’s place. I keep seeing it at auction but the bottles have all looked dodgy, so I’ve (yet) to score any.

[Nicklasss]

Lot of default wines (5/12 ouch), but seems like when the 1985 are on, they are still extremely classic and excellent.

I'm sad about your LLC as we had a bottle in DC a few years ago, and I thought it was between an excellent and half great bottle.

Nic

[Winona Chief]

Thanks for posting your tasting notes. Always good to see another perspective. Too bad about the corked wines.

I was at a 1985 Bordeaux in DC in September 2018 and the wines were all over the place. Leoville Las Cases was corked and some of the others suffered from less than ideal storage. That being said, 1985 was one of my favorite vintages for a long time - they drank well young and most never had a serious closed down phase. Now days, most are fully mature and not for much further aging. Just a few left in the cellar at this point - my favorite 1985s were La Mission Haut Brion, Lynch Bages, Gruaud Larose, Cos d’Estournel, Leoville Barton, l’Eglise Clinet and Pichon Lalande.

Chris Bublitz

[DavidG]

Sorry you had so many duds Ian. I've drunk all my 1985s and agree with Chris. They did have a long open period. Gruaud, Cos, and Pichon Lalande were also among my favorites.

[robert goulet]

Magdelaine is an Orlando Bobby Fav...I believe it was the '85 we had not long ago...it was a wonderful claret...very fresh and alive.

[OrlandoRobert]

That Bobby guy just got in today a case of the 2000 Magdelaine fresh from the UK, right out from under Trumpian’s tariff-loving pock-ridden nose. That ‘85 we had a couple months ago, Goulet, was excellent.

[Blanquito]

Nice haul, Bobert. How much does it cost to ship from the UK? Never done that.