OMG: 71 Haut Brion, 96 La Tache, 90 Petrus, 90 Le Pin

[Blanquito]

OMG!!!... enjoyed, swooned, reveled in tonight... all double blind... speechless, humbled, moved...

After a wonderful day in Graves with spectacular sunny and warm weather, it was Ian’s turn to present a double blind flight. There was some uncertainty at first on how many he would serve, but once Alex’s son Jerome joined us, he opted for 4 and gave them all a couple of hours in the decanter before dinner while Alex took us on a lovely evening stroll through the city of bordeaux.

The first wine (1971 Haut Brion) had a very dark core but with an amber rim and an old-wine bouquet. I was immediately thinking a 70’s bordeaux. The nose was at first slightly musty but this blew off and I thought this wine got better and better over the meal. Resolved with the smooth texture of a fully mature wine, and tertiary aromas of gently mulled black currants, iron and soil, and weathered wood. A real treat that was a little forgotten next to its stupendous flight mates. 93 pts.

The next wine (1996 DRC La Tache) was singing from the first sniff and the bouquet immediately reminded me of a younger version of the 90 DRC Richebourg Ian shared in 2018. This was clearly a great pinot noir that also transcended its varietal signature. This will definitely improve for years to come when it will likely attain perfection. 98+ pts.

The third wine (1990 Petrus) was a deep, dark wine with a concentrated palate and a plum and tar nose. Sensational depth and power, this is just ridiculously young and primary next to its resolved neighbor. Superb but needs 10+ years to really hit its stride. 95+ pts.

The last wine (1990 Le Pin) was also immediately compelling and took no coaxing to cast its seductive spell. The ruby color seemed mature and lightly tinted like a Pinot or Nebbiolo. I had the hardest time guessing this one, but it did seem like a Right Bank wine given it’s exotic flair of dried flowers, mulling spices, slightly savory and loamy notes, and sweet lifted scents of wintergreen and cinnamon. Satin textured, complex, effortless and elegant, a complete wine from start to finish. I am not sure what I thought a Le Pin would be like, especially from the famous 1990 vintage, but this was more feminine and sensuous than I expected. The amazing thing was this wine had all of the hallmarks of a fully mature claret while retaining the fruit and thrust of a young wine. A transcendent experience, a great emotion. 100 pts.

[OrlandoRobert]

Oh my lord!!!!

[jckba]

Stupendous lineup and where did the guesses range on each bottling?

[Nicklasss]

Ouch. How to make 90 Petrus and 90 Le Pin look bad? Add a 96 DRC...

[Nicklasss]

Quite the same here tonight.

[Racer Chris]

Not quite the same Nic.
My wife practically spit out the 2018 Camarsac and called it undrinkable.
Maybe your wife would do that to Le Pin?

Way to go Patrick! I'd be overjoyed with any one of those.

[SF Ed]

INSANE! So how did they taste?

SF Ed

[dstgolf]

Incredible and again envious!

[JimHow]

Trip of a lifetime!

[AKR]

amazing

[stefan]

Wow! Wow! Wow!

[marcs]

I'm not sure I wouldn't have just grabbed all those bottles and made a run for the nearest wine dealer to sell them LOL

You do have to tell us how they actually tasted though. Did they make wines that cost only three figures taste like supermarket swill?

[Blanquito]

Let me start by saying… I’d never rated a wine 100 pts before last night. 98, sure. 99, a couple of times. But 100, never.

[Comte Flaneur]

The irony was that we met the winemaker who made that particular wine this afternoon. Stay tuned.

[dstgolf]

Suspense! Still waiting for the notes update to discover the 100pt special that made Blanquito history.

[JoelD]

Wow, that is the definition of a bucket list lineup. My guess for the 100 is definitely the DRC, but could that be Blanquito'd enough for 100 points??

Actually, maybe it was the 1990 Petrus, I could definitely see that one being the perfect Blanquito score.

[Blanquito]

Heading back to England now at Calais after, as Jim aptly called it, the trip of a life time… We’ve been quite remiss with our wine journaling, our apologies. It’s been such a whirlwind, with each day packed full of the hard work of tasting the world’s finest wines, visiting the most beautiful wineries, and liaising with the uniformly charming chateau staff. Cleaning ales have even been given a miss. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some time to gather our thoughts and share some impressions and experiences.

[Nicklasss]

Wow, that is the definition of a bucket list lineup. My guess for the 100 is definitely the DRC, but could that be Blanquito'd enough for 100 points??

Actually, maybe it was the 1990 Petrus, I could definitely see that one being the perfect Blanquito score.

I wrote it above, and i'm with you Joel, i guess the 100 will be for the DRC. The 1971 Haut Brion is nice, but nowhere near 100. If blanquito rated one of the 1990 Pomerol 100 points, it will be end of the fact that blanquito's palate prefers his great vintage Bordeaux wines with one or two more blanquitos... especially when I'm reading in the other post that blanquito's favorite Ducru Beaucaillou was the 1962, a 59 yo red Bordeaux. And between 20-50 yo seems a good time for a Bourgogne like La Tâche.

But the suspense is there, and looking forward your impressions Patrick (and Ian and Alex, of course).

[Blanquito]

Bump, notes added to original post.

[marcs]

Lol what a tease

[JimHow]

It was, as I guessed, the Le Pin.

[AlexR]

Ian Amstad AKA Comte Flâneur, visiting from London, must have thought it was Christmas and that I had been awfully well-behaved, because he brought with him an incredible selection of wines to share with Patrick Martin alias Blanquito.

All were served blind at the same meal (simple, but good: grilled entrecôte steak) and decanted between 2 and 3 hours before serving.

The first was a 1971 Haut Brion, which I mistakenly thought might be a younger wine from Saint Julien. As the evening wore on I saw the error of my ways because the trademark tobacco leaf aromas were there. Haut Brion’s earthy side is well-known, but its expression here was (OK, I’m nitpicking) was not quite as refined as in some other vintages. The tannic texture was also perhaps a little coarser than usual. These niggling comments aside, the wine unquestionably had a monumental aspect, and confirmed that 1971 should in no way be lumped in with a series of lacklustre or downright poor vintages from the early 1970s. This is the quintessential vin de terroir, and definitely more than just alive at half a century. That it should take a back seat to the other wines is no objective reflection of its quality!

Wine number two was immediately identified as a Burgundy by all present. I thought it might be a great Gevrey Chambertin, but no, it was a fabulous DRC, a 1996 La Tâche. The irony here is that Ian had already served this same wine to me at his house a couple of years ago… Anyway, although the color and bouquet were nothing less than impeccable, the wine’s pedigree came through in spades most of all on the marvellous aftertaste, with layer upon layer of subtle fruit, along with a strong mineral component. At age 25 this wine is still going strong and has a long life ahead. At its peak? Probably not. The Italians speak of “vini da meditazione”. Well, this was it, baby. A wonderful, sensual experience I felt very privileged to enjoy.
The third wine had everyone puzzled. It was unquestionably powerful and classy, but brooding, needing for the various – excellent – components to knit. The texture was wonderful and this was obviously a top-notch wine, but I could not place it. I was amazed to learn that it was the 1990 Pétrus. That was because, on the several occasions I have had a mature example of this rare wine, it was more giving and easy to apprehend. More early-maturing too. The answer here, in my opinion, is simply one of age. This is unquestionably a great wine from a benchmark vintage, and in the rarefied category of those requiring decades to fully strut their stuff. The word ‘fully’ is important here, because this was a wonderful experience and a treat.

Last, but not least, the 1990 Le Pin (same vintage) was showing even better than its illustrious neighbour on this occasion. Believe me, I felt extremely fortunate to be able to be able to compare them side by side! Not only is Le Pin expensive, it is also quite rare, with just 2 hectares of vines (La Tâche has 5). I did take Le Pin for a Pomerol because of the truffle nuances on the nose, but got no further than that on the blind tasting. This wine had everything going for it: a bouquet you could nose all night and a palate to die for. While that is not a particularly accurate tasting description, words can hardly do justice to the purity, balance, and intensity of this superb wine. The French say “perfection is not of this world”. That having been said, I’d be hard put to find any shortcoming in this delicious wine. It is at the very tip of the Bordeaux hierarchy, and was a memorable bottle.

This was the sort of evening you do not forget…

[Comte Flaneur]

I don’t have much to add to Patrick and Alex’s excellent write ups here, except to add that in the flight two wines were served out of Roberto Conterno Sensory glasses. The Petrus was served in a large differently shaped glass, and towards the end of the evening Patrick tried it out of a Sensory and it showed better. The last time I tried one was over seven years ago when it was very backward, but for Alex to say it needs decades is an indication of what sort of wine we are dealing with here. For now 96++

The La Tache will improve further but is already compelling now, and each bottle is better than the last. This bottle was starting to develop some of the magical tertiary notes one encounters in more mature bottles of Romanee Conti and La Tache and to a lesser extent Richebourg. When it does in 5-10 years time it will be a perfect wine but for now 99.

I agree with Patrick and Alex that the Le Pin 1990 is a perfect wine. This was the third and last bottle of a batch acquired from BBR in 1992 or 1993 for £98 a bottle, and the best of the three - in hindsight the other two did not unleash their full potential. Everything was perfect about this wine and it had the most exciting and exuberant bouquet of the flight. In this company, the Haut-Brion, served out of a smaller more trad glass, was a distant fourth. It showed quite well as it is not a great vintage of Haut-Brion, but it is from Blanquito’s birth year. I marginally preferred the Ducru 71 we had the previous Friday.

Getting back to wine glasses, when you drink wines of this calibre it is worth investing in the best stemware in my opinion. In the U.K. a sensory costs £50, considerably less than a bottle of La Tache or Le Pin.

The other little ironic twist was that the next day we went to VCC. We were welcomed by the languid, laconic, professorial figure of Alexandre Thienpont. I arranged the visit so he casually asked me which vintage of VCC he wanted me to open…tempted as I was to say the 1947 I opted for the 2014. More on that on the other thread later. But anyway Alex showed him a picture of the wines we had drunk the previous night, and when he saw the Le Pin he casually remarked that he remembered making that wine.

[Blanquito]

I would add one minor detail about these wines and our scores — Alex and I “scored” them before the wines were unveiled. Of course, we knew who was providing the wines and his legendary collection and track record of amazing generosity were not lost on us, but I was ready to call wine #4 perfect and #2 approaching perfection with or without their identities revealed.

[Musigny 151]

Fabulous notes. Still waiting to taste Le Pin in bottle.

[Antoine]

Ouch! This was something!... What an amazing event! Well done all!

[s*d*r]

Pretty good lineup for a casual Thursday . . .

My entire experience of Le Pin is one bottle a couple of years ago - the 1990. I too find it amazing, unique, sweet and beguiling. A Bordeaux for Burgundy lovers.

The ‘71s in general I have found soft, fragrant and delicate but not weak. Not counting the fabulous Yquem and Climens my favorites are Trotanoy and La Mission Haut-Brion. But I avoided buying them for a long time because Mr. Parker said they weren’t that good .

Of course 1990 Pétrus is fabulous, too.

Great notes from Patrick and Alex. Special wines taste much better in the company of special people who can fully appreciate them.

[Blanquito]

A Bordeaux for Burgundy lovers.

One of which I am rapidly becoming, thanks mostly to Ian!

And I agree, there was a very Burgundian color and texture on the Le Pin. What a treat to serendipitously meet the man who made the wine the very next day!

[Musigny 151]

A Bordeaux for Burgundy lovers.

One of which I am rapidly becoming, thanks mostly to Ian!

And I agree, there was a very Burgundian color and texture on the Le Pin. What a treat to serendipitously meet the man who made the wine the very next day!

Best approximation is Beychevelle. The 1959 tastes like a great grand cru Vosne.

[DavidG]

Holy cow! Not sure I could fully appreciate such a plethora of vinous profundity!

Though some might complain that they were just too old - all 25 years or more...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sELqobCIXU

[JoelD]

A Bordeaux for Burgundy lovers.

One of which I am rapidly becoming, thanks mostly to Ian!

And I agree, there was a very Burgundian color and texture on the Le Pin. What a treat to serendipitously meet the man who made the wine the very next day!

Sounds like the tasting of a lifetime in the middle of a trip of a lifetime. A few bucket list items checked for sure.

On an interesting note. Patrick, Ian, Alex and Jeff Leve all scored the 1990 Le Pin a perfect 100 points. Probably the exception to the rule, but always fun to see these cases pop up.

[Blanquito]

Good point, Joel. Jeff, Ian and I (note sure what Alex thought) also were equally gaga over the 2020 VCC. Maybe Pomerol is so good that unites most palates, most of the time.

[Comte Flaneur]

Apparently the next vintage of Le Pin to go ga-ga about is the 2001. I was thinking of trading in my 1998s for 2001s if I can engineer a par swap. But that is really part of my retirement plan, so the risk is that I spend the rest of my life in abject poverty, which may be a risk worth taking. Alexandre said the 1979 - the first vintage of Le Pin - has not held up that well, but there are some good bottles of 1982 if the corks are good.

[robert goulet]

Sweet baby Jesus thats a nice lineup..and a birth yr. Haut Brion...I so jelly


I def. know that '90 Le Pin is drinking a hell of alot better than the '17 OrlBobby and I had earlier this year...I had it 2x actually and it is baby killing at its finest....nice opportunity to try a unicorn wine but, nowhere even remotely close to ready.

[tim]

Still amazed by this lineup.

Le Pin is on my unrealized bucket list.